Bryan Cave’s Entertainment and Media Practice focuses on serving clients in film and television financing, production and distribution; and in television, radio and Web-based broadcasting. The group works with other Bryan Cave practice areas, including technology and intellectual property, labor and employment, corporate finance and commercial litigation, in order to provide entertainment and media clients with full-service legal representation.
Entertainment and Media Practice
Bryan Cave offers a broad spectrum of legal services to companies and individuals throughout the entertainment and media industries. We provide domestic and international representation of producers and distributors of filmed entertainment (motion pictures and television) in all aspects of acquisition, financing, co-financing, production and distribution. We also represent television, cable, radio and satellite broadcasters of entertainment programming.
Our clients include:
- Motion picture and television studios
- Independent producers of theatrical films, television programming, commercials and music videos
- Distributors of filmed entertainment
- Motion picture exhibitors
- Individual producers and directors of filmed entertainment
- Television, satellite, cable, Internet and radio broadcasters (including public broadcasters)
- New media technologies
- Internet and Web-related entertainment and media companies
Our experience includes:
- Formation of entities to engage in the entertainment business
- Financing of entertainment companies
- Recapitalizations, purchases and sales of companies in the entertainment industry
- Negotiation of equity investments
- Negotiation of credit facilities
- Drafting and negotiating executive employment agreements and incentive compensation plans
- Structuring strategic alliances, joint ventures and spin-offs
- Project financings
- IPOs
- Public company compliance and SEC regulatory matters
- Securities offerings
- Labor, employment, union and guild issues
- Intellectual property protection and litigation
- Tax planning
- Commercial litigation
- Representation with respect to other regulatory matters
For our clients who produce filmed entertainment, we provide:
- Representation of producers in all aspects of acquisition, production and distribution of motion pictures and television programming
- Acquisition, licensing and protection of intellectual property rights
- Representation regarding financing and co-financing of domestic and international motion picture and television projects
- Representation with respect to film library and catalogue acquisitions
- Counseling regarding completion bond and bank financing
- Errors and omissions insurance counseling
- Negotiation of production, financing and distribution agreements and sales agency agreements
For our broadcast and media clients, we provide:
- Negotiation of the purchase and sale of cable systems, television and radio stations
- Advice and counsel on compliance with FCC rules, regulation and policy
- Negotiation of on-air talent agreements
- Representation regarding syndication of programming
- Day-to-day legal advice on programming, operations and employment issues
Representative transactions:
- Representation of a leading Internet-based film production company on bank and equity financings
- Sale of a large U.S. producer and distributor of television programming to a U.K. television broadcaster
- Formation and project financing of major national theme parks
- Joint venture of publicly held entertainment companies through exchange of equity securities
- Acquisition of a filmed entertainment and television production company and a leading theater chain through prepackaged bankruptcy by a major independent integrated entertainment company
- Public offering of securities of a major independent integrated entertainment company
- Sale of a major independent integrated entertainment company to an international entertainment and media company
- Acquisition of a series of entertainment-based toy manufacturers and distributors and the subsequent reorganization with a major publicly held toy and computer game company
- Acquisition by a publicly held filmed entertainment producer and distributor of another publicly held entertainment company by means of a tender offer
- Acquisition of a major concert and live venue entertainment company
- Visual effects consulting services agreement for a post-production studio
- International exclusive trademark license and distribution agreement for a sporting apparel company
- Content and technology license agreement for an entertainment software company
- Pre-litigation advice for a movie theater company regarding potential trade secret, trade dress and trademark infringement claims