THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER 55 MARCH 26, 2020
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SUBJECT.into Tinseltown. He repped Pokémon in adapt-
ing Detective Pikachu and negotiated toy brand
Spin Master’s growing expansion into film and TV,
including a PAW Patrol animated feature. Says Black,
“That old adage of all roads lead to Rome, well, most
entertainment roads lead to Hollywood.”
Hollywood’s 2020 priority “Equality in
the workplace.”TA LE N T
Gordon Bobb
Del Shaw
COLUMBIA LAW SCHOOL
“We’re in the business of building careers, not just
doing transactions,” says Bobb, who negotiated Ava
DuVernay’s eight-figure Netflix pact after her Emmy-
winning When They See Us. Meanwhile, Pose’s Janet
Mock became the first transgender woman to lock in
a multimillion-dollar overall deal at Netflix, and Lena
Waithe landed an overall at Amazon Studios.
My biggest challenge now is “Dealing with circum-
stances outside of my control, like the WGA-ATA
fight or the coronavirus.”TA LE N T
Leigh Brecheen
Brecheen Feldman
ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF LAW
See page 58.LITIGATION
Andrew Brettler
Lavely & Singer
BROOKLYN LAW SCHOOL
Since the dawn of #MeToo, Brettler has been one of
the busiest attorneys in town, representing clients
including Bryan Singer, Danny Masterson and Ryan
Adams. He also recently took the reins on Chris
Brown’s defense (he’s accused of facilitating a sexual
assault). Outside of #MeToo matters, Brettler helped
extinguish the media wildfire that engulfed Kevin
Hart after his life-threatening automobile accident.
If I could eat only one food forever, it’s “Coffee.”TA LE N T
Harold Brown
Gang Tyre
UC BERKELEY SCHOOL OF LAW
“Subject to God knows what happens with this virus,”
Brown says, Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale are
taking their Back to the Future musical to the West
End and George Miller is gearing up for the latest
Mad Max film and Three Thousand Years of Longing.
He also inked Steven Spielberg’s deal for West Side
Story and Stephen King’s for HBO’s adaptation of
The Outsider.
If I could eat only one food forever, it’s “Doughnuts.
And I probably could, but it would be a short life.”CORPORATE
Joseph Calabrese
Latham & Watkins
CORNELL LAW SCHOOL
After Parasite’s surprise Oscar success, Calabrese
closed a $275 million deal in which client Skydance
Media received an investment from the film’s studio,
CJ Entertainment, and Red Bird Capital Partners. He
also extended HFPA’s TV deal for the Golden Globes
with NBC through 2026 and advised the International
Olympic Committee on multiple matters.
Please reboot Weekend at Bernie’sLITIGATION
Dale Cendali
Kirkland & Ellis
HARVARD LAW SCHOOL
Cendali has helped Fortnite developer Epic Games
ward off a number of copyright lawsuits fromBobbBrecheenBrettlerBrownCalabreseCendalisame question: “Am I going to get paid?”
The answer isn’t so simple. Events of
force majeure traditionally give studios
latitude to make decisions they can say
were motivated by the incident. “During
a force majeure, your compensation
is typically suspended. And then after
that period, which is usually about eight
weeks, the employer can terminate [the
contract] if it doesn’t look like it’s going
to go anywhere,” says attorney Linda
Lichter, whose client Niki Caro had her
film Mulan’s relea se pushed back amid
the frenzy. “If we actually get to this
stuff, which God forbid we don’t, it’s
going to be a fucking mess.”
During the 2007-08 strike, the last
time there was a major work stoppage,
studios used their newfound power to
kill certain unproductive deals, and
there’s already chatter about whether
they might do it again. “We always
knew the Writers Guild strike, should
it happen, could be the basis for stu-
dios terminating deals,” says attorney
Jamie Mandelbaum, who represents
several showrunners with overall pacts.
“Perhaps the coronavirus will provide
the studios with the same opportunity.”
For those who aren’t under overall
deals, there’s even less certainty. Say
you’re an actor on a television show that
suspended production before the seasoncould be finished. Do you get paid for
the episodes you didn’t shoot? Most
dealmakers agree studios wouldn’t
be obligated to pay for episodes that
weren’t actually filmed. That’s because
contractually most actors get paid for
all episodes “produced,” and studios
often define that as episodes in the can.
But just because studios aren’t obli-
gated to pay doesn’t mean they aren’t
doing so. For instance, a source says
NBC has committed to compensating
its Saturday Night Live employees for
their three weeks off. And Netflix set up
a $100 million coronavirus relief fund
for the industry’s hardest-hit workers.
However, with the chances high that
those short-term delays may become
indefinite, some are wondering just
how long studios can postpone proj-
ects without violating contracts. “If we
assume this lasts six months, clients,
especially actors, will start asking when
they can ‘get out’ of their contracts,”
notes one rep, who suggests that unions
should work with studios to clear up
the ambiguity. “But where the fuck else
are they going to find work during a
pandemic? Are there a bunch of projects
hiring actors on the moon?”Late night hosts, including Stephen Colbert, seen here
taping his March 12 show, are performing sans audience
or filming new monologues from home.‘Am I Going to Get Paid During the Pandemic?’
10fea_lawyers1-17_L [P]{Print}_53606986.indd 55 3/25/20 10:35 AM