Selected Issues: Entertainment

This course focuses on how disputes are resolved in the entertainment industry through mediation and arbitration. A broad range of contexts, such as motion pictures, television, music publishing and records, as well as sports and the arts, form the backdrop for the examination of various cases and simulations. Alternative dispute resolution (ADR) is explored from the point of view of house counsel, business affairs executives, outside counsel, transactional attorneys, litigators, mediators, arbitrators, agents, creative executives, union representatives, performers, artists, and Olympic athletes. 

Students gain familiarity with details of established dispute resolution programs, such as the following:

  • Entertainment Panel of American Arbitration Association (AAA)
  • Independent Film & Television Alliance (IFTA)
  • Arts Arbitration and Mediation Service (AAMS)
  • Writers Guild of America (WGA)
  • Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS)
  • NCAA and professional sports leagues dispute resolution protocols 

The course also addresses entertainment industry acceptance of ADR, ethical issues, blended ADR processes, international issues, entertainment industry style and subculture, and practice tips.