Negotiating Tactics and Strategies in Entertainment Industry Agreements

Negotiating agreements in the music, television, and film industries requires industry-specific knowledge as well as a fundamental understanding of client business objectives. The latter is often particularly fraught in the aforementioned industries because certain clients are significantly inexperienced relative to the entities with whom they must negotiate. Attorneys representing such clients frequently wind up playing the role of negotiator, educator, and business consultant.  

In this course, attorneys Joseph Bartel and Chris Marino discuss what it means to coach clients, and how to successfully and effectively negotiate on their behalf. Fundamental negotiating principles will be addressed, along with demonstrations of their applicability to entertainment-industry agreements, including, for example, film producer agreements, television talent agreements, and songwriter agreements. 

Learning Objectives:

I.     Prepare for the negotiation of entertainment-industry agreements, including: 

• understanding the client’s objectives, educating the client, and discussing realistic outcomes;
• knowledge of what the client is selling or buying, and the rights involved therein;
• setting a Target Point;
• setting Resistance/Reservation/Walk-Away Points; and 
• identifying BATNA (Best Alternative To a Negotiated Agreement) and its relevance to Resistance Points

II.    Develop key skills for negotiating entertainment-industry agreements

III.   Identify and apply general principles of negotiation