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About Law
Offices of Mark Litwak and Associates
Mark Litwak
Mark Litwak is an entertainment attorney based in Beverly Hills,
California. His practice includes work in the areas of copyright,
trademark, contract, multimedia law, intellectual property, and book
publishing. As a Producer’s
Representative, he assists filmmakers in arranging financing, marketing and
distribution of their films. His filmmaker clients have had award
winning films in Cannes, Toronto, Telluride and other festivals.
The
firm has represented filmmakers who have produced award-winning films
such as Prisoner of the Mountain (Director’s Fortnight, Cannes), To End All Wars (Telluride,
Toronto), Hustle & Flow (Audience Award, Sundance), and
winners of top prize at the Hampton’s
International Film Festival (Unconditional Love, Mugshot, and Screen
Door Jesus), and DeNadie (winner World Cinema Documentary
Audience Award, Sundance 2006). During Sundance 2005, three clients had
films acquired for distribution: Hustle & Flow, which won
the Audience Award; The Matador and Marilyn Hotchkiss’ Ballroom Dancing and Charm School. Five
clients had films exhibited during Sundance 2007 (Black Snake Moan,
The Ten, Padre Nuestro, Expired and Fido).
Litwak
is the author of six books: Reel Power, The Struggle for Influence and
Success in the New Hollywood (William Morrow, 1986), Courtroom
Crusaders (William Morrow, 1989), Dealmaking in the Film &
Television Industry (Silman-James Press, 1994) (winner of the 1996
Krazna-Kranz award for best book in the world on the film business), Contracts
for the Film & Television Industry (Silman-James Press, 2nd Ed.
1999), Litwak's Multimedia Producer's Handbook (Silman-James Press,
1998) and Risky Business: Financing and Distributing Independent Film
(Silman-James Press, 2004).
He
has contributed articles for The Los Angeles Times, The Business of
Film, The Hollywood Reporter, Moviemaker and The Independent.
He is the creator of the popular CD-ROM program Movie Magic
Contracts.
Mark
Litwak earned a B.A. and M.A. from Queens College of the City
University of New York, and a Juris Doctor degree from the University
Of San Diego School Of Law. Mr. Litwak has been a
lawyer since 1977. After graduation he was admitted to
the bars in New York, California and Washington D.C. His practice today
is based in Beverly Hills, California. He has an AV Peer Review Rating
from Martindale-Hubbell and has been named a Southern California Super
Lawyer by Law & Politics magazine in 2006 and 2007.
As
a law professor he has taught such subjects as entertainment law,
copyright, torts and worker’s
compensation at such institutions as U.W.L.A., Loyola Law School and
the University of Puget Sound School of Law. He has taught
entertainment law
courses at U.C.L.A. extension for 19 years. Litwak has lectured for
continuing legal educations programs of the American Bar Association as
well as programs offered by the California and Texas state bar
associations. A frequent speaker, he has presented seminars across the
United States, and in England, Australia, South Africa and Canada
including presentations for the American Film Institute, Columbia
University, N.Y.U, U.S.C, the University of British Columbia and the
Royal College of Art in London.
Litwak
has represented clients in entertainment industry arbitrations. He also
serves as an arbitrator on the AAA and IFTA entertainment panels. He
has completed several AAA commercial arbitrator training workshops.
His
background also includes stints as a television journalist, writing and
producing news segments for Telepictures, and as a television producer,
with Marble Arch Productions. He is a former Vice President and General
Counsel for Dorason, a merchant banking and communications company.
Litwak has packaged movie projects and served as executive producer on
such feature films as "The Proposal," "Out Of Line"
and "Pressure." He has provided legal services or worked as a
rep on more than 200 motion pictures.
Litwak
has been interviewed on more than 100 television and radio shows
including ABC News, "The Larry King Show," National Public
Radio's "All Things Considered," and CNN. He has been the
subject of articles in California Law Business, Australian Lawyer
and L.A. Weekly. He is the creator of the Magellan 4 Star site,
Entertainment Law Resources, at www.marklitwak.com.
Of
Counsel
Glenn
Litwak
Glenn Litwak has represented platinum-selling recording artists in all
aspects of their careers, including artists who have successfully
branched out into acting. He has also represented prominent music
producers who have produced for recording artists such as Destiny’s
Child, B2K, Omari, Marques Houston and Ginuwine. Glenn Litwak has
negotiated recording agreements for artists who have been signed
(through production deals) to major record labels such as Sony Music
(Epic Records), Interscope (A&M Records), and Warner Music. He has
represented recording artists who have been signed (through production deals)
to such labels as Elektra, Atlantic, and Universal Music Group. Glenn
Litwak also has experience in negotiating music publishing deals with
publishers such as EMI Music, Zomba, and Notting Hill Music.
