THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER 59 MARCH 26, 2020
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overall deals for the industry’s top filmmakers — like
Steven Soderbergh’s cross-platform pact, which will
see the director create content for Warner Bros.,
HBO and HBO Max. The rep, who works with talent
including Viola Davis and Dev Patel, also negotiated
Barry Jenkins’ overall at Amazon, where he’s making
Underground Railroad.
If I could eat only one food forever, it’s
“Philly cheesesteak.”TA LE N T
Patti Felker
Felker Toczek
UC BERKELEY SCHOOL OF LAW
Amid discussions of coronavirus action plans, Felker
took a moment to share, “This is the year for overall
deals,” citing Umbrella Academy showrunner Steve
Blackman’s multiyear deal with Netflix and One
Day at a Time showrunner Gloria Calderón Kellett’s
deal at Amazon. Says Felker, whose recent signings
include Maggie Gyllenhaal and director NicoleRiegel, “I’ve been doing this since 1983, and you
finally have that feeling where women want women
to represent them.”
Hollywood’s 2020 priority “Making sure that they
have safe working environments.”TA LE N T
Sam Fischer
Ziffren Brittenham
UCLA SCHOOL OF LAW
Three of TV’s top shows will hit streamers thanks
to Fischer: The Simpsons at Disney+ on behalf
of client James L. Brooks; Friends at HBO Max,
for exec producers Kevin Bright, Marta Kauffman
and David Crane; and The Office at NBCUniversal,
for which he advised Greg Daniels. “The studios
recognize these are crown jewels,” Fischer says.
He also continues to rep the Obamas via their
Hollywood production company Higher Ground, as
well as Steve Levitan, Matt Damon, Joss Whedon
and Julia Louis-Dreyfus.TA LE N T
David Fox
Myman Greenspan
WESTERN STATE COLLEGE OF LAW
Fox’s clients broke new ground, with Christopher
McQuarrie signing on to write and direct two
Mission: Impossible movies, Leigh Whannell
rebooting Universal’s monster movies with The
Invisible Man and David Koepp writing his first
novel, which he’s now adapting. Other clients
include The Witcher creator Lauren Schmidt and
the prolific James Wan.
We’ve hit peak content when “I don’t see it happen-
ing soon. Content is more transient than ever, so the
demand for new content is increasing.”TA LE N T
Jeff Frankel
McKuin Frankel Whitehead
UCLA SCHOOL OF LAW
Frankel has spent the past year shoring up
overall deals for TV creators. He landed On My
Block co-creator Lauren Iungerich at Netflix, Little
America co-creator Lee Eisenberg at Apple and
New Girl creator Liz Meriwether at 20th Century
Fox TV. Plus, client Milo Ventimiglia will star in a
USA limited series as Evel Knievel (a childhood hero
of Frankel’s).
Hollywood’s 2020 priority “Harmony for all playing
in the sandbox.”LITIGATION
Bryan Freedman
Freedman & Taitelman
UNIV. OF THE PACIFIC MCGEORGE SCHOOL OF LAW
At the forefront of the burgeoning esports business,
Freedman is representing Turner “Tfue” Tenney,
a professional gamer and former member of
organization FaZe Clan, in his ongoing dispute
over an “oppressive” contract. “It’s the Wild West
in some respects,” says Freedman. Elsewhere he’s
representing Gabrielle Union in her fight against
America’s Got Talent over its alleged “racially
insensitive” workplace, as well as Megyn Kelly and
Jordan Belfort.TA LE N T
Matt Galsor
Greenberg Glusker
COLUMBIA LAW SCHOOL
Galsor orchestrated the deal for AMC’s The Walking
Dead movies for Universal. “I can’t think of another
example of a movie based on a TV show that’s still
ongoing and doing well,” he notes. Meanwhile, he
handled deals for Tom Cruise and Chris Hemsworth
in the Mission Impossible and Thor franchises,
respectively, and negotiated Amr Salama’s pact with
Netflix for an Arabic-language series — “they call
him the David Fincher of Egypt,” says Galsor.
We’ve hit peak content when “7-Eleven launches an
SVOD service.”TA LE N T
Jonathan Gardner
Cohen Gardner
UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA SCHOOL OF LAW
Gardner has a penchant for representing
buzzy directors, including Ryan Coogler and
Boots Riley. In the past year, there’s no one hotter
than Bong Joon Ho. The two began working
together after Snowpiercer’s 2013 release, so
Gardner saw every step of Parasite’s history-
making Oscars ride. He remains tantalizingly mum
about details of the HBO adaptation and Bong’s
next steps, saying, “There is a great number of
incoming calls, but he’s not really interested in
director-for-hire-type projects.”
If I could eat only one food forever, it’s “Scotch.”Leigh Brecheen and
Conan O’Brien were
photographed Feb. 5 on
the set of Conan at
Warner Bros. in Burbank.FoxFrankelFreedmanGalsorGardner10fea_lawyers1-17_L [P]{Print}_53606986.indd 59 3/25/20 10:37 AM