Former Warner Bros. executive leads two-day seminar
-Gilien Silsby
John Schulman, the new executive director of USC’s Entertainment Law Program, brought Hollywood to USC Law recently, giving students a rare look at how studio deals are made and broken.
Schulman, a former Warner Bros. executive, kicked off the Entertainment Law Program with the two-day clinic, “Talent Negotiations: From Screen Test to Settlement” featuring an array of high-powered studio executives, attorneys and agents.
More than 130 law students signed up for the seminar, among the highest ever for a one-unit course at USC Gould School of Law.
The course provided a glimpse into the daily life of studio and talent lawyers and showed students the importance of a lawyer's image, the benefits of understanding corporate accounting, and the existence of multiple negotiation styles and strategies.
“I want to show you – up close and personal - the life cycle of a generic acting deal from casting to disputes over royalties,” Schulman told the students on the first day of the seminar. “You’re going to witness it all.”
Top entertainment attorneys and studio executives, including Maren Christensen ‘76, of Universal Studios; Norman Aladjem of Paradigm; and David Stanley of Weissman Wolff, role-played how talent negotiations are crafted – from the actor’s screen test to final financial settlements.
“There is no right or wrong in negotiating a deal,” Stanley said. “Sometimes the best outcome is making no deal at all… One of the hardest things you’ll have to face is the huge amount of paperwork. This comes before anyone has a chance to make a TV show or movie.”
After the paperwork is understood and digested, negotiating the best deal for clients often involves knowing what the person across the table is thinking, Aladjem said.
“There is a lot of psychology involved in negotiations,” Aladjem said. “The fun comes in figuring out what is their agenda and getting into the mind of the person on the other side. If you don’t treat them with dignity and honor, what are they going to try to do the next time? Kill you. So, it’s vital that the person you’re negotiating with believes they’re getting the better end of the deal.”
After students were introduced to negotiating techniques, they broke into pairs, and came up with contract terms for the fictional struggling veteran actress, Kim Kendall, in a move called "My Avatar's Blindside – The Musical."
They hammered out their own proposals and presented their deals to the studio executives and classmates.
"We were able to see how lawyers are utilized during each step of a contract's formation and execution," said Dan Koffman ‘10. “It was a great look at how the entertainment industry works.”??Students also discussed disputes that arise after the fact, and the steps and issues involved in litigation.
"The seminar gave a broad look into different legal issues currently affecting the entertainment industry, including relationships between agents and clients and contract negotiations,” said Marat Massen ‘10.
The two-day seminar is just a taste of what’s to come when the fully expanded Entertainment Law program launches in the fall.
Schulman plans to offer a combination of law, business and entertainment classes, which will be held at the law school, USC’s School of Cinematic Arts and Marshall School of Business.
“I want to give students practical information about the entertainment law world. The goal is for USC Law students to graduate with more context and perspective in the field of entertainment,” said Schulman, who oversaw the Warner Bros. legal department for more than 20 years.
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