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Entertainment

Entertainment Attorneys Serving Clients Nationwide

Georgia is one of the busiest production states in the country, and the legal work behind that industry looks nothing like the business it supports. Deals move on compressed timelines, rights are layered across multiple parties, and the agreement signed in a hurry at the start of a project is the document everyone argues about at the end. Kaufman & Hilbert PC advises artists, writers, performers, producers, production companies, studios, venues, brands, and investors on the contracts, rights, and entity structures the entertainment business runs on, and litigates when a deal or a right is not honored. Based in Alpharetta, Georgia, and serving clients nationwide and internationally, the firm handles these matters with senior attorneys who understand that a client’s leverage today determines their position for years.

How Kaufman & Hilbert Can Help

Entertainment work sits at the intersection of contract, intellectual property, and business law. Our attorneys handle:

  • Talent, production, distribution, and licensing agreements
  • Copyright, trademark, and rights clearance, including chain of title
  • Entity formation, financing, and production company structuring
  • Name, image, likeness, and right of publicity matters, including endorsement and sponsorship deals
  • Entertainment disputes, from royalty and credit claims to breach of contract litigation

Our Entertainment Law Services

Contracts and Deal Negotiation

Most entertainment outcomes are decided at signature. We draft and negotiate talent and performer agreements, writer and work-for-hire agreements, producer and director deals, production services agreements, distribution and licensing terms, sponsorship and endorsement contracts, and venue and event agreements. We focus on the terms that matter long after the project wraps: ownership, credit, term and territory, exclusivity, approvals, reversion, and how and when money actually gets paid.

Rights, Clearance, and Intellectual Property

A production is only as sound as its chain of title. We handle copyright and trademark registration and enforcement, option and rights acquisition agreements, clearance of underlying works, music, and third-party materials, and the releases a project needs to be insurable and distributable. We also advise creators on protecting their catalog, controlling their name and likeness, and structuring licenses that do not give away more than intended.

Business Structure and Financing

Entertainment ventures live or die on structure. We form and structure production companies, labels, and single-purpose project entities, paper investor and financing arrangements, draft the operating agreements that govern creative control and profit participation, and coordinate with the firm’s economic incentives attorneys on state production incentives. Getting the entity right protects both the creative work and the people behind it.

Entertainment Disputes

When a deal breaks down, we litigate. We handle royalty and profit participation disputes, credit and attribution claims, breach of contract and licensing disputes, infringement claims, and disputes among partners and collaborators. Many entertainment agreements route disputes to arbitration or require confidentiality, and we handle those proceedings with the same rigor we bring to court.

Who We Serve

We represent recording artists, musicians, writers, actors, directors, influencers and digital creators, athletes and personalities managing their name and likeness, independent producers and production companies, studios and post houses, event and venue operators, brands entering talent and sponsorship deals, and the investors who finance all of it. Some clients come to us before a deal to make sure they are not signing away the thing they built. Others come after, when the credit, the royalty, or the ownership did not come through as promised.
Meet Our Team
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Charles Ralston
COO/CTO
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Robert J. Kaufman
Partner
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Alex B. Kaufman
Partner
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Jon Spetalnick
Partner
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Christian Zimm
Attorney
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Dylan Phillips
Attorney
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Why Kaufman & Hilbert

Senior-Led Representation. Experienced attorneys negotiate and paper your deals personally, on the timelines this industry actually runs on.

Full-Service Strategy. Entertainment counsel backed by the firm’s intellectual property, corporate, commercial transaction, and litigation practices.

Nationwide & International Reach. We represent clients in entertainment matters across the country and internationally, including cross-border licensing and distribution.

Responsive, Practical Counsel. Clear advice on which terms are worth fighting for and which are not, so a deal closes without giving away the leverage that matters.

  • How it works

Our Approach

01

Listen & Assess

We learn the project, the parties, and what you need to own or control when it is finished, and review any existing agreements or rights already in play.

02

Strategy

We identify the deal points that determine long-term value, the rights that must be cleared, and the structure that protects both the work and the people behind it.

03

Execution

We draft, negotiate, and close, coordinating registration, clearance, and entity work so the project is fundable, insurable, and distributable.

04

Resolution

We keep the relationship documented and enforceable, and if a dispute arises we pursue it through negotiation, arbitration, or litigation.

  • FAQs

Frequently Asked Questions

Yes. Managers and agents advance your career and negotiate opportunities, but they are not your lawyer, they cannot give legal advice, and their compensation is often tied to the same deal you are being asked to sign. An attorney reviews the agreement solely for your legal interests.
It depends entirely on the agreement. Absent a valid written work-for-hire arrangement or an express assignment, the creator generally retains ownership, but many industry contracts transfer rights broadly and permanently. Ownership, credit, and reversion should be settled in writing before the work begins.
Chain of title is the documented record showing that a production actually holds the rights to every underlying element it uses, including the script, the music, the footage, and the appearances. Distributors, insurers, and financiers require it. Gaps in the chain can stop a project from being released.
Crediting a rights holder is not the same as licensing from one. Using protected material generally requires permission, and fair use is a narrow, fact-specific defense rather than a reliable plan. We handle clearance and licensing so a project is not exposed after release.
  • CONTACT

Schedule a Consultation

Whether you are signing your first agreement or protecting a catalog you have spent a career building, the terms decide what you keep. Call +1-770-299-0792 or email of****@************rt.com (General Inquiries), in****@************rt.com (New Client Consultation) to schedule a consultation with Kaufman & Hilbert PC.

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