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Lauri Gavel
Executive Director of Communications
UCLA School of Law
(310) 206-2611
UCLA School of Law Hosts Thirty-Sixth UCLA Entertainment Symposium
“Killer Deals – What Works, What’s New, What’s Coming?”
Keynote interview with Leslie Moonves, President and CEO of CBS
Corporation
LOS ANGELES, CA, March
6, 2012 – UCLA School of Law will host the thirty-sixth UCLA Entertainment
Symposium, “Killer Deals – What Works, What’s New, What’s Coming?” on March 9 –
10, 2012, at UCLA’s Macgowan Hall, Freud Playhouse. The annual event, which
addresses subjects at the forefront of the entertainment industry, will feature
leading legal and entertainment industry executives who will share their
perspectives on the impact of evolving technologies on deal making and
distribution now and in the future.
A highlight of this year’s symposium is a keynote interview
with CBS Corporation President and Chief Executive Officer Leslie Moonves, who
will discuss the emerging digital world of CBS. Kenneth Ziffren, of Ziffren
Brittenham, LLP, and an adjunct professor in the UCLA School of Law
Entertainment, Media and Intellectual Property Law Program, will conduct the
interview.
Moonves was promoted to chairman and CEO of CBS Corporation
in 2003 after serving as president and CEO of CBS Television since 1998. He
joined CBS in 1995 as president of CBS Entertainment. Under his guidance, CBS
has maintained its dominance as America’s number one TV network while its Showtime
cable network has significantly increased viewership and earned critical
acclaim. A career executive in the entertainment industry, Moonves has been at
the forefront of innovation. He is especially skilled at creating new ways to
distribute and monetize content on emerging platforms worldwide.
The two-day symposium will offer 10 panels to explore the
changing landscape of the entertainment industry. The rapid evolution of
technologies, especially the digital revolution, is causing a re-examination of
long established practices and assumptions. How are rights being divided among
the players in complex deals involving film and television companies,
traditional and e-publishers and merchandisers? While companies and artists
carve up the rights pie into finer and finer pieces, consumers expect to
consolidate whatever they watch on multiple devices in increasing quantities. Quickly
evolving devices create major challenges for effective content management that protects
and grows the bottom line. Content itself is shifting. Will the phenomenal
success of reality television persist? Skillful involvement of social media platforms
to create buzz and build a fan base for a television series or a film has
become essential to success, but what are the best ways to engage with them?
The benefits driven by these developments are often sidelined by the toll of a
well-publicized substance abuse problem on people, production and careers.
Panelists and moderators who will examine these issues
include eminent UCLA School of Law faculty and top entertainment lawyers, along
with key executives from Hasbro Studios, Twentieth Century Fox, Netflix,
Cinemark Theatres, Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures, ABC Television, Creative
Artists Agency, YouTube and Facebook. Independent producers, agents and media
developers will present their perspectives from the frontlines.
For a detailed schedule, click here.
For a photo and further information about keynote speaker
Leslie Moonves, click here.
The UCLA Entertainment Symposium has become a flagship event
for the entertainment industry, bringing together leading practitioners,
prominent entertainment law firms, studios, legal scholars and students.
About UCLA School of
Law
Founded in 1949, UCLA School of
Law is the youngest major law school in the nation and has established a
tradition of innovation in its approach to teaching, research and scholarship.
With approximately 100 faculty and 1,100 students, the school pioneered
clinical teaching, is a leader in interdisciplinary research and training and
is at the forefront of efforts to link research to its effects on society and
the legal profession. For more information, visit www.law.ucla.edu.