As a young attorney, I kind of feel this weird sense of duty to bring law practice into the 21st Century. It's actually a bit more difficult than it sounds; not only do you have a rift between the "young" attorneys and "older" attorneys. It's not really an age thing, it's more of a way of practicing. As a young attorney, I want to be flexible with billing (hence our flat-fee based model at New Leaf), I want to really interact and build a relationship with my clients, and I want to promote what they're doing because I'm genuinely excited about it! However, this has not been the traditional way of legal practice, which is traditionally tight-lipped.
Thus, in the spirit of creating a new legal landscape; one that is tied to its fellow entrepreneurs and artists, I would like to share a list of my favorite sites for entertainment-related (business) content.
A Snippet of the Bestest Websites & Blogs for Artists:
lawyers4musicians.com
In a nutshell, this website totally rules. Not only is it a great resource for artists to learn about their rights, options and the law, it's also a great place for entertainment lawyers to stay up-to-date on the latest rule-world developments in this area of law. It's a perfect mix of cases, news and events.
The Hollywood Reporter's Law Blog
The Hollywood Reporter can be a very overwhelming website, especially for folks that focus more on the creative side of the industry and keep up on the business side because they have to (and that's ok!!). But Matt Belloni artfully manages a blog through the site that focuses on interesting legal happenin's in the industry. While it may seem at first only a resource for "boring lawyers" and copyright nerds like me, its content is interspersed with valuable lessons any musician, filmmaker or artist should find valuable. For example, today's blog highlights a film that is about to debut at Sundance this year - and it's FULL of unlicensed corporate logos and mascots, an issue that, as Matt points out, would make any entertainment lawyer faint. However, this is an issue that is often overlooked by many filmmakers because they have 50,000 other things to be (rightfully) concerned about. You scan this blog, and you'll be even more the wiser to the legalities you should make sure your lawyer takes care of.
arstechnica.com
Ars Technica is the go-to resource for all geeky entertainment industry peeps - whether you're a web developer, marketing/viral guy, game developers (!!), you need to hit this site on a daily basis. Though it's content is VERY rich, it's easy navigation system makes scanning through it and finding relevant, valuable information a cinch. I highly recommend the "Gaming" section for developers, industry professionals and consumers alike.
Best Twitter Content:
Gaming news: @arstechnica (for obvious reasons), @goodgaming
Entertainment law: @musiclaw09, @entlawupdate
Entertainment/Industry news: @hypebot (who also has an amazing website for musicians), @fightpiracy
A couple of other invaluable resources for Artists:
- Your local film bureau or Chamber of Commerce
In Massachusetts specifically, the Film Bureau is an amazing resource for understanding laws right regard to filmmaking, tax credits, and a myriad of other issues. There are similar organizations for other areas of entertainment as well.
- Your local arts lawyers organization
The Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts has a presence in most jurisdictions, especially ones where the area is thick with entertainment and art. I actually worked at the Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts of Massachusetts and am now a member attorney. Most of these attorneys will take artist cases pro-bono if you qualify.
How, this clearly isn't an exhaustive list; these just happen to be some of the sites I like, for various reasons. I would invite everyone to contribute their favorites as well. The bottom line at the end of the day, though, is that it is more important than ever that entertainment industry folks understand the latest news and legal developments in their industry. Not only is it (slightly?) interesting, it is most likely relevant to something you're working on, and simply being aware can save you loads of time and money on the back end. Enjoy!
www.newleaflegal.com
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