Almost all professionals in the entertainment business have an attorney. That’s right, even the “dealmakers” such as talent agents have attorneys themselves. If talent agents make the deals then entertainment attorneys close the deals. In this article we are going to examine who actually needs an entertainment attorney and when is the best time to get one.
Do I need an entertainment attorney? Yes, it is only beneficial in the entertainment business to have an attorney. Entertainment attorneys are a necessity in protecting your intellectual and creative rights. Attorneys play a key role in your business and are a highly valuable member of your representation team.
When most people think of an attorney they immediately think defensively. The Hollywood in us have watched far too many criminal court cases and we’ve associated the word attorney with one specific type of attorney, the defense attorney. However, in the entertainment business an entertainment attorney isn’t there to play defense but quite the opposite, they are an offensive member of the team. Entertainment attorneys differ then most commonly used attorneys such as personal or defense in that they don’t require a retainer. That means there are no upfront cost to secure their services. That may sound like a minor difference but in practice, it’s incredibly beneficial. If you’ve ever had to hire an attorney you would know that every correspondence with your attorney will end up costing you money. Now imagine you’re an out of work writer and you’re presented with a deal to write on a television show. You want to make sure you are getting the best deal and are protected so you ask your attorney to review the deal. Normally, each call, email, text and messenger pigeon would be billable hours and you would be paying an attorney simply to discuss the deal. In that case, you would have to take the job regardless if it was a fair deal or not simply to pay for the attorney fees you’ve wracked up. Luckily, entertainment attorneys don’t require a retainer and don’t get paid until you get paid. Similar to an agent or manager, entertainment attorneys take a percentage of your deal and their service fee. The industry standard commission fee for an attorney is 5%. Now whether that sounds like a large amount or small amount to you, the fact of the matter is that you are not going out of pocket to pay your attorney prior to getting paid yourself.
When should I get an entertainment attorney? Broadly speaking, as soon as you can. I believe an entertainment attorney should be one of, if not the first member of your representation team. There are two main reasons for that. One, as discussed in section one there are no upfront cost to you. This gives you all the upside without having to go out of pocket financially. But what about the 5% fee? In my experience, attorneys will almost ALWAYS earn their 5% fee in that on average they will increase the deal by a minimum of 5%. That means if you were offered $100,000 for your screenplay, at minimum your attorney would be able to negotiate an increase of $5,000. That means they are paying for themselves. Keep in mind, when beginning your career you will working for guild minimums. That means that the studio or financier who is employing you won’t have any more than the industry minimum fee to pay you. So why is it beneficial to have an attorney even when they can’t negotiate a higher financial fee? Outside of a monetary value, there are a number of different deal points within a contract. Think about when an actor is hired to film a movie, outside of their financial fee there are travel and housing accommodations, credits, hair and makeup, an entire list of other deal points that are worth negotiating and your attorney is the one to ensure that happens.
Lastly, entertainment attorneys are responsible for negotiating and closing the contractual deal. It is the agent or manager responsible for finding the deal. Given that difference, it’s in your attorneys best interest to find you an agent or manager. Simply speaking, it’s beneficial for your agent to get you the best agent or manager which will in turn help them find you work. And as stated before, when you work, they work.