Definition of Entertainment Law
Contracts with intermediaries Successful artists are surrounded by many people who are responsible for improving and protecting their careers. Unknown artists use the services of these intermediaries to help them introduce more powerful personalities in the entertainment industry. Intermediaries have different names and functions, but all serve to promote an artist`s visibility and success in the industry. For this service, they usually take a percentage of an artist`s income or a portion of the artist`s property rights to the artist`s creations. It is also beneficial to keep in mind that the rights and regulations for, for example, filming on-site in one state can vary greatly from state to state. Therefore, it`s a good idea to find an entertainment lawyer who is familiar with legal issues not only related to your specific part of the industry, but also wherever your project takes place. Most entertainment lawyers have a creative background that has led them to their careers, whether as musicians, artists or filmmakers, Parron says. However, he notes that entertainment law inherently requires a lawyer to be “entrepreneurial” and “enterprising” almost more than any other area of law. Whether it`s paying attention to copyright infringement or signing contracts, an entertainment needs lawyer provides a variety of legal advice on many facets of creative projects. It`s all part of understanding what an entertainment lawyer does and answering the question, “Do I need an entertainment lawyer?” The entertainment industry includes theatre, film, visual arts, dance, opera, music, literary publishing, television and radio. These estates have a common mission to sell or profit from creative works or services of writers, songwriters, musicians and other artists.
However, while lawyers observe a collaborative creative process, it`s important to remember that working on the legal side of entertainment is not entertainment. “The lawyer`s role is to facilitate the creation of works of art, not the work itself,” Campbell explains. Entertainment law is made up of many different types of law. Contract law, labor law, transaction law and other types of law combine in the field of entertainment law. Lawyers who practice entertainment law help their clients understand the laws and regulations that apply to them. They help their clients negotiate agreements and resolve disputes as they arise. For example, an unscrupulous lawyer may try to charge you for unnecessary legal reviews, a process that would actually be covered once a contract is negotiated for your project. For this reason, it can be helpful if a manager, agent, and entertainment lawyer are separate members of your team. It`s always good to remember the basic criteria that relate to what an entertainment lawyer is so you can judge what someone offers. Entertainment producers must comply with a number of rules and regulations. The Federal Communications Commission creates regulations that apply to the entertainment industry.
For example, there are FCC restrictions that prevent radio and television companies from having too much control over a geographic market. If a radio or television station gives time to a political candidate on air, it must give the other political candidates the same opportunities. Entertainment companies rely on lawyers to help them comply with the myriad of regulations that oversee the entertainment and communications industry. Other entertainment industries use short-term personal service contracts instead of option agreements. For example, film studios often contract with actors, directors, screenwriters, and other creative artists on a single-film basis. Short-term agreements allow studios to avoid guaranteed fees to artists whose market could dissolve overnight. In the early days of the film industry, studios engaged stars in long-term deals. This system changed in the 1940s when some stars charged higher fees than the studios were willing to pay. These stars demanded and then received contracts for a single film for their services, which became the norm. The television industry, on the other hand, still uses long-term deals for its talents in many areas. Entertainment lawyers are both transactional lawyers and litigators. While some entertainment lawyers do everything, most lawyers who practice entertainment law specialize in a subset of entertainment law.
Since transactional law and litigation can be complex, most lawyers find it convenient to specialize in some kind of entertainment law. While many entertainment lawyers practice exclusively entertainment law, some lawyers may only appear occasionally as part of a broader practice of contract law or litigation. A new format called MP3 (Motion Picture Experts Group-1 Audio Layer 3), which can compress and store high-quality digital music in a tenth of the space where a CD can store it, has recently had a significant legal impact on the entertainment industry. Access to this digitized music is widespread and growing rapidly. Electronic distribution and digitization of music have the potential to drastically reduce royalties for artists. With so many types of entertainment rights to choose from, the work can be very varied. Perdomo notes that lawyers can work as in-house lawyers for entertainment companies and as paralegals, employees and partners of law firms. Lawyers with an artistic background can even move on to roles as music editors, licensing agents, and production consultants. When you know how to find an entertainment lawyer, word of mouth can be all you need to be referred to a trusted entertainment lawyer. But if you don`t know anyone in your discipline who already has an entertainment lawyer recommended by them, this article on the best law firms for the entertainment industry is a great resource.