[gnicholas]

> All stars have very savvy agents and lawyers...it is an industry which selects for people who work very long hours and drive hard bargains, at every level.

When I was in law school at UCLA, I considered going into entertainment law. I attended a presentation by a famous entertainment lawyer who said that the lawyers in show business are not actually the most talented — unlike other industries, the big players don't hire primarily from Harvard, Yale, etc.

Instead, the halls of Sony Pictures or Fox are lined with graduates from second- and third-tier law schools who had a foot in the door because of a family connection.

The reason he gave for this is that entertainment law is not as complex as other areas of law, so the basic contract work can be done by a not-stellar lawyer. This was a 15 years ago, and perhaps times have changed. But I'm sure that family/industry connections are still an important part of getting these jobs.

[anigbrowl]

Definitely true. And showbiz negotiation is very much about strategy and chutzpah rather than pure legal acuity - I think the smartest minds go into business law or practice in fields like insurance.

But I do think entertainment lawyers are still very good at what they do. If you look at a popular reference like Mark Litwak's Dealmaking in the Film and Television Industry there's a heavy emphasis on taking the longest possible view because big openings and box office receipts are only tiny part of the overall revenue stream, and the real money is in syndication, foreign sales, merchandise etc. etc.