EASL Spring Meeting 2022

Diversity in Motion Pictures & Entertainment Law Year in Review 

I. Motion Picture Committee Diversity Panel

This year’s Oscars® saw an impressive diversity in its award winners, including some firsts.  Expanding the scope of diversity, the award for Best Picture went to CODA, a film about a hearing-impaired family. Troy Kotsur was the first deaf actor to win best Actor in a Supporting Role for his work in CODA. Riz Ahmed became the first Muslim to win an award for Best Live Action Short Film.

Hollywood has made some progress and the industry still continues to work on developing diversity.  The progress we’ve seen did not happen by itself. Across the industry, unions, guilds, and other industry organizations have launched programs and initiatives that laid the groundwork for the greater diversity in this year’s awards.

II. Entertainment Law Year In Review 2022

Among other topics, this year’s Entertainment Law Year in Review presentation features a special section on court decisions impacting entertainment lawyers’ practices, including: claims by entertainment attorneys to enforce their rights under retainer agreements with talent; how to determine the line between whether an individual is providing entertainment business consulting or legal services to a party; the impact of a law license on whether a court has personal jurisdiction over an attorney involved in litigation with an artist the attorney formerly managed; claims against an entertainment attorney by a former client who alleged the attorney formed her own company that then competed with the former client; and claims against an attorney by an entertainment company over the lawyer’s representation of an artist, exclusively signed to that entertainment company, in negotiations with other companies.