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Talent Boutiques Challenged By Business Downturn
So much for a Hollywood ending. The economic recession has hit the most escapist of industries as deals for actors, musicians, directors and other talent in the entertainment sector have plummeted, according to attorneys who structure transactions. Fees and other compensation have declined as studios clamp down on costs, they report. The Motion Picture Association of America reported the release of 284 movies in the United States between Jan. 2 and July 21, compared with 336 films during the same period in 2008.
“Every entertainment lawyer will tell you the same thing about new deals: They have to do twice as many to stay afloat, which means working twice as hard, because the deals have been cut in half,” says Doug Mark, a partner at Mark Music & Media Law in Los Angeles who worked for several years at the boutique firm Morris Yorn Barnes & Levine.
The retrenchment has hit an entertainment law sector that has undergone considerable change during the past decade. Boutique law firms that represent most of the talent end of the entertainment business have multiplied amid the dissolution of some long-standing firms and the departure of top attorneys who struck out on their own. In 2004, for example, a court fight between the partners of Armstrong Hirsch Jackoway Tyerman & Wertheimer followed a split that created two new firms. Last year, another boutique, Nelson Felker Toczek Davis, split into two. New firms such as Sloane Offer Weber & Dern have spun off from existing boutiques.
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