Entertainment law

This weeks post is about an attorney Jonathan Benezette. I decided to ask him a few questions about his practice, personal life, and some tips producing a film, commercial, music videos, etc.

I first asked Jon where he went to school and what types of law does he practice. He told me that he does all types of law from Personal injury, workers compensation, to social security. He has also worked with Entertainment attorneys and was very knowledgeable on the subject. I then asked him about his personal life. I was curious to see if his busy work life interfered with his personal life. He told me that you must be able to balance work with your personal life. John has been at the beach with his family and been called by one of his clients. He understands his responsibilities and knows that as a Lawyer he is always on call even at the most inconvenient times… (3am in the morning). Even though he has a very busy workload, he is happily married and has two awesome kids.

I then asked him some questions that I thought would help me with my future in film productions. My first question was how would I go about getting the rights to use public locations. Jon told me that every state had a film commission that I could visit and talk to. They would be able to give me contacts to receive permits. He told me to be very specific with what I was asking for in regards to the locations. Also ask for more then I need. It’s better to have more then less. He also recommended talking to the cities police station to hire off duty cops to monitor the shoot. With the police on your side you would not have any problems getting your production shut down.

Thank you for reading my latest blog post. If you would like to visits Jon Benezette’s website to use his services you can find him at the URL below

http://www.jonbenezettelaw.com/

Film Law

Greetings Bloggers,

For this post I will be talking about legal problems that can occur in the film and entertainment industries. There are several things that can go wrong on your side as the filmmaker or the opposing side being the client. Having a well thought out and written contract will lessen the chances of legal troubles with your business deals…

Steven Spielberg has a pretty famous case that is still yet to be settled. DreamWorks pictures decided to break off their distribution contract with Paramount. Spielberg is one of the owners of DreamWorks and Universal is tied to Paramount. This created an issue between Spielberg and Universal. There was a Noncompete agreement as well as a lifetime of royalties promised to Spielberg in his contract with Universal. This split will be negotiated until 2017!

A film production company “After Dark Films” has filed a lawsuit with the Iowa Film commission. The Reason behind this was that the state did not provide the amount of tax credits to the filmmakers as promised. Iowa’s taxpayers were not happy about spending their tax money on shooting movies.

Now I was checking out the video copilot blog and found some people talking about Noncompete agreements. Something I did not know was that they are illegal in California; where the majority of the film industry is located. That’s good to know if that is where I plan on working before I start my own business. The bloggers on this message board all were very against signing a Noncompete agreement. This contract can break you if you ever decide to leave a business. It creates commitment with the company but then you have nothing to fall back on if your relationship with your current job goes south.

Thanks for reading everyone! I hope you learned something about law and the film industry. If your interested in Music and Film follow me on twitter!

http://twitter.com/#!/GetRyanSheehy


Spielberg Consulting issues

http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/10/20/spielberg-to-continue-consulting-with-universal-about-its-theme-parks/

DES MOINES, USA – Film Production

http://www.filmindustrynetwork.biz/state-forced-to-pay-434000-to-film-production-company-for-fraud/6540


Noncompete agreement
http://www.videocopilot.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=57167

Richard Branson

This week I will be doing my Artist and Product Management blog post on the CEO of Virgin, Richard Branson. Richard is one of worlds most well known and influential entrepreneur’s of all time. He started as a trouble making young man in high school to one of the world’s richest men owning dozens of his own original companies. He does not manage a single artist or product. He manages hundreds of managers who then manage his companies for him.
Richard’s leadership qualities started at a young age. When Richard was in high school he started a student magazine at his boarding school. He was a natural born leader. Along with Leadership Richard’s second most outstanding quality was the ability to have fun. Sometimes his fun would get him into a bit of trouble. While still in high school he got caught inside the Dean of his boarding schools house sleeping with his daughter. This almost got him expelled until he wrote a fake suicide letter that made him exempt from the expulsion. On Richards’s diploma upon graduating high school his dean wrote him a small note.

“Congratulations, Branson. I predict you will either go to prison or become a millionaire”.

From this point in his life Richard decided that he wanted to pursue music management. Richard started his first record label Virgin Records. One of the first artist Virgin Records recorded was the Sex Pistols in 1977. Today Virgin records signs some of the top artists in the entertainment industry. Virgin signs some major mainstream band such as 30 seconds to mars, Gorillaz, The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, Saosin, and the Spice girls.

Richard Branson is an innovator. He brings joy and fun to all oh his products. From Virgin records, to Virgin mobile, Richard incorporates sex into his businesses, which motivate younger crowds to buy his products in turn creating a following.

I hope you enjoyed my latest blog post.
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References

http://www.virgin.com/richard-branson/

Jesse Moore: Artist Manager

For This weeks blog post I decided to contact a friend of mine Jesse Moore who graduated from Full Sail University not too long ago. He is now the manager for an up and coming band Called Stockholm. I asked Jesse some questions that I had that would help me if I wanted to become an artist manager. I had a phone interview with him and this is everything that he had to say.

Q: What made you want to become an artist manager?

A: It’s really the music scene that motivated me to be an artist manager. I’m really not talented when it comes to music. So the best way to be apart of the industry for me was taking up the business side.

Q: Do you go after the artist that you enjoy listening too? Like would you manage a country singer if you didn't like country?

A: Yes I do prefer to manage bands that I enjoy listening to. I have to know this band inside and out. If I don’t enjoy what I’m listening too I wouldn’t exactly enjoy my job.

Q: Do you have a breaking price? If a country band gave you enough money would you manage them?

A: Well I guess you can put a price on about anything. If it was a big name country artist and I was going to be paid out the nose then I guess I would manage a country band.

