Minutes of 2/2005 Meeting of the Entertainment Executive Committee
 

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

Ken Freundlich served as chairperson and Marissa Roman served as co-chairperson of the meeting.

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

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NEW MEMBERS

Barbara Fitzgerald and Nadia Davari joined us for the first time.

CALENDAR OF EVENTS

The upcoming panels and other events were discussed.

JANUARY 19, 2005 PANEL

Marissa reported that the panels were very successful and there we over 90 people in attendance.

FEBRUARY 16, 2005 PANEL

Joe Schleimer has locked in the panelists who will discuss the protection of actors' "virtual rights" (a term coined by Joe). The panel will discuss the right of publicity of performers and will demonstrate the current advances of technology that allows for the creation of synthetic actors based on the persona of living or dead performers. Joe as the moderator will play the role of the plaintiff's attorney with Schuyler Moore as the defense counsel. Molly Hansen of Digital Domain will discuss the issues from the perspective of special effects house and Mark Rossler will discuss the perspective of the performers and the heirs.

MARCH 16, 2005

Judith Dornstein made significant progress by finalizing the panelist. David Shall, EVP at Freemantle, Mark Itkin, head of syndication at WMA, and Jonathan Birkhahn, SVP Business Affairs at King World will be the panelists. Judith will moderate. She will lead the discussion by posing a general question regarding the current state of affairs of the syndication market and the difference between "off" network and "first run" network syndication. Judith will send Pam Weston all the relevant information for the flyer and will also forward the release form to the panelists.

APRIL 20, 2005

Kia Kamran was not present so Marissa Roman reported that Lawrence Lessig will not participate in the panel unless the association pays for his air travel and one night stay in Los Angeles. Marissa and Ken Freundlich to follow up with Kia following the meeting to discuss possible alternative panelists. Joe Schleimer volunteered to assist Kia in organizing the panel.

May 5, 2005 - LAWYER OF THE YEAR

LOY event will be held on May 5, 2005 at the Four Seasons Hotel. Tom Hansen has provided a picture of himself for the save-the-date card of him fishing. Tom would like the event to have a casual feel. The association thought it was too casual but decided to accept the honoree's preference. The save-the-date cards will go out next week. Ken Freundlich reported that he has contacted several lawyers who are interested in playing in the band at the event and felt that we are on track. Mark Staenberg is in the process of finalizing Kim Hoffman's employment agreement with the association and the committee can meet with her regarding the tribute book.

Marissa Roman volunteered to be the sole member of the save the date committee. Ken, Susan Pollyea, and Cole Sternberg will be the entertainment committee members for the event. The tribute book committee will be comprised of Susan Rabin, Marissa Roman and Kim Hoffman. The ticket sales committee members for the event are yet to be determined.

JUNE 15, 2005

Richard Wilner is diligently working on a panel regarding immigration issues concerning the entertainment industry (e.g. film, TV, musicians, fighters, and athletes). Richard will also moderate and Pam Forster will assist as co-chair. Richard voiced his concern regarding the webcasting of this panel since government employees are sensitive about being recorded especially since the association sells copies of the program. There was some discussion and it was decided that if the April panel is not finalized soon then this panel will be moved up.

JULY

Susan Rabin is in the process of making suggestions of possible topics. She reported that Tom McCarthy does not want to speak and recommended Jeremy Williams at Warner Bros. to discuss the trademark issues relating to entertainment law. Je also recommended Professor Franklin, head of the McCarthy institute. However, the association will be responsible to fly Professor Franklin to Los Angeles. Several committee members commented that this is a panel suitable for a co-sponsorship by the IP Section.

MISCELLANEOUS

Gordon Firemark reported that the Membership Committee has sent out a letter to promote the BHBA and he encouraged all of us to personally promote the association among our friends and colleagues.

Marissa Roman reported that she has been approached by a member of BAFTA. BAFTA would like to promote the BHBA through their website by including a link to our site. She will discuss how to best execute this idea with Yuri and Mark Staenberg (e.g. RSS feed or otherwise). Marissa also mentioned that the Louisiana bar association would like to do the same (but no cross promotion) and that she would also discuss this possibility with Mark Staenberg.

There are 30 new members to the Entertainment Law Section and our co-chairs will write each of them a welcome letter. Marissa will update our section letterhead.

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FUTURE EXCOM MEETINGS

The February meeting took place on February 2, 2005 (on the regular meeting date of the first Wednesday of the month). The March meeting will take place on March 1, 2005.

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There being no further business to discuss, the meeting ADJOURNED at approximately 10:00 AM.