THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER 67 MARCH 26, 2020
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Illustrations by Zohar LazarCORPORATE
Christopher Spicer
A k i n G u mp
GEORGETOWN LAW
Spicer’s work as the lead lawyer for Comerica Bank
helped bring the massive hit Joker to the big screen
(he closed a $100 million revolving credit facility to
Bron Studios to co-finance a slate of Warner Bros.
films including the R-rated $1 billion earner). Though
Hollywood-China transactions have largely dried up,
Spicer finalized several on behalf of East West Bank
including Perfect Universe’s film-slate financing deal
with Universal and Bona Film Group’s investment
in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, as well as CBS’
partnership with Nina Tassler.
Hollywood’s 2020 priority “Resolving the WGA-
talent agency situation.”LITIGATION
Kathleen Sullivan
Quinn Emanuel
HARVARD LAW SCHOOL
Sullivan, a former Stanford Law School dean, lever-
aged her Silicon Valley connections and became
a forceful voice shaping law. She’s involved in the
marathon battle between Mattel and MGA, had a key
case before the Supreme Court over whether North
Carolina has sovereign immunity from a filmmaker’s
copyright claims and is seeking to reverse a decision
allowing the Friday the 13th screenwriter to reclaim
franchise rights from the film’s producer.
If I could eat only one food forever, it’s “Should say
something else, but it’s steak.”CORPORATE
Matthew Thompson
Sidley Austin
UC HASTINGS COLLEGE OF THE LAW
“It’s hard to survive as an independent producer
and distributor in today’s market if you’re not part
of a broader organization,” says Thompson, who
represented Entertainment One’s management in
its $3.8 billion acquisition by Hasbro. The attorney
also helped Rian Johnson and Ram Bergman form
T-Street and enter into a joint venture with MRC, and
advised Dwayne Johnson and Dany Garcia in the for-
mation of Siete Bucks Spirits as part of their recent
Teremana tequila launch.
Hollywood’s 2020 priority “Making sure we all
recover well from the current unsettled times.”CORPORATE
Bruce Tobey
O’Melveny & Myers
UCLA SCHOOL OF LAW
Tobey put together a complex deal for ViacomCBS’
stake in Miramax, weaving together an M&A contract
with an operating agreement as well as giving
Paramount the right to distribute Miramax’s library.
He helped negotiate Bona Film Group’s investment in
Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
and CBS’ partnership with Nina Tassler and Denise
Di Novi’s indie production banner PatMa, which
includes a first-look deal for shows like the upcoming
American Martyrs. “I think we’ll see more of these as
distribution platforms need more and more products
to feed their pipelines,” Tobey says.
Hollywood’s 2020 priority “Stay relevant. There’s a
lot of competition for consumers’ time and eyeballs.”TA LE N T
Fred Toczek
Felker Toczek
USC GOULD SCHOOL OF LAW
Toczek balances his growing list of television play-
ers (Bill Hader saw a renegotiation for Barry, Seth
Rogen and Evan Goldberg’s Point Grey Pictures
continues making inroads in setting up comic bookproperties, Jon Bokenkamp added an eighth season
to The Blacklist) with his growing list of emerging
stars such as Anya Taylor-Joy (Emma) and Kaitlyn
Dever (Unbelievable).
Please reboot Harry PotterTA LE N T
Steve Warren
Hansen Jacobson
HARVARD LAW SCHOOL
A go-to rep for A-list movie stars, Warren crafted
deals for Leonardo DiCaprio to reunite with Martin
Scorsese in Killers of the Flower Moon, Charlize
Theron to star in her first Netflix film, The Old Guard,
and Colin Farrell to play the villain Penguin in The
Batman. The talent attorney, who reps Millie Bobby
Brown, Constance Wu, Jessica Chastain and bothFanning sisters, also struck a deal with CBS for Drew
Barrymore’s daytime talk show.
Hollywood’s 2020 priority “To do whatever possible
to unite our country and get us on a path of empathy,
inclusivity and compassion during our election.”TA LE N T
David Weber
Sloane Offer
USC GOULD SCHOOL OF LAW
Weber’s clients won back-to-back best actor tro-
phies at the Oscars: first, Rami Malek for Bohemian
Rhapsody and then Joaquin Phoenix for Joker. The
attorney set up the former’s deal to star as the villain
in the upcoming James Bond movie No Time to Die.
Weber also reps actors Ryan Reynolds and Alison Brie,
along with directors David Ayer and Jean-Marc Vallée.THR’s Legal Legends
SEVEN ATTORNEYS (PLUS A FEW MORE) WHOSE
ACCOMPLISHMENTS IN THE INDUSTRY HAVE EARNED
THEM LIFETIME STATUS ON THIS LISTSkip Brittenham
Ziffren Brittenham
He pioneered the “back-
end deal” and launched
Pixar with Steve Jobs.
“In the beginning, I was
mentoring him,” says
Brittenham. “By the end,
he was mentoring me.”Jay Cooper
Greenberg Traurig
His first big client was
Phil Spector, his first
movie deal was Easy Rider
and his first TV pact was
Get Smart. More recent
clients include Jerry
Seinfeld, Katy Perry, John
Williams and Mel Brooks.John Frankenheimer
Loeb & Loeb
Frankenheimer spent
decades advising art-
ists like Quincy Jonesand Diana Ross. But the
more things change, the
more they stay the same.
“We’re back to the ’60s,”
he says of today’s stream-
ing world. “Everything is
h it- d r iven.”Neville Johnson
Johnson & Johnson
Johnson represents
underdogs, winning
hundreds of millions
for writers, directors
and actors battling the
studios and sometimes
their own guilds. “I am
not loved,” he says. “But I
am respected.”Linda Lichter
Lichter Grossman
When she started out
in the ’70s, Lichter was
the Independent Film
Project’s first lawyer. “Iwent to Sundance before
it was Sundance,” she
says. She also cracked the
glass ceiling as one of the
first female partners at
an entertainment firm.Don Passman
Gang Tyre
“I wanted to write some-
thing for people who
don’t like to read,” he says
of his best-seller All You
Need to Know About the
Music Business, now in
its 10th edition. He’s also
shepherded the careers
of Adele, Taylor Swift and
Stevie Wonder.Marty Singer
Lavely & Singer
He wanted to be a doctor,
then an engineer, but
became one of the world’s
most famous litigators,
representing Tom Cruise,
Charlie Sheen and Arnold
Schwarzenegger. “I still
don’t consider myself to
be an entertainment law-
yer,” he says. “I wanted to
be a tax lawyer.”Legends Honor Roll
This year’s inductees join
THR’s inaugural class of
legendary lawyers
Jake Bloom, John Branca,
John Burke, Melanie Cook,
Bert Fields, Patricia Glaser,
Allen Grubman, Tom
Hansen, Barry Hirsch, Jim
Jackoway, Ken Kleinberg,
Sky Moore, Lee Phillips,
Bruce Ramer, Larry Stein,
Howard Weitzman and
Ken ZiffrenWeinstenSullivanThompsonTo b e yTo c ze kWarrenWeber10fea_lawyers1-17_L [P]{Print}_53606986.indd 67 3/25/20 10:43 AM