Yesterday I attended an 8 hour seminar given by Mark Litwak, a L.A. Entertainment attorney. The seminar was entitled "Risky Business" and was based on a book he wrote of the same title.
The event was sponsored by Random Order Ent., The Dallas Producer's Assoc. and several other Dallas production oriented organizations and businesses. They charged $99 for the all day seminar and held it at SMU. They gave us a 90 page syllabus when we walked in and had lots of coffee and bottled water with scads of pastries for a continental breakfast. Lots of volunteers wearing Random Order t-shirts helped run the logistics, etc. No, I was not one of them. I paid my $99. It was the best seminar I have ever attended and covered setting up a business, like an LLC; securing all copyrights, including music; raising money do's and don't's; doing due dilligence on securing the right distributor; whether to use a film festival for an art film or if you have a genre film, where else to look; markets and festivals to consider; distribution agreements and industry standards and how to avoid getting taken by unscrupulous distributors; Consultation rights, including "rent-a-distributor"; insurance; termination clauses; retain your masters in the lab under your name; and several other related topics.
Mark also encouraged questions during the seminar and was answering questions at all the breaks and even came to an after-event barbeque (us Texans never miss a chance to grill burgers and chicken) and was still answering questions when I left at 8:00 last night.
I knew some of this stuff, but I learned a LOT more and even found a new entertainment attorney who attended the seminar for continuing credits. It was a semnar I can recommend to all of you at any stage in your career.
If you are a part of your organization in your town, I suggest that you look into this and see if you can get Mark to come to your town and put on this valuable seminar. He was already going to Dallas, as I understand it, so he had the time in Dallas to spend. He is not cheap, but well worth the money spent. They had 0ver 80 attendees and many of them had a $20 discount for belonging to one of the sponsoring organizations.
No, I didn't belong to any of the organizations (but at lunch a couple of DPA members talked me into re-joining) and I was not a part of the planning of the seminar, but it was so valuable to me I had to share the info here. Check out his website:
http://www.marklitwak.com/
Randy
The event was sponsored by Random Order Ent., The Dallas Producer's Assoc. and several other Dallas production oriented organizations and businesses. They charged $99 for the all day seminar and held it at SMU. They gave us a 90 page syllabus when we walked in and had lots of coffee and bottled water with scads of pastries for a continental breakfast. Lots of volunteers wearing Random Order t-shirts helped run the logistics, etc. No, I was not one of them. I paid my $99. It was the best seminar I have ever attended and covered setting up a business, like an LLC; securing all copyrights, including music; raising money do's and don't's; doing due dilligence on securing the right distributor; whether to use a film festival for an art film or if you have a genre film, where else to look; markets and festivals to consider; distribution agreements and industry standards and how to avoid getting taken by unscrupulous distributors; Consultation rights, including "rent-a-distributor"; insurance; termination clauses; retain your masters in the lab under your name; and several other related topics.
Mark also encouraged questions during the seminar and was answering questions at all the breaks and even came to an after-event barbeque (us Texans never miss a chance to grill burgers and chicken) and was still answering questions when I left at 8:00 last night.
I knew some of this stuff, but I learned a LOT more and even found a new entertainment attorney who attended the seminar for continuing credits. It was a semnar I can recommend to all of you at any stage in your career.
If you are a part of your organization in your town, I suggest that you look into this and see if you can get Mark to come to your town and put on this valuable seminar. He was already going to Dallas, as I understand it, so he had the time in Dallas to spend. He is not cheap, but well worth the money spent. They had 0ver 80 attendees and many of them had a $20 discount for belonging to one of the sponsoring organizations.
No, I didn't belong to any of the organizations (but at lunch a couple of DPA members talked me into re-joining) and I was not a part of the planning of the seminar, but it was so valuable to me I had to share the info here. Check out his website:
http://www.marklitwak.com/
Randy
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