Entertainment and Media Law

This course is an overview of commonly used agreements in entertainment transactions and how those deals are negotiated and drafted. Students study characteristics of optimal contract language and the construction of written agreements that best reflect the intent of their signatories and impact beneficiaries and how entertainment-related contracts can be informed by various categories of law such as copyright, labor, tort, contract, international law, and collective bargaining agreements.

This seminar covers new developments in the entertainment industry, and analysis of cutting edge issues that arise from those developments. Although the specific topics covered in a given semester will vary, likely areas of interest include constitutional protection of entertainment projects, copyright protection, creative control, credit, defamation, enforcement of contracts, idea disclosure, impact of new technologies, marketing of entertainment product, privacy, right of publicity, social regulation of entertainment products, talent representatives and trademark protection.

This course provides an overview of the legal and business aspects of the music publishing industry, which itself is a major part of the entire entertainment ecosystem. It is a complex field, composed of a framework of legal regulations and evolving business practices. It governs virtually every aspect of the music business, including recorded music, film, television, video games, commercials, and live performance. A music publisher represents composers, songwriters, and the musical compositions they create.

This course introduces the student to the law governing the workplace of selected sports industries in North America, primarily the United States and secondarily Canada.

The financing, creation and distribution of independent films has become an increasingly popular sub-specialty of entertainment law practice. Various aspects of independent film production make it much different than the production of a film by a motion picture studio. Often times the writer/director of a project must find various forms of financing to aid in the production of the work. This aspect of the project is much more involved than is the case with a studio-financed project. The agreements with talent also differ from the studio project.

This is a hands-on course designed to train students in how to analyze technology contracts and how to draft some of today's most widely used forms of technology agreements. The course will take a detailed look at every aspect of contract drafting - why some clauses work and why others don't. Common provisions used in technology agreements will be reviewed in detail, particularly those standard, "boilerplate" terms that many lawyers have a tendency to skip over.

This course is intended to train the student to be a production attorney for a motion picture studio or production company. The entire process of motion picture production, from acquisition of rights to talent agreements, production concerns and distribution issues, will be covered. Prerequisite: Copyright Law (538).

This course examines key legal and business aspects of television production. The course is organized according to the chronology of events that lead to the airing of a network television series. During each class, students are introduced to a particular issue, its relevance to the television production process, the legal issues involved, and the problems that must be addressed. Students are divided into teams of law firms, studio departments or network personnel.

This course focuses on the impact of new information technologies and services on personal privacy. It will examine a range of information privacy issues, particularly those involved in the use of the Internet and online services. Topics will include the right of access to information, the free flow and use of information, the creation and protection of an individual's "digital persona," and the role of governments and the private sector in safeguarding personal information.

This seminar examines popular representations of law and lawyers as culturally meaningful texts. What strategies do creators use in their portrayals of the practice and its practitioners? Why has the image of the lawyer, the depiction of courtroom trials, and the conception of justice resonated so powerfully in American culture? Has the role of the profession in the popular consciousness changed over time? How relevant are issues of race, class, and gender to the way in which legal narrative is created and understood?