Insider Resource Provides Negotiating Tools and Strategies to Navigate Evolving Industry Landscape

LOS ANGELES, Jan. 15, 2010 — Dina Appleton, special counsel in the Entertainment, Media and Technology practice group in Sheppard Mullin's Los Angeles/Century City office, has co-authored (with Columbia Pictures VP, Legal Affairs Daniel Yankelevits) "Hollywood Dealmaking: Negotiating Talent Agreements for Film, TV, and New Media."  Published this week, this second edition book captures the dramatic changes in the entertainment industry over the past five years and explains negotiation techniques and strategies used by seasoned professionals in entertainment dealmaking. 

While traditional movie deals are still making headlines, new media are gaining influence and changing the entertainment industry’s dealmaking landscape, transforming the traditional terms in the art of “making the deal.”  As the entertainment industry evolves in this new landscape, so must the deals and dealmakers.

Authored by two Hollywood insiders, "Hollywood Dealmaking" has become the go-to resource for new and experienced entertainment attorneys, agents and agent trainees, business affairs executives, and creative executives, and is currently used in entertainment law courses at UCLA, Loyola, and Berkeley to name a few.  The second edition of the book includes new chapters on reality television and new media, and discusses new avenues for content creation, sources of revenue, and innovative talent deals to navigate the evolving entertainment industry landscape. 

Readers will also find advice on how to: Recognize the key players in the dealmaking process; understand the “lingo” and terminology used in the entertainment industry; acquire option-purchase rights in a contract; create employment deals for the actor, director, writer, producer, and crew; work out distribution deals and rights for film and television; and specify net profits, back-end agreements, and box-office bonuses.  With extensive interviews and quotes from major Hollywood players and industry insiders (including Sheppard Mullin partners Robert Darwell and Craig Cardon), memos to illustrate key dealmaking points, and section-by-section summaries to clarify complex legal issues, "Hollywood Dealmaking" is an essential resource for industry novices and veterans alike. 

Dina Appleton represents major film studios and television companies as well as independent producers.  She previously ran the business and legal affairs for a respected Hollywood talent agency and she's spoken on various panels regarding entertainment law.  Appleton teaches a dealmaking course annually at UCLA Extension and she is a regular contributor to Backstage magazine and contributed to the Final Draft/Lone Eagle Press book, Ask the Pros.  She is a member of both the law society of Upper Canada and the California Bar. 

Daniel Yankelevits has a wealth of experience in both business and legal affairs in both television and film.  He served as Chairman of the Beverly Hills Bar Association, Entertainment Section, from 1998-1999 and he's currently a member of the planning committee for the USC Entertainment Law Symposium.  Yankelevits teaches an annual class at UCLA titled ‘Negotiating Talent Agreements and Motion Picture Contracts,’ and he's written several articles about the motion picture industry in the Los Angeles Daily Journal, California's largest legal news provider, and Script magazine.

About Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP
Sheppard Mullin is a full service AmLaw 100 firm with 550 attorneys in 11 offices located in the United States and Asia.  Since 1927, companies have turned to Sheppard Mullin to handle corporate and technology matters, high stakes litigation and complex financial transactions.  In the U.S., the firm's clients include more than half of the Fortune 100.  For more information, please visit www.sheppardmullin.com.

CONTACTDINA APPLETON
(310) 228-3725

RALPH RICHARDSON
(213) 617-5542