Entertainment attorneys describe lessons learned
Whether planning to represent prominent actors, directors and producers, or work with major corporations such as the Walt Disney Company, Sony Pictures Entertainment or ICM Partners, USC Gould students recently received a glimpse into the life of an entertainment lawyer at a recent event sponsored by the Entertainment Law Society.
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| From left: Nadine Youssef '99, Scott Edel '86, Tybalt Whitney '99, Alan Levine '71 and Noel Lohr '90 |
The event, “A Day in the Life of An Entertainment Attorney,” featured five industry professionals: Nadine Youssef ’99, Scott Edel ’86, Tybalt Whitney ’99, Alan Levine ’71 and Noel Lohr ’90.
The panelists began by telling students how they were able to build their careers in entertainment and what key lessons they learned along the way.
First on the panel was Youssef, who works as senior counsel at the Walt Disney Company. Youssef began her career working with Pillsbury as a bankruptcy lawyer, two years after graduating from USC Gould.
Youssef stressed the importance of developing one’s skills. Although she began in bankruptcy, she was able to parlay her strong legal skills into a job she enjoyed more in the field of entertainment.
“It’s the amount of skills you build and the skill set you develop in a really great law firm, big or small, that will last you for the rest of your career,” Youssef said.
Edel works with Loeb & Loeb’s Los Angeles office, representing major film and television studios, as well as writers, directors and producers. Edel said he began as a summer clerk and from there was able to get a position as an entertainment lawyer.
Although Edel briefly left the practice of law to work in other parts of the entertainment industry, he went back to working with a big firm and said he enjoys what he’s doing.
“I [first] wasn’t sure the law school life was for me,” Edel said. “I dabbled in a couple other activities working at a film company, working at a music management company, and those two experiences proved to me that I was suited to practicing law and not anything else.”
Tybalt Whitney works for ICM Partners as head of television business affairs. Although he knew he wanted to be a talent representative, he started at Loeb & Loeb doing corporate work for entertainment clients.
“[Employers within the entertainment industry] would like you to get the skill set of being able to draft, to talk and to be able to articulate positions inside and outside the law firm,” Whitney said.
Levine, who served as president of Sony Pictures Entertainment from 1989 to 1996, is managing partner at Canon Media Partners and serves as a lecturer at the law school. Although Levine started at a law firm, he later moved into business management.
“I realized that in order to be in the entertainment world… I had to develop a lot of different and very diverse skills and they were on every side of the practice,” Levine said.
Lohr, a business consultant and film industry lawyer, did not set out to become an entertainment lawyer but instead began her career at a corporate law firm. She became interested in entertainment law when she was working next door to an entertainment office.
“[Entertainment] was just more interesting than any of the other work I was doing,” Lohr said. “I started to transition more and more into that as the opportunities presented themselves.”
According to the panelists, building relationships and creating a network of contacts is key to becoming an entertainment lawyer.
“Keep in contact with colleagues; keep in contact with friends,” Whitney said. “That is how you are going to hear about and find opportunities down the line.”
The speakers also stressed the importance of getting your foot in the door, whether starting as an assistant, doing well in a corporate firm and then presenting yourself as an entertainment lawyer. But they also emphasized the importance of finding a job that will give one the best opportunities.
“If I had thought when I had graduated law school too much about where I had wanted to be 25 years from now, it would have been overwhelming,” Lohr said. “But I thought about that first job and what would be the best first job to get me what I wanted at that time.”
The panelists agreed that even if you don’t start in the entertainment field, the training received at a corporate law firm could provide the skillset needed to work in your field of choice.
“[It’s] the advantage you have of entering the marketplace as a lawyer,” Levine said. “Because instead of sitting at [an employer’s] desk…you can skip the mailroom and go right into the executive job.”
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