California District Court Dismisses “Tiger King” Case, Citing First Amendment Interests

After captivating home-bound viewers earlier this year, Netflix’s documentary series “Tiger King” had its day in court recently when a California district judge dismissed a case brought by the publisher of Hollywood Weekly Magazine (“HW”) against the producers and distributors of the show.  See Prather Jackson v. Netflix, Inc., Case No. 2:20-cv-06354-MCS-GJS (C.D. Cal. Dec.

Proposed Guidelines for Resumption of Motion Picture, Television and Streaming Productions

Earlier this week, the Industry-Wide Labor-Management Safety Committee Task Force released proposed policies and guidelines for the recommencement of productions, known as the White Paper. As of June 1, the White Paper was submitted to New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and California Governor Gavin Newsom for review. The Task Force, comprised of the Alliance of

Character Exclusivity in Rights Deals

In this increasingly competitive media landscape, companies are seeking to create entertainment brands that can endure, serve as the basis for dozens of hours of content on the new generation of owned-and-operated premium platforms, and extend across various forms of media. However, transmedia deals are seldom straightforward, and may create issues that one is less

“The Good Lord Bird” Trailer Just Released

CDAS represented producer Blumhouse in its deal to acquire rights to the James McBride book, the deal with Ethan Hawke (who stars as abolitionist John Brown), and the deal with Showtime where the miniseries will premiere on August 9. Watch the trailer here.

MiMO Studio to Adapt “The Pout-Pout Fish” as Animated TV Movies

On behalf of publisher Macmillan, Simon Pulman and Marc Hershberg negotiated the deal for MiMO Studio to adapt award-winning pre-school book series The Pout-Pout Fish, written by Deborah Diesen and illustrated by Dan Hanna, for multiple animated TV movies. A New York Times best seller when released in 2008, The Pout-Pout Fish received the Bank

Three Tips for Broadway Producers Recording their Shows for Streaming Platforms

Broadway producers interested in recording musicals for streaming platforms should pay attention to a new lawsuit. The complaint was filed by Chapman Roberts, a Broadway music arranger, and alleges that a team of Broadway producers entered into an agreement with the plaintiff in 1994 to make original vocal arrangements of some famous songs from Jerry

YouTube Launches Stick Figure’s “Stay Home With: Yungblud”

“Stay Home With: Yungblud,” a weekly series featuring the U.K. recording artist and his band as they create music while in quarantine, premiered this week as part of YouTube’s “Stay Home #With Me” campaign. Amy Stein represented producer Stick Figure Entertainment in the license agreement with YouTube and agreements with Yungblud and his label, Interscope.