Monday, October 20th

Artists in Hollywood - Actors - Writers - Performers - Directors - Producers Summit

3:45 PM - 5:00 PM

Track V: Marina Vista Room - Live Webcast from this Room

The DealMaking Process: Producers, Showrunners, Actors, Directors, Agents, Lawyers - Who’s in Charge Here!

Nesim Hason, President and founder, New Films International

Harrison Kordestani, President, Main Street Films

Todd Shepherd, Co-founder/producer, International Film Trust

Harold Brook, founder, The Point Media

Chad Fitzgerald, Partner, Kinsella Weitzman Iser Kump & Aldisert LLP

Sandy Smolan, Film & Television Director

Gary Goldberger, Law Offices, Gary G. Goldberger, Moderator

over 600 recording machines. By 1988, his company dominated 42% of the video market.  In 1990 Hason stated, “Eastern Europe is practically uncharted territory and for those who fancy themselves to be Christopher Columbus, a great opportunity.” Thus began television sales and he opened the doors to Eastern Europe.  Hason's relationships within the Eastern European market evolved to the establishment of New Films International (NFI) in 1996. Hason and NFI  continue to be the preeminent key player in the Eastern European markets. When other distributors backed away from smaller territories such as Romania, Hason persisted and succeeded in influencing governmental laws to be more welcoming to theater privatization. In addition to its headquarters in Los Angeles, there are two branch offices in Turkey and Romania. From independent art films to blockbuster commercial films, Hason and NFI have brought an array of movies to the various territories, such as SAW series, GIALLO, THE GREAT DEBATERS, CHAIN LETTER, THE LIGHTKEEPERS, ADAPTATION, SAHARA, 21 GRAMS, WHAT WOMEN WANT, THE HOURS, HUNTED CHICAGO, ABOUT SCHMIDT, DUPLEX, AUSTIN POWER 3, FREDDY Vs. JASON, to name a few.  At 43, with 30 years of experience in distributing entertainment (music, video, movies, etc.), Hason's success has come through his sensitivity to each country's cultural difference, his ability to cater to each client's background and “hands on approach” in his relationships with clients, as well as other distribution and production companies. Combining such qualities, Hason will always play an active role in acquisitions, sales, production and advertising.  Hason is dedicated and passionate about sharing his knowledge of the movie industry with the worldwide market. His devotion and perseverance are the driving force behind his ambition to continue distributing the best entertainment available to the viewing audience. His goal is to establish one of the largest studios in United States, to produce and distribute films worldwide.

Harrison Kordestani, President, Main Street Films: Established in 2007, Main Street Films is an independent filmed entertainment company and has emerged as one of the industry's most exciting production, acquisition, and distribution driven ensembles. On the distribution side, Main Street Films focuses on creating and distributing high quality films across multiple genres for diverse audiences within the entertainment space. Main Street Films will release Joe Manganiello's LA BARE on June 27; and the college comedy BANK$TAS starring Alan Thicke and Lara Vandervoort later this year. On the production side Main Street Films, along with RKO pictures, recently wrapped on the action comedy BARELY LETHAL, starring Oscar® nominee Hailee Steinfeld, Jessica Alba, Sophie Turner, and Oscar® nominee Samuel L. Jackson; and currently in post-production is Ami Canaan Mann's YOUR RIGHT MIND starring Katherine Hiegl and Ben Barnes.

Harold Brook, founder, The Point Media; If Harold, founder of The Point Media didn’t become a lawyer, you might find him on the road with Bruce Springsteen.  Thankfully, he went to law school and started his legal career in the legal department at 20th Century Fox Film Corp in 1982 and then at Paramount Pictures Corp where he was Executive Vice President of Legal Affairs. He went on to run the business departments at NBC and later CBS where he worked on negotiations for the networks and their production arms as the Executive Vice President of Business Affairs.  Harold Brooke is a dealmaker. He is tough but fair. He handles complex, high-profile matters nationally.  In 2003, He launched The Point Media with other veteran film and television lawyers with in-house studio and production company experience Mr. Brooke is the Managing Partner of The Point Media a full service transactional entertainment law firm representing high profile individuals and production companies, studios, networks and new media companies in television, film and new media.  Harold first started making impact when he and The Point Media set themselves up to share clients with other firms. He hit on the concept after years of observing the entertainment industry’s feast or famine business model. Law firms know because Harold’s been on the other side of the table in negotiations, he knows how to get things done.  Harold’s main work is putting together the myriad of deals involved in producing a show, from setting up the production company to interacting with labor unions to overseeing talent contracts. He vets clearance, rights and releases, areas that are crucial in reality TV shows because companies primarily use non-actors. Those shows have become a major part of his practice.  Harold works on significant, unique, and groundbreaking deals where he is moving clients into new areas i.e., reality producers/companies into the scripted world; film companies into scripted and reality; old media companies into new media and television cos. into film and new media companies into the film and TV areas.  He has been involved as expert witnesses in groundbreaking cases involving clients such as: Celador Productions in the "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" case, Warner Bros in the Superman case and most recently, the "Hawaii 5-0" case http://www.deadline.com/2013/11/cbs-hawaii-five-o-january-trial/#more-640364  Among the clients he currently represents you’ll find Relativity Television, Ovation Television, Yahoo, ITV Studios, and Universal Studios Home Entertainment Family Productions. Other big name clients he has represented in the past include Lionsgate, BermanBraun (currently called Whalerock Industries), Lifetime, A&E, Geico, Google, Hasbro and MGM. Deals with new media companies include: Amazon, Netflix and Hulu.

