Minutes of the 10-05-05 Meeting of the Entertainment Executive Committee

In attendance:

Peter Baghdassarian (peterb@filmroman.com 
Matthew Belloni (mbelloni@agsk.com 
Dave Bortman (davesq@earthlink.net 
Gordon Firemark (gfiremark@firemark.com
Pamela Forster (pamelaforster@earthlink.net 
Helen Kang (hkang@sheppardmullin.com 
Caroline Raufi (craufi@stroock.com 
Marissa Román (mroman@akingump.com 
Marc Staenberg (mstaenberg@bhba.org

The meeting was CALLED TO ORDER at approximately 8:40 AM.

Marissa Román served as chairperson of the meeting.
Caroline Raufi served as co-chairperson of the meeting.

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PRELIMINARY/ADMINISTRATIVE MATTERS

Marissa Román reminded committee members that the monthly meetings are supposed to begin at 8:30 a.m., so members are urged to arrive on time. Beginning next month, the meeting will be called to order no later than 8:40 a.m.

Marissa briefly discussed the recent confusion the Entertainment Law Section has been experiencing with respect to the Beverly Hills Bar Association's ("BHBA") distribution of flyers and attachments and e-mail blasts containing old program versions rather than newly approved program versions. Marc Staenberg asked if these issues have been brought to Pamela Weston's attention, and Marissa confirmed that they had been.

Taping of Programs and Speaker Releases

Marissa Román and Gordon Firemark re-iterated to members the need to apprise prospective panelists of the BHBA's usual practice of taping its programs. Failure to do so can result in a panelist withdrawing from the program, requiring the program organizers to find a replacement. The speaker releases should, therefore, be circulated upon securing a panelist and signed releases immediately forwarded to Pamela Weston at the BHBA (instead of waiting until just before the date of the scheduled program to obtain the speaker releases).

Cross-promotion/Advertising of Programs Sponsored Within the BHBA and Those Sponsored by Outside Organizations

Marc Staenberg addressed two promotion/advertising issues that the BHBA frequently confronts and set forth the applicable BHBA policy:

1. As regards the issue of cross promotion of other BHBA section programs, if the Entertainment Law Section "produces" (i.e., organizes) a program on its own and co-sponsors the program with another section, there is no revenue-sharing of the proceeds. The Entertainment Law section retains all the revenue and the co-sponsoring section members will receive the "member" price for that program. On the other hand, if the co-sponsor were to co-produce the program, there would be a revenue split of the proceeds.

2. As regards the issue of advertising programs or events sponsored by outside organizations (e.g., the ABA), the BHBA will consider requests made by the BHBA Section Chairs to advertise such outside events to the BHBA members if (1) the BHBA (through one of its sections or on an organization wide level) is a co-sponsor (or otherwise involved) with the outside event and (2) such event does not conflict with the subject or date of any BHBA program or event. Further on the subject, Marc emphasized that the requests the BHBA receives from outside organizations wishing to advertise events to the BHBA members (and that do not fall within the foregoing parameters) are voluminous and the BHBA cannot possibly e-mail or otherwise advertise all such events. An outside organization can, however, purchase the BHBA member mailing address list (exclusive of e-mail addresses) should the organization wish to utilize such a list outside of the above prescribed co-sponsorship procedure.

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CALENDAR OF EVENTS

The Ex. Comm. discussed upcoming panels and the Lawyer of the Year event.

OCTOBER 19, 2005

Peter Baghdassarian and Miles Feldman have confirmed the panelists for the program entitled, " Draft it Now, Litigate it Later," regarding how to draft agreements that will survive litigation. The panelists are Bruce Isaacs and Jerry Margolis, partners at Manatt Phelps & Philips, Darren Trattner, partner at Wyman & Isaacs, and Dixon Dern, solo practitioner. Miles will serve as moderator. Miles' firm will co-sponsor the program. Peter and Miles are gathering materials and releases for the program and will ensure that Pamela Weston has the materials at least one week prior to the program.

NOVEMBER 16, 2005

Due to scheduling difficulties, Joe Schleimer has postponed the panel regarding the regulation of managers and agents to February 2006. The entertainment dispute/ADR panel originally scheduled for December and organized by Joel Grossman has been moved to this slot. Joel has confirmed the panelists: Jamie Lichtman of NBC, Bruce Wessel of Irell & Manella, and Mark Passin of Alschuler, Grossman, Stein & Kahan.

The Ex. Comm. discussed a possible co-sponsorship (non-revenue sharing) of the program with the ADR section in light of the topic. Marissa agreed to contact the ADR Section Chair to discuss same.

DECEMBER 21, 2005

The Ex. Comm. discussed potential topics for the now vacant December program. Matthew Belloni suggested a organizing a panel regarding the new business models the record labels are promoting in the music industry, emphasizing new revenue and profit-sharing models. Matthew offered to assist someone in organizing the panel. Caroline Raufi suggested Marc Halloran might be interested in organizing such a panel and agreed to contact him. Gordon Firemark suggested pursuing a co-sponsorship with NARIP and checking with Ken Freundlich to see if he would be interested in assisting with the program.

JANUARY 2006

Ex. Comm. will organize a three-hour evening program with the date and venue TBD. Marissa reminded the members that the program should not coincide with the Sundance Film Festival. Consequently, January 12 was suggested as a date (to be cleared by Marissa with Pamela Weston). The program will consist of three separate one-hour panels: (1) litigation year in review (to be organized by Miles Feldman and Helen Kang), (2) state of the industry in light of technological advances (to be organized by Marissa), and (3) ethics/substance abuse (to be organized by Cole Sternberg). Further details TBD.

FEBRUARY 2006

Leigh Leshner will organize a panel regarding film production issues. Details TBD.

MARCH 2006

Pamela Forster will organize a panel. Topic TBD.

LAWYER OF THE YEAR DINNER

Marissa is scheduling a pre-planning meeting with Ken Ziffren, the honoree.

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E-NEWSLETTER

Marissa addressed the potential quarterly entertainment law electronic newsletter that Alex Fisher, an Emory Law School student helming the project, had proposed to organize for the Entertainment Section. The e-newsletter will cover entertainment law issues that are not covered in the Entertainment Law Section programs. Ex. Comm. expects to advertise BHBA entertainment programs and events in the e-news letter. Helen Kang and Cole Sternberg will review the e-newsletter content and edit with Marissa also providing comments. Marissa expects a first draft of the e-newsletter this month.

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FUTURE EX. COMM. MEETINGS

The November meeting will take place on November 2, 2005 (on the regular meeting date of the first Wednesday of the month).

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There being no further business to discuss, the meeting ADJOURNED at approximately 9:40 AM.