Friday October 14th Workshops and Schedule
Workshop A - Overview of Film Legal Issues 1pm - 2:30 pm
By Peter Levitan
OVERVIEW OF FILM LEGAL ISSUES
1. Importance of finding the right lawyer
2. Rights acquisition: Option/purchase of existing work; commission of original work; the work-for-hire doctrine; and life story rights
3. Development: Writer employment agreements
4. Financing: Equity vs. debt financing; securities law restrictions; business plans and PPMs; negative pickup deals, presales and bank financing; co-productions and co-financings; production incentives
5. Production: Choice of entity; talent agreements; production insurance
Peter Levitan is an entertainment and general business attorney in Sherman Oaks, CA, specializing in entertainment financing, production, distribution and copyright law. He has represented individual indie producers, writers and directors as well as major studios, mini-majors, banks, distributors, investor groups, insurers and numerous other U.S. and overseas production companies.
After practicing at major law firms in New York and Los Angeles, Mr. Levitan joined 20th Century Fox, where he oversaw the legal work on the studio’s financings, in addition to various productions and special projects. While at Fox, he worked on over 40 films, including “Titanic,” “X-Men,” “Cast Away,” “Courage Under Fire,” “Moulin Rouge,” “Independence Day,” “The Crucible,” “Quills,” “Nell” and “The Full Monty,” just to name a few. He also oversaw the largest film financing at the time, Fox’s $1 billion securitized facility with Citibank, which created a new model for film financing subsequently adopted by several other studios and mini-majors.
After Fox, Mr. Levitan served as Executive Vice President for Business and Legal Affairs at Intermedia Films, where he worked on “Terminator 3,” “K-19: The Widowmaker” and “K-PAX,” then started his own practice in 2002.
He graduated from the Columbia Law School, where he was a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar, Notes Editor of the Journal of Art and the Law, and research assistant to Judge Jack B. Weinstein. He is a member of the California and New York State bars, the Executive Committee of the Entertainment Law Section of the Beverly Hills Bar Association, and the Los Angeles County Bar Association (Intellectual Property & Entertainment Law Section).
Mr. Levitan’s publications include “A Primer of Selected Copyright Concerns in Motion Picture Practice” (Clark Boardman Co. Ltd., 1990), Financing Entertainment Industry Ventures (Loyola Law School, 2006), Protecting Film Industry Clients: When the Only Certainty is Uncertainty (Valley Lawyer, 2009), and Risk Management in Entertainment Financing: Do We Know What We Don’t Know? (Beverly Hills Bar Association, 2010). He also writes a blog on the entertainment industry and legal issues, at http://tinyurl.com/3284yhl.
Mr. Levitan is also an adjunct professor at Loyola Law School, where he teaches a course on entertainment financing, covering the financing of film, television, music, theatre and new media, the first such course at an American law school. He has also given workshops and taught classes on film financing and other legal topics for the Institute for International Film Financing, USC's Master of Professional Writing Program, California Lawyers for the Arts and the American Jewish University.
Location is at El Torito Grill - 9595 Wilshire Boulevard, Beverly Hills, CA 90210
Guests will get 20% off their meals. Must RSVP to mp@luckybagfilms.com
Workshop B - DSLR Filmmaking 3 pm - 4:30pm
Join Samy's EDU Director Michael Britt for a 2 hour intensive overview of HDSLR filmmaking. Michael is an author of the recently published book PhotoCine: DSLR Filmmaking and he will be using this book as the basis for this seminar.
Learn how to get the most from your HDSLR camera including how to stabilize and accessorize your shooting rig for a successful outcome. Canon 5D MKII menu set up will be covered in a step by step fashion. This seminar will also feature hardware such as Redrock Micro Field Cinema rig used a hand-held shoulder configuration and mounted on a Manfrotto Fluid tripod head for demo purposes. This seminar is for anyone who doesn't want to get left behind during this small camera video revolution.
Location is at SFIXIO - 9737 Santa Monica Boulevard, Beverly Hills, CA 90210
Guests will get complimentary iced tea and regular coffee. Must RSVP to mp@luckybagfilms.com
