Saturday December 14th 2013
4:30 pm – 5:30pm EDT (GMT -5)
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These three legal professionals will talk about many of the legal issues involving content and filming. With some great stories from the films Borat, Muscle Shoals, Big Boys Gone Bananas, and Searching For Sugar Man, these will explode the myths about what contributor agreements should look like, what constitutes fair use in film, and what to do and not to do when shooting your film. This panel is sure to be both informative and entertaining.
Russell Smith – Partner at SmithDehn LLP (Los Angeles |New York |Washington DC | London| India)
A Columbia Law School graduate and one of the founding partners of the media and entertainment law firm SmithDehn LLP, Russell Smith has over 26 years of experience in counseling and representing filmmakers, production companies, and studios. Dubbed “The Maharaja of Media” by The American Lawyer magazine, Russell has counseled and/or represented some of the most high-profile companies in the world, including such film industry examples as Paramount Pictures, HBO, Sony Pictures Entertainment, 20th Century Fox Film Corporation, Media Rights Capital, ITV, and Channel 4 (UK). In particular, he has been production and claims counsel for such legally difficult films as “Searching for Sugar Man,” “Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan,” “Bruno,” and “Death of a President,” to name just a few.
Lincoln Bandlow – Attorney – Lathrop & Gage LLP (Los Angeles, CA)
Mr. Bandlow practices sophisticated business litigation and specializes in litigating media, First Amendment, intellectual property and other entertainment related matters. He represents clients in the motion picture, television, publishing, broadcasting, internet and advertising fields. In addition, Mr. Bandlow represents several of the principal underwriters for the entertainment industry.
Mr. Bandlow’s prior experience also includes his working in the Legal and Business Affairs Department for The Carsey-Werner Company, a television production company. He has litigated and tried cases in both state and federal courts in matters involving claims for copyright infringement, defamation, right of publicity, right of privacy, trademark infringement and related claims. He also acts as clearance counsel for studios, documentary filmmakers, publishers and other entities and individuals in the entertainment and media communities.
Mr. Bandlow is a frequent speaker on media and intellectual property issues and has written numerous articles for legal publications regarding media law and intellectual property. He was the president of the Los Angeles Copyright Society during its 2005-2006 term. In addition to practicing law, Mr. Bandlow has been a visiting professor at the Annenberg School of Journalism at the University of Southern California since the Spring of 1995, teaching graduate and undergraduate courses in Media and Entertainment Law. He also serves as a judge each year for the Pepperdine Law School Entertainment Law Moot Court competition and is a frequent guest speaker for USC Law School and Loyola Law School.
Abhinav Chandan – Attorney – SmithDehn (India)
Abhinav Chandan graduated from one of India’s finest law schools – the National University of Juridical Sciences (NUJS). While at law school, Abhinav gained practical experience in handling diverse U.S. legal issues as an intern, researcher, trainer, and eventually a project manager for a U.S. based legal off-shoring company, before joining SmithDehn INDIA. In a short span of six months, he grew to become a key member of the SmithDehn INDIA team and is now the Director – Commercial Transaction Services. Abhinav is a “pro” at handling commercial contract drafting, review and negotiation for U.S. and U.K. technology, IT, media and entertainment transactions. He has served as the sole business affairs counsel for several productions, working with some of the most well known producers, artists, studios and networks, and has been individually credited in many of them, including “Muscle Shoals” and “Los Wild Ones”, among others.
MODERATOR – JAIME BYRD – Director, and producer
Jaime Byrd is the founder of Blind Lyle FIlms where her skills have resulted in multiple awards for her production work including a Best Cinematography award for her recent music video work.
She produced the show, TALKER, starring Jay Thomas, Tim Mattheson, and Sharon Lawrence, which won best comedy, best actor, and best directing at the LA Int’l TV awards in 2011.
Jaime has worked for almost a decade in the film, video, and editing medium. Immersing herself in what has been an ever-changing world of digital and new media, she has mastered the art of capturing the moment and painting with light.
She is currently producing a feature film, set in the Appalachian mountains of NC starring HBO’s True Blood star, Carrie Preston.