Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Entertainment Law (But Were Afraidto Ask)

I get those flyers in the mail from the National Business Institute advertising upcoming Continuing Legal Education seminars on a near daily basis. I’ve attended a bunch of NBI CLE classes in the past and I generally think that they provide a pretty good value. Having said that, I had to laugh today when I received a brochure for an upcoming seminar called “Entertainment Law 101”. I know two of the presenters and they are excellent attorneys. What I found amusing was the breadth of the program. In 7 hours they propose to cover
1. Film Industry Basics
2. Music Industry Basics (including record deals, 360 deals and publishing deals)
3. Copyright law
4. Literary Purchase agreements
5. Acting Agreements
6. Legal compliance in fund raising and securities law
7. Insurability of Entertainment risks

If I had time I would list all of the individual sub-category listings.

I think they are going to cover more in one day than I cover in the entire semester entertainment law course I teach. Clearly any one of these topics merits at the very least an entire day of study. Perhaps the real point of the seminar is to scare other lawyers away from the practice of entertainment law (as if they shouldn’t be scared away already). That’s generally how I feel after I spend a couple of hours in an estate tax seminar.
If you’re interested though, here’s the link: http://www.nbi-sems.com/SemTeleDetails.aspx/Entertainment-Law-101/Live-Seminar

I should also point out that the Nashville Bar Association puts on excellent Entertainment Law CLE’s twice a year, at the end of August and the beginning of December.