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

Former radio talk show host Gregg T. Rennie pleaded guilty in US District Court in Boston to charges related to a multimillion-dollar Ponzi scheme, and now faces up to up to 20 years in prison on each of 13 counts of securities fraud and one count of wire fraud.

Prosecutors said the 44-year-old Quincy resident stole at least $3.2 million from victims, including elderly retirees, a church congregation saving for a new building, and listeners of his radio show, “Your Money.’’

Rennie told investors he could offer a guaranteed rate of return in risk-free federal housing certificates and annuities. But instead of investing the money, he used it to fund his expenses, prosecutors said. To conceal the fraud, Rennie made periodic payments to some victims, showed them prospectuses, and sent victims bogus invoices.

NFL Hall of Famer Bruce Smith pleaded guilty today in Circuit Court to a charge of drunken driving. Prosecutors dropped the charges of speeding and refusing to submit to a blood or breath alcohol test but retained the right to refile them.

Smith was fined $1,000 and was sentenced to 90 days in jail, all of which was suspended. His license was suspended for one year.

After the hearing, Smith said he thought he had a 50/50 chance of beating the DUI charge but then still would have had to face the charge of refusal to take a breath test. “The risk versus the reward was not in our favor,” he said.

Los Angeles authorities have officially changed the death certificate belonging to late King of Pop, Michael Jackson to reflect an exact cause of death.

Updated due to the completion of a lengthy investigation, Jackson's cause of death has now been labeled a murder due to 'acute Propofol intoxication' via an 'intravenous injection from another'.

Jackson's original death certificate was filed July 7.

While the official cause of death has been revealed, embattled Dr. Conrad Murray remains a free man.

Sources say the Jackson family, specifically Joe Jackson, still believe more than one person is responsible for the entertainer's death.

"Joe won't give up on getting justice for his son and a lawsuit is his focus," a source told Daily Mail.

New York's top court has rejected Dan Rather's bid to reinstate his $70 million breach-of-contract lawsuit against CBS Corp.

Rather's motion was denied without comment Tuesday by the Court of Appeals.

CBS spokeswoman Shannon Jacobs says the network is pleased with the outcome. A call to Rather's lawyer was not immediately returned.

Rather sued CBS and its top executives in 2007, claiming he had been wrongfully removed from his "CBS Evening News" anchor post over a report that examined President George W. Bush's military service.

In September, a five-member Appellate Division panel unanimously concluded there was no breach of contract because CBS still paid Rather his $6 million annual salary after the disputed 2004 broadcast.