Chad Fitzgerald  partner at entertainment powerhouse Kinsella Weitzman Iser Kump & Aldisert LLP, specializes in entertainment and business litigation as well as transactional matters for entertainment industry clients.  He has represented actors, producers, writers, showrunners, musicians, professional athletes, production and distribution companies, clients in the fitness, apparel, toy, and gem industries, the entertainment guilds, personal and business managers, and talent agents and agencies.  Mr. Fitzgerald handles disputes in the areas of contract, profit participation and “vertical integration,” financing, distribution, copyright, trademark, trade secrets, partnership, franchise, fraud, rights of privacy, and defamation.  He also negotiates and drafts agreements for intellectual property rights holders, entertainment industry executives, writers, producers, independent filmmakers, and unscripted programming creators, among others.

Gary Goldberger, Law Offices, Gary G. Goldberger;  is able to combine his experience in legal, business, creative and international areas to help his clients make decisions not just from a legal standpoint, but also from a business and long-term perspective.  Clients include production/distribution companies, growing small to mid-sized companies, independent filmmakers, talent, writers, publishers, Internet/media businesses, and individuals.  Goldberger's background includes time spent as a lawyer in private practice, a senior media executive, an attorney with the U.S. House of Representatives, and an independent producer of television movies. From mid-2004 to early 2007, Goldberger functioned as an attorney, an independent producer, and a consultant to companies in the area of international and domestic television distribution.  He executive produced four movies, three of which premiered on Lifetime Television. For over twelve years through 2004, Goldberger held senior executive positions in the domestic and international television distribution and production arena.  He was the Executive Vice President of Carlton America, the U.S. office of Carlton Communications, a large UK-based international media company.  Over the 13 years in his position with Carlton America (and under its previous names), he helped manage, diversify and grow the company to where it became one of the leading independent distributors and producers of television movie programming.  Goldberger was responsible for Carlton’s developing relationships with and acquiring programming from many of the premier television movie producers.  He also headed the business affairs of the company and acted as the General Counsel, participated in international television markets and in product licensing to buyers worldwide, and was an executive producer or co-producer on seven television movies produced by Carlton America. Before moving to Los Angeles in 1990, Goldberger served as a legal counsel to the Committee on the Judiciary of the US House of Representatives.  He developed legislation on behalf of a Congressional Subcommittee, and advised Members of Congress on policy in areas of bankruptcy, entertainment and broadcast industries, antitrust, professional sports, and commercial matters.  Goldberger is also the co-author of Disability Law Compliance Manual, a legal treatise on the Americans With Disabilities Act published in 1991.  Goldberger served for two terms as a Governor of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, is a past Chair of ATAS’ Sponsorship Committee, and is a long-standing member of the Television Academy Foundation's Education Committee.  He is also a member of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts-Los Angeles. Goldberger is a 1976 graduate of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, and received his J.D. degree from the University of Virginia School of Law in 1979.

Sandy Smolan, Film & Television Director:  Mr. Smolan is an award-winning director whose work spans features, documentaries, television, and commercials.  His critically acclaimed debut feature film “Rachel river", was nominated for the grand jury prize at the Sundance film festival and took awards for best cinematography and a special jury prize for actress viveca lindfors.  His most recent film, “The Human Face of Big Data” just won the Jury prize for Best Cinematography at the Boston International Film Festival and is being released in the fall of 2014.  his television movies include "the last soldier" for hbo, the mini-series “beach girls” with rob lowe and julia ormond for lifetime, "a place to be" for cbs and "taking a stand", an emmy award-winning film with Betty Buckely for abc, for which he was also nominated for best director. as a television director his credits include the acclaimed pilot for the series "middle ages", as well as over 50 network series including “brothers & sisters” , “ally mcbeal”, "everwood", “ED”, “the o.c.”, “Dawson’s Creek”, “Greek”, “LA LAW”, “Dangerous Minds”, “"chicago hope” and "northern exposure".  In original programming for the internet, He recently directed the ten-part web series “in gayle we trust” for nbc.com and the web series “First Dance” and “first day” for Alloy Entertainment, winner of an 2010 Advertising Age Media Vanguard Award.  His production company, Luminous Content, works with corporations, NGO’s and Foundations to explore the role technology can play in transforming lives around the planet.   The work includes a series films underwritten by HP about safe syringes and an innovative text messaging system being used in the developing world to help stop the spread of AIDS and other infectious diseases. He also recently produced and directed three short films for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation documenting an extraordinary $40 million pilot program attempting bring a million people of poverty in East Africa, four short films about a sustainable development in India, Georgia, Rwanda and Peru for Heifer International and a series of films for the Tech Museum sponsored by Intel, Microsoft, Applied Materials, BD Biosciences and Nokia.  smolan's documentary “12 stones”, about the transformation of a group of illiterate women in southern Nepal won the jury prize for best short documentary at the Tallahassee and Newport beach film festival.  Mr, Smolan was also the associate producer of two network documentaries for cbs news; "the cowboy the craftsman and the ballerina" with Morley safer and "juilliard: a life in music", narrated by Charles karat and winner of the Peabody award.  Mr. Smolan has been an Associate Professor at The University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts and a featured speaker at the  EG Conference in Monterey, California and the INK Conference in Association with TED, in Lavasa, India.  His work can be viewed at www.luminous-content.com