Hollywood ’25: Survive or Thrive

49th Annual Entertainment Symposium

Friday, June 27, 2025 | Schoenberg Hall, UCLA

Keynote: Dana Walden, Co-Chairman, Disney Entertainment

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9:30 to 9:35 AM (PDT)

Welcome & Dean's Remarks

Presenter:

• Dean Michael Waterstone, Dean and Professor of Law, UCLA School of Law

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9:40 to 10:25 AM (PDT) | General MCLE Credit: 0.75 Hour

The Future of Content in the Post Pay TV World

Presenter:

• Michael Nathanson, Partner and Senior Research Analyst, MoffetNathanson Research

Follow-up discussion with:

• Lucas Shaw, Managing Editor, Bloomberg News; interviewed by Elsa Ramo, Managing Partner, Ramo Law PC

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10:30 to 11:25 AM (PDT) | General MCLE Credit: 1.0 Hour

Entertainment First Aid Kit: Crisis Prevention, Protection, Management & Mitigation

You get the proverbial phone call--there’s been a development on the set, perhaps a terrible accident or a conflict between performer and director and one of them has walked, or some other calamity. Now what? This panel will discuss how to manage and mitigate production risk through contractual protections and how to insure against catastrophic losses, what to look for in the so-called boilerplate, the types of insurance available and other strategies that may save your client and their project, whether they are a leading actor, producer or financier. And finally, what to do if you find yourself in the position of having to deal with an accident on set, an insurance claim or a shutdown.

Moderator:

• Dori Lerner, Senior Vice President, LBW Insurance and Financial Services, Inc.

Panelists:

• Yolanda T. Cochran, Head of Production, Imagine Entertainment and Jax Media
• Glenn D. Feig, Founding Partner, Reder & Feig LLP
• Bryan Freedman, Founding Partner, Liner Freedman Taitelman + Cooley, LLP

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11:30 AM to 12:25 PM (PDT) | General MCLE Credit: 1.0 Hour

To License or Not to License: Is That the AI Question?

Copyright owners believe they should be paid when their material is used to train Generative AI – Companies like OpenAI, Anthropic and Cohere use copyrighted source materials to train their platforms which they in turn make available to their users; and copyright owners have cried foul and filed numerous lawsuits against these platforms claiming that the use of their copyrighted works is infringement. While the cases wend their way through the courts, several AI platforms have begun licensing content from publishers, studios and media conglomerates. Platforms have made deals with The Atlantic, News Corp., Vox Media, Shutterstock and Reddit to name just a few. Clearinghouses are being established to make deals on behalf of a myriad of entertainment industry players and rights holders. This panel will examine the emerging world of content licensing to train AI, the burgeoning marketplace for these licenses, and their key financial terms.

Moderator:

• Andrew Wallenstein, President and Chief Media Analyst, Variety Intelligence Platform

Panelists:

• Trip Adler, Co-Founder & CEO, Created by Humans
• Seth Goldstein, General Counsel & Vice President, Business & Legal Affairs, Music AI
• Varun Shetty, Head of Media Partnerships, OpenAI

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12:25 to 1:45 PM (PDT)

Lunch & Networking Break

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1:45 to 1:55 PM (PDT)

A Few Words about Tumult

Presenter:

• Doug Lichtman, Professor of Law, UCLA School of Law & Faculty Director, Ziffren Institute for Media, Entertainment, Technology and Sports Law

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2:00 to 2:55 PM (PDT) | Legal Ethics MCLE Credit: 1.0 Hour

With Reckless Disregard: The Evolution & Ethics of Defamation Claims in a Polarized Era

The media industry has evolved dramatically since the actual malice standard for defamation was established by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1964 in the landmark case New York Times v. Sullivan. In today’s polarized media environment, it seems like a rush to get the scoop has led to a plethora of anonymous or dubious sources that often get the story wrong.  CNN, FOX and MSNBC have all been subject to significant defamation claims based on their reporting. This panel of experts on defamation and First Amendment rights will explore the evolving landscape of defamation law, with a particular focus on the ethical complexities faced by attorneys in today’s ever more fractured society – including the unique challenge of balancing zealous advocacy with ethical responsibilities in high-stakes media and celebrity defamation litigation. In addition, panelists will examine the enduring impact of NYT v. Sullivan which created extensive First Amendment protections for the media - including the rising calls to revisit or overturn the actual malice standard and the implications such a shift might have on media accountability and public discourse.

Moderator:

• Eriq Gardner, Founding Partner, Puck

Panelists:

• Theodore J. Boutrous, Jr., Partner, Gibson Dunn
• Selina MacLaren, Senior Counsel, ABC News
• Camille Vasquez, Partner, Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP

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3:00 to 3:55 PM (PDT) | General MCLE Credit: 1.0 Hour

Hollywood v. the World: Competing Incentives and the Future of Production

Hollywood has traditionally been the center of the industry when it comes to the motion picture business and the U.S. is still the largest market for films and TV shows. In recent years, however, fewer and fewer productions are actually produced on the sound stages of Sony, Warner Bros., Paramount and Disney. As the studios and independent producers chase tax credits in other states and foreign countries, Los Angeles seems to have lost some of its luster as the film production capital. Many states and countries continue to lure productions with aggressive tax credits, infrastructure investments and workforce training programs—often at L.A.’s expense.  What can we do to keep productions—and jobs—in California and bring in billions to the local economy? Or is it simply too late? This panel will explore these and related questions.

Moderator:

• Sophia Yen, Partner, Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP

Panelists:

• Ali Jazayeri, Managing Director – Head of Global Lending, TPC
• Dee Dee Myers, Senior Advisor to Governor Newsom, Director, Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development (GO-Biz)
• Hal Sadoff, Producer | Strategic Advisor in Media & Entertainment

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3:55 to 4:15 PM (PDT)

Networking Break

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4:20 to 5:20 PM (PDT) | General MCLE Credit: 1.0 Hour

Keynote

• Dana Walden, Co-Chairman, Disney Entertainment
• Ken Ziffren ’65, Partner & Co-Founder, Ziffren Brittenham LLP

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UCLA School of Law is a State Bar of California approved MCLE provider. By attending all six (6) sessions, you may earn Minimum Continuing Legal Education credit in the amount of up to 5.75 total credits (4.75 hours of general credit and 1 hour of legal ethics credit).