Players On the Move

SK Global Entertainment, the independent studio behind such critically acclaimed films as Crazy Rich Asians and Moneyball, has hired Jeannine Tang as chief operating officer and general counsel. Tang joined DreamWorks Animation in 2002 as a development assistant, a position that gave her the opportunity to work on such classics as Shrek and Shark Tale. After going back to school to get her law degree from the University of California at Berkeley, Tang spent six years at O'Melveny & Myers and then four years at The Weinstein Co., where she became associate general counsel and senior vice president of business affairs. She departed in 2017 as allegations of sexual violence against women by Harvey Weinstein torpedoed the business. Her most recent post was general counsel of Participant Media, where she worked from 2018 until it went out of business this April. Over the course of its 20 years, the studio challenged the industry's growing aversion to adult, issue-oriented films, winning 21 Academy Awards and receiving 18 Emmy nominations along the way. But changing industry economics, including the rise of streaming, ultimately did it in. Los Angeles-based SK Global also began 20 years ago, launched by Sidney Kimmel, who made his fortune in the fashion industry before he began producing films in the 1980s. In 2022, the London-based private equity firm Centricus purchased majority control of SK Global, a deal that gave it new financial firepower to pursue acquisitions and film and TV projects. SK Global has financed and produced more than 100 feature films. Among its recent hits was the 2023 romantic comedy Anyone But You, which has grossed more than $220 million worldwide. … The Los Angeles-headquartered boutique talent and literary agency Verve has appointed Jennifer Jones, the former head of global business affairs at Condé Nast, to lead its legal team as general counsel. Jones also will serve as head of business affairs, a reflection of her deep experience beyond the legal realm.  She was the second employee of Disney+ when she joined the streaming service as vice president of business affairs in 2018, a year before its public rollout. She departed in 2021 to become head of business affairs and operations for Condé Nast Entertainment. A year later, the company promoted her to head of global business affairs and business development for the whole company, the role she's giving up to join Verve. Founded in 2010, the international-reaching Verve represents more than 1,000 directors and actors in film, television and theater, including Josh Hartnett, Heather Graham, James D'Arcy, Angie Harmon and Noah Wyle. But writers are Verve's primary clientele. In 2019, Verve sided with screenwriters in a dispute between the Writers Guild of America and the big four Hollywood agencies over a code of conduct clause the guild requested that agencies sign. Verve's recent literary output includes Whistleblower by Susan Fowler and Am I Dying!? by Chris Kelly and Marc Eisenberg, according to Publishers Marketplace. Jones has worked in the entertainment industry since departing the law firm Munger, Tolles & Olson for Marvel in 2015. She spent three years there, serving as associate principal counsel for business and legal affairs. … Cassie McBride takes the legal reins at the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, a move that brings her back to the NFL after three years as general counsel for the NHL's San Jose Sharks. This will be the fourth legal chief role for McBride, a career ascension that began with her hiring as GC of the Jackson Jaguars in 2014, when she was just 26. For the Bucs, she succeeds Dan Malasky, who resigned in November to become chief legal officer at IMG Academy, an athletics-focused boarding school in Bradenton, FL. Leading the Bucs' legal department on an interim basis in the months since has been Assistant General Counsel Emily Lekahal. This will be McBride's second run with the Bucs. The team in 2013 hired her as associate general counsel, a post she held until November 2014, when the Jacksonville Jaguars appointed her general counsel. McBride held the legal reins of the Jaguars for six years, with her time the final two years split between the team and serving as GC of All Elite Wrestling, a professional wrestling organization led by Jaguars co-owner Tony Khan. In a 2021 interview with Law.com, she said: "[When] I broke into the sports industry almost a decade ago, [] it was a very different world. When I first joined the Buccaneers, I would go to club council meetings and was one of five or six women in the room," she said. "Fast-forward to seven years later, and there would be a majority of women counsel in the workspace," she said. "Over time, I think it's fair to say that a ton of progress has been made in terms of elevating diversity among different classes." … AMC Networks' general counsel Jamie Gallagher will retire at the end of 2024 after 16 years at the legal helm, the entertainment company announced in a regulatory filing. Gallagher steered the network through a number of milestones, including its 2011 IPO, and the creation of AMC Studios, the network's in-house production studio behind hits like Mad Men, Breaking Bad and The Walking Dead. Gallagher also helped establish its targeted streaming portfolio, led by its flagship streamer AMC+. Gallagher joined AMC Networks in 2008, and was previously general counsel at Tommy Hilfiger and the Home Shopping Network. AMC Networks is currently searching for Gallagher's successor, according to the regulatory filing. Headquartered in New York, AMC Networks was founded in 1980 as Rainbow Media, a joint venture between Cablevision, Comcast, Cox Communications and investment bank Daniels & Associates. By 1983, Cablevision was its sole owner, and in 2011, it spun off from Cablevision and launched itself as the standalone public company AMC Networks. Its TV portfolio includes BBC America, IFC, Sundance TV and We TV. But AMC Networks has had a series of financial challenges of late, including a writer's strike, rising inflation, weak advertising sales and intense competition for streaming. It cut 10% of its workforce in 2020 and another 20% two years later. In 2023, the company scrapped plans for a second season of 61st Street starring Courtney B. Vance, as well as a series adaptation of the Adrienne Celt novel Invitation to a Bonfire, The Wrap reported. The network also saw a notable 17% drop in revenue from the first quarter of last year, according to its most recent quarterly earnings report … Kauff McGuire & Margolis announced that entertainment labor attorney and executive David Korduner has joined the firm as a partner in Los Angeles. Korduner has nearly 30 years of experience in the entertainment labor field, having previously held senior roles in several organizations on both the union and management sides. Most recently, Korduner served as senior vice president, associate general counsel, labor relations at the firm's client Fifth Season, an independent studio that finances, produces and distributes premium scripted series, feature films and documentaries. Korduner was previously general counsel and later associate national executive director at the Directors Guild of America, where he spent much of his career. … Frank Chesky continues to climb the ladder at Hard Rock International. He joined the company in 2017 as vice president and general counsel of the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Atlantic City, NJ. Chesky was part of the executive team that helped open the hotel in 2018, which within two years racked up the second-highest gaming revenue in Atlantic City. In 2021, he was named the parent company's vice president and deputy general counsel. Prior to Hard Rock, Chesky spent seven years at Sportech, an international gaming technology business, rising to executive vice president and general counsel. Early this year, Chesky became executive vice president and chief legal officer of Hard Rock International. In August, the Hollywood, FL-based operator of 309 cafes, hotels and casinos in more than 70 countries formally announced Chesky's promotion to legal chief. The seven-year Hard Rock veteran had been serving as interim general counsel since June 2023.