Gordon Firemark -Top Los Angeles Theatre & Film Entertainment Lawyer
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Law Offices of Gordon P. Firemark
Theatre, Film, TV & New Media

Motion Pictures

Our Motion Picture Services include:

  • Counseling and representing producers, writers, actors, directors, and crafts-persons
  • Financing agreements
  • Co-Production agreements
  • Private Placements
  • Production agreements
  • Distribution agreements
  • Structuring production and financing entities (Corporations, LLCs, and Limited Partnerships
  • Investor financing arrangements
  • Option agreements and other matters relating to underlying rights.
  • Life story rights agreements
  • Rights clearance
  • Title searches and interpretation
  • Privacy, publicity and defamation issues
  • E&O Reviews
  • Union and guild matters
June 30, 2011

The Modern Moviemaking Movement Action Guide

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If you have been following filmmaking trends you know the world of indie filmmaking is changing fast. To help you succeed, I collaborated with TEN of the most prominent filmmaker thought leaders in the world to provide you with a FREE Action Guide. It’s called The Modern Moviemaking Movement, And it will provide you with…

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May 20, 2011

Asked & Answered: Original vs. Adapted works

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“When is a work ‘Original’, and when is it an ‘adaptation’?”

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May 17, 2011

Asked & Answered: How do I get a lawyer to represent my script?

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Q: Dave asks how to get an entertainment lawyer to sell a script. I give my answer

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May 13, 2011

Asked & Answered: Finder’s Fees to friend with contacts? [Video Answer]

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In this video, I answer a question about whether it’s OK to pay a finder’s fee to a contact who facilitates sale of a script.

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May 6, 2011

Asked and Answered – registration numbers: to show or not?

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Q: Is is worth registering a script with both the WGA and US Copyright Office and then should the registration numbers by shown on the title page of the script? I give my answer: This is intended as general information only and does not establish an attorney-client relationship. It is not a substitute for a…

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April 21, 2011

Asked and Answered: Using public buildings as setting for a film.

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Q: If you wish to include public buildings as set pieces in your script, will that cost money and require permits to shoot if the script is produced? Would avoidance or substitution of any signage make any difference? A: First let me just advise that you let the producer worry about this. Your script WILL…

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April 15, 2011

Asked & Answered: Can I use a standard release for real people in my script?

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Q: My screenplay is based on a true story. Most of the characters are long deceased and the facts of the story are on public record. However there are four people still living whose names appear and two of which are characters. I’m not doing life stories of either rather just using their names and depicting brief appearances. Is there some kind of standard release I can obtain without a long legal document?

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April 12, 2011

The Wrap’s Jeff Steele on the current Film Finance landscape

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Jeff Steele has a good article about the film finance landscape over at The Wrap. Importantly, he proclaims: The first thing an independent producer needs to ask before taking on a project is, “Is this worth investing $10,000 – $25,000 of my own money?” At a bare minimum, that’s what it costs to get a…

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April 4, 2011

Asked & Answered: Can I retell true events from a memoir?

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Q: In his memoirs a diplomat recalls a rather funny incident he experienced while serving in an embassy which I believe I could slightly expand and rewrite as a scene in my script, The minute I read it my mind wrapped around it and I could see it’s value in adding another dimension to my…

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February 4, 2011

Asked and Answered: Can I use a famous movie line in my new screenplay?

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Q:  I have watched hundreds of films and read as many screenplays.  The question I have is, are lines from movies protected by copywrite or are they considered in the public domain? The best example I have is whenever a character or story transports a character to somewhere foreign or bizarre the standard line is “We’re not…

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