Glenn
Litwak has extensive experience and expertise in representing teen
R&B/Pop groups in all aspects of their careers, including the
platinum selling group “B2K” and “Immature” (which later became “IMX”).
In the motion picture and television fields, Glenn Litwak represented
ten individuals involved in the 2004 hit movie “You Got Served,”
including the writer-director, five of the stars and two of the
producers.
Glenn
Litwak has handled more than 100 trials and arbitrations over the last
25 years. He has extensive experience in handling a wide variety of
Civil Litigation including breach of contract cases, fraud, unfair
competition, copyright infringement and personal injury claims. Trials
successfully handled by Glenn Litwak have appeared in the “Verdicts and
Settlements” section of the Los Angeles Daily Journal, the largest
legal newspaper in the country. His cases have been reported in the
press by the Los Angeles Times, the Los Angeles Daily Journal and the
Hollywood Reporter.
Glenn
Litwak has been profiled in California Law Business Magazine (February
1998). He has also been interviewed on a number of television shows
including: Celebrity Justice, Inside Edition, “Xtra,” and Fox Cable
News.
Glenn
Litwak has been a speaker at entertainment law seminars at UCLA Law
School, Loyola Law School, and for the California Lawyers for the Arts
and the California Alliance of Paralegal Associations. He teaches a
seminar entitled “Self Defense in the Music Industry” at the UCLA
Extension, Entertainment Studies Program.
Pete Wilke
Pete
Wilke is a Los Angeles entertainment and "SEC" attorney
(private placement, Regulation D and public offering securities). Pete
Wilke has been practicing law for more than 25 years. He specializes in
helping film producers start their businesses and provides investor
documentation and securities law compliance for the financing of their
independent films. He provides movie production legal services for
indie films and advises producers on movie distribution relationships.
Stella A.
Havkin
Stella A. Havkin is a 1984 magna cum laude graduate of York University
in Toronto, Canada with a B.A. in Political Science and Psychology. In
1987, Ms. Havkin graduated with a Juris Doctor Degree from the
University of California, Hastings College of Law. While at Hastings,
she was Associate Note Editor on the Hastings International and
Comparative Law Review. Her Note, entitled “The Foreign Sovereign
Immunities Act: The Relationship Between the Commercial Activity
Exception and the Noncommercial Tort Exception in Light of De Sanchez
v. Banco Central de Nicaragua" was published in Volume 10:2,
September, 1987 and was selected for publication on Westlaw. Since
graduating from Hastings in 1987, Ms. Havkin has practiced primarily in
business, commercial and bankruptcy law. Among others, she has
represented landlords, financial institutions, creditors and debtors.
She has developed an expertise in collections on behalf of creditors
and financial institutions which has required litigation in Texas and
Florida.
Jim Talbott
Attorney, technologist and author Jim Talbott is an expert in
entertainment, technology and new media law. His expertise spans the
entire spectrum of intellectual property and technology matters,
throughout the digital and traditional media worlds. He is also a
practicing television and computer engineer, with decades of experience
in the field.
Jim
Talbott has been the Senior Director of Licensing and Business Affairs
for Mforma Americas, Inc. a mobile game and information publisher and
distributor. He has taught entertainment and intellectual property law
at Loyola University in Los Angeles and is a member of the Screen
Actors Guild, the American Bar Association and the Society of Motion
Picture and Television Engineers, in addition to being the Chairman of
the Standards Committee of the Interactive Television Association and a
member of the Interactive Television Peer Group of the Academy of
Television Arts and Sciences.
As
a writer, Jim Talbott is an author, editor and frequent lecturer on
digital media-related legal issues. He has authored and co-authored
several legal books, including the popular New Media: Intellectual
Property, Entertainment, and Technology Law published by Clark
Boardman. His articles have also appeared in the American Bar
Association’s Entertainment and Sports Lawyer and The European
Intellectual Property Review among others. Topics include: Intellectual
Property Law, Entertainment & Technology, Copyrights, Unfair
Competition, Regulation of the Internet, and Software Taxation. He is
invited to speak all over the world, and has presented at the Cannes
Film Festival, MIP-TV, American Bar Association Forum on Entertainment
and Sports Law, Screen Actors Guild and the Banff New Media Festival.
You may communicate the attorneys affiliated with this firm by e-mail.
However, such communications in connection with a matter for which the
firm does not already represent you, may not be treated as privileged
or confidential. An attorney-client relationship can only be created
with a written retainer agreement signed by both parties.
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