Minutes of 11//04 Meeting of the Entertainment Executive Committee

In attendance:

The meeting was CALLED TO ORDER at approximately 8:50 am.

Marissa Roman served as chairman of the meeting, and Ken Freundlich served as co-chair.

There was no READING OF THE MINUTES of the last meeting.

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CALENDAR OF EVENTS

The upcoming panels and other events were discussed.

DECEMBER 15, 2004 PANEL

Ken Freundlich and Susan Rabin are in the process of organizing a panel on music licensing issues for television shows. Ken suggested Jeff Graubart (sp?), Ron Gertz, and Ed Pierson as potential panelists.

JANUARY 19, 2005 PANEL

This will be an evening event consisting of 3 separate 1-hour panels, consisting of (1) a guild update panel (which Marissa Roman agreed to organize), (2) a litigation update panel (which David Helfant agreed to organize), and (3) an ethics panel (which Pamela Forster agreed to organize).

Marissa and David reported that they were both in the process of finalizing their respective panels. Pamela reported that she had contacted David Parker and Linda Husan as potential panelists.

FEBRUARY 16, 2005 PANEL

Alexander Garrison volunteered to organize a panel and is exploring topics.

MARCH 16, 2005

Judith Dornstein will organize a panel on syndication. Hillary Bibicoff made suggestions for panelists. The panel details need to be finalized.

APRIL
ExCom decided to forgo the Saturday seminar this year in lieu of a panel (or other program) in April. The turnout and revenue derived from the Saturday seminar did not justify the additional work required. The Wednesday luncheons seem to do just as well as the semina. ExCom discussed other possible programs for the month of April and members to continue thinking of other options.

May 5, 2005 - LAWYER OF THE YEAR

Ken reported that the LOY event will be held on May 5, 2005 and that he had set up a meeting with Tam Hansen to discuss his possible nomination. ExCom would be putting together a tribute book for the event (which has historically proved to be a good revenue source for our Section). Marc Staenberg mentioned that the Annual BHBA Golf Tournament was on the same day (as a day event). Ken Freundlich voiced his concern the golf tournament would interfere with the LOY event and asked if we could over members a package to both events. Marc squelched fears by reiterating that the gold tournament was a day event and was not followed by a dinner. So a package deal was not merited in this case especially since less than 50 members attended the tournament last year. Ken again encouraged people to get involved and said that this year should be a little easier on ExCom members since we are starting to prepare early.

PROGRAM CO-SPONSORED WITH THE BARRISTERS

Gordon Firemark met with the Allison and Michelle Friend of the Barristers regarding co-sponsoring programs with ExCom on entertainment topics. The topics suggested so far are (a) production panel including some discussion regarding distribution, (b) reality TV (Judith Dornstein), (c) music which would include a discussion of music revenue participation (Ken Freundlich), (d) option and purchase agreements (Hillary Bibicoff), (e) net profit definition (follow the money; Marissa Roman and Steve Sillls CPA at Sills & Adelmann was highly recommended as well). Gordon shared that the programs would be four to six weeks apart rather than on a quarterly basis. ExCom agreed that as a whole "nuts and bolts" programs like these were always popular and necessary.

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PRESENTATION

Jim Gibson from Westlaw spoke to the committee about Westlaw's new and improved Entertainment Law Library outlining the availability of various services on the library such as UCC searches, Bancroft Whitney forms available on-line, Executive Affiliations library, and free Trademark searches.

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FUTURE EXCOM MEETINGS

The December meeting took place on December 1, 2004 (on the regular meeting date of the first Wednesday of the month). The January meeting will take place on January 5, 2005.

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There being no further business to discuss, the meeting ADJOURNED at approximately 10:40 AM due to the thorough Westlaw presentation.