Q&A with Pryor Cashman

This year, the firm of Pryor Cashman joins the list of Summit's partners for the first time. We spoke to the firm about its increased focus on the games industry, and how that compliments its existing media and technology competence:

???How would you define your firm’s core expertise?

– In its truest sense, Pryor Cashman sits at the intersection of technology, gaming, and media: we work with some of the world’s most innovative companies to help them navigate often-uncharted waters to realize their creative visions. Serving as the outside general counsel for leading-edge gaming and entertainment companies, we negotiate all forms of development, production, financing, and licensing deals.

The firm’s deep understanding of gaming and extensive experience and contacts in the world of entertainment make us ideally positioned to advise on “transmedia” issues at the intersection of the two worlds. We regularly act as facilitators and “translators” between gaming companies and entertainment companies in Hollywood and internationally.

Our newest partners, ???? Simon Pulman and ???? Briana Hill , give us additional capability in structuring and negotiating complex rights deals, digital distribution agreements and other cutting-edge transactions at the convergence of traditional media and emerging technology platforms. We bring our years of collective experience to help games developers and publishers build and protect their franchises; monetize their IP across film, TV, merchandising, publishing, and podcasts; and develop creative ways to monetize assets through any project’s lifecycle. We are also experienced in the emerging world of user-generated content.

?? What are the synergies that the firm offers to its games industry clients?

– Pryor Cashman capitalizes on the strengths of our Media + Entertainment transactional and litigation groups and our leading-edge intellectual property attorneys. The result is a deep bench of industry veterans who work seamlessly to negotiate contracts and deals that achieve our clients’ goals, identify potential areas of liability, and vigorously enforce contractual and property rights in high-stakes litigation. When the situation requires, our corporate, tax, immigration, real estate, and banking and finance attorneys draw from their broad experience in every facet of the industry to enable our clients to flourish in their creative and business endeavors.

Making Movie + Television Magic: with our support, award-winning games, films, documentaries, and television projects make the long, high-risk journey from concept to reality. We represent rights-holders and creators as well as motion picture and television production companies in negotiations to option material; engage writers, directors, and talent; and negotiate and execute a wide variety of production financing and distribution transactions.?

Protecting + Monetizing Music:?we’ve watched the music business change dramatically over the last five decades and have been at the forefront of game-changing industry developments that have shaped the law for the digital age. We routinely take on high-stakes intellectual property disputes and are known for representing international pop stars, rock icons, major music publishers, labels, and recording studios in headline-grabbing and cutting-edge deals and litigation.

Building Brands, Defending Privacy, and Preserving Creative Freedom:?Hollywood superstars, multiplatinum recording artists, celebrity chefs, reality TV personalities, professional athletes, fashion designers, supermodels, and more rely on Pryor Cashman to enhance their personal brands and protect their reputations and revenue streams. We negotiate licensing and employment agreements, performance contracts, and endorsement deals that maximize the value of our celebrity clients’ names, voices, likenesses, and intellectual property. When these personal assets are wrongfully used, we vigorously enforce our clients’ rights, including retrieving thousands of infringing domain names and winning the key case that established the industry standard in the areas of privacy and publicity rights (Rogers v. Grimaldi, MGU/UA).

We also work with clients throughout the publishing industry to ensure their creative works are protected from copyright infringement, including asserting and defending against fair use claims. Further, our publishing attorneys are skilled in representing clients regarding defamation and privacy issues in newsgathering and advertising, and we recently successfully settled a highly publicized, first-of-its-kind social media defamation case.

Behind the scenes, our attorneys assist individual artists and executives, athletes, and producers with immigration needs, tax issues, matrimonial and custodial matters, and estate planning. Entertainment is a global business, and our immigration attorneys ensure that international executives, entertainers, and celebrities can work in the United States and abroad. We are also adept at managing labor and employment matters, negotiating individual talent agreements, and seeking damages and restitution for breach of contract.

The firm’s Media + Entertainment Transactions and Financing Practice continues to be instrumental in deals that help shape the industry. We’re able to provide transactional counsel for both traditional and new media platforms, applying cross-disciplinary legal skills and decades of industry insights to craft and close complex transactions that meet our clients’ short- and long-term strategic goals in projects that range from feature films and documentaries to television and streaming entertainment. We’ve worked on the sale of domestic and international motion pictures and maintain extensive contacts in the foreign sales market that enable us to complete complex foreign pre-sales financings. Our success in this area includes cross-border deals that have attracted participation from foreign public companies and private equity shops alike.

?? What are the key locations for your firm’s interactive entertainment expertise?

– Our nationwide team primarily resides in ???? New York and ???? Los Angeles, though our reach is decidedly global. Working with clients from Sydney to Salt Lake City, we offer 24/7 access through our key partners.?

?? Most transactions and partnerships in the industry are cross-border. In your work, what sport of international cooperation comes up the most?

– Our clients come from all corners of the globe, and we partner with trusted firms around the region through informal alliances and through our involvement in trusted and award-winning global networks.

The first is?Interlaw, which is a top?Chambers-ranked alliance of midmarket firms who specialize in many of the same areas as Pryor Cashman; we have developed deep relationships with many of those firms in the M+E space.

We also work with ECOVIS International, a group of auditing, accounting, tax, and advisory firms located in countries across the globe.

?? Finally, who would be the first point of contact at the firm, for the clients and firms working with the industry?

???? Simon Pulman ,

???? Briana Hill ; and

???? Robert deBrauwere .