Q: What stress you out the most about this job?

A: You must have a very open line of communication with the band that you are managing. Most music guys are big into the party scene. It’s very stressful when a no one answers their phone and you know they were drinking the night before.
Independent bands that are used to producing themselves are also a hassle. They want a manager but then try to manage themselves.

Q: Whats your favorite genre of music?

A: I like Hardcore and Metal music.

Q: What are your main responsibilities as an artist manager?

A: My main responsibilities with Stockholm are Promotions, Organizing and Booking. Once they become a bit bigger we will then hire a booking agent. I organize their recordings and all promotions from posters to face book to music videos.

Q: Do you have any tips for a starting artist manager?

A: Start out only managing band. Its a lot more work then you think. Problems come up that you wont expect and it’s a bit easier to manage 5 guys then 10. Once you learn the ropes with one band then maybe you will be ready to manage multiple bands. Always have a plan B no matter what situation is. And Keep an Open line of communication between you and the artist. Make sure that you are able to talk to them every day. If you lose track of them things will go down hill from there.


This whole conversation was done on the phone while I was taking notes. Everything written is a summary of what Jesse said. Very little is directly quoting Jesse. I hope you enjoyed reading my latest post!

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Robby Starbuck - Interview

So this week my blog topic is negotiation. When it comes to music videos or really any kind of video, you will have clients. These clients are going to want the lowest price but the most bang for their buck. You might also find yourself negotiating about payment plans, concepts, editing, and timing for deliverables. These are only a few things that you must discuss with your clients in order to have a successful production.
I was able to talk to Robby Starbuck and ask him a few questions about his past, how he became a music video director, and how he deals with his clients. Robby started producing his own live performance videos for some of his favorite bands. He produced great content in order to build himself a reputation. After shooting for the fun, bands began to pay him to create more creative works of art. Robby stated, “My business is built around having a solid reputation that is created through actions not words.” This is meaningful in a way that relates to his status in the film and entertainment industry. Clients feel safe investing their money into Robby’s films because they know that his reputation is for producing exceptional content.
I also questioned Robby about his relationship with his clients. He says that he likes to affiliates himself with his clients through phone calls, meetings, lunches, etc. Not only does he build a relationship with his clients but also other film industry professionals. He is very easy going and great at giving advice to his clients and other filmmakers, including myself!
I hope you Enjoyed reading my Blog post! Underneath is a link to Robby’s website where you can check out more of his work. Also if you’re interested in reading more of my blogs you can follow me here on blogger or twitter!


Robby's Official Website
http://www.robbystarbuck.com/

My Twitter
https://twitter.com/#!/GetRyanSheehy

Kirby Ferguson - Everything is a Remix

So this guy Kirby makes a great point when it comes to modern Hollywood Blockbuster films. Kirby creatively lays down the fact about entertainment. None of the material or the thoughts in his video is opinionated. They are facts backed up with proof. This concept of lacking or in some films no originality is not new, Kirby put his spin to the case and goes in depth from shot composition, storyline, to oddball oddities that no non filmmaker really pays any attention to.

Kirby takes notice to the subject but does not bash or criticize it in anyway. He states in the beginning of his video blog that audiences take on to subjects, films, and entertaining content that seems familiar to them. This is why the top selling box office films are typically sequels, remakes, or an idea or concept spawned from something different. Trends in filmmaking become trends because the content is made to suit an audience. For an example hot guys are placed in movies to attract young girls. The fan bases for the twilight movies are crazy. Every young girl wants to be on team Edward or Team Jacob. That was a tactic of the past that was adapted through out time. Also while speaking of the movie Twilight the movie was taken from the popular twilight books written by Stephenie Meyer.

Another reason why these remakes are produced is due to the complications of creating completely original content. This is not an easy thing to do because the human mind draws from thing that it already knows. There is so much content out there that it isn’t easy to do something that hasn’t already been done. Another reason is the audiences. Most audiences wont see something that they haven’t heard of. Some thing that isn’t popular won’t generally make a lot in the box office.

All in all, Kirby’s got a great video blog. He comes out with a new one every season and he is currently on his 3rd. They are like mini TV shows on the Internet. I recommend them!
http://vimeo.com/19447662

Enjoy my page and my blogs!
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Music videos With A-list talent and Crew!

I read a very interesting article title “How MTV Plans to Resurrect Music Videos (Hint: By Financing Them)” This article particularly interests me because I am a lover of music and I am a music video director. You can find this article at the link provided below.

http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2010/11/how_mtv_plans_to_resurrect_mus.html

This Article speaks about music videos taking a step forward in the film industry. Big name Directors are starting to collaborate with bands during their down time to produce very story heavy music videos. An example of this would be some of Lady GaGas newest videos such as “Telephone”. MTV is planning to Finance these short films / music videos with a lot larger budget then they have been in previous years. One of the main differences from these music videos to past one would be the use of A-list talent. They want these videos to be of the greatest quality and for the audience to want to watch and re-watch these films. A quote from Gale in this article says "I really do approach these more as films than music videos,” Telling a story is what these directors are born to do. That’s why a lot of music video music video directors often transition to Hollywood blockbuster films. A big name in both industries would be Michael Bay. Michael started off his career creating music videos. His stories and creativity showed in his productions. Eventually a production company signed him and he was off Directing The Transformers Series.

This Article excites me for my future in the film industry. I know that I wont always get to work on the projects that are creative and exciting; such as commercials for toothpaste or other jobs that I wont necessarily have a huge creative input. This article is making a larger number of jobs for filmmakers to produce quality music videos.
I hope this Article review was informative to you everyone. Stop by in a few weeks for my next Film industry blog post.