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THAT'S ENTERTAINMENT
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By Christine
Imbs
Being an entertainment lawyer in St. Louis at times must be a lot
like being the Maytag repairman—very lonely. After all, St. Louis
isn’t exactly a hotbed of entertainment like Los Angeles, New York
or even Nashville. Still we do have our fair share of actors, musicians,
writers, illustrators, photographers and even record producers.
And all need the services of someone who knows the ropes.
Jeffrey Michelman, entertainment lawyer, Blumenfeld,
Kaplan & Sandweiss |
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One such person is Jeffrey Michelman, an entertainment lawyer with
the Clayton firm of Blumenfeld, Kaplan & Sandweiss. He not only
represents his fair share of local St. Louis talent, but also nationally
known figures as well, such as actress Neve Campbell, the pop band
Hanson, Academy Award nominated producer Buzz Hirsch, American Idol
contestant Aloha Mischeaux and hip-hop sensation Nelly.
“There’s no doubt, the entertainment industry is fun and sexy. But
it’s also a business, and a very complicated one at that,” he says.
“Most artists starting out really don’t have a clue. And often they’re
dealing with a parent as a coach, who’s in the dark as well. There
are a lot of sharks swimming the California coast. It’s important
to have someone with experience in your corner.”
Eric Kayira, an entertainment and media lawyer with the St. Louis-based
firm of Blackwell Sanders Peper Martin, agrees that experienced
counsel makes all the difference.
“One word can change everything,” he explains. “For instance, you
can have a record deal where it looks like you’re going to get 20
percent. But in another paragraph just one word increases the amount
of packaging deductions. So now your great point spread has just
been reduced so dramatically that you’re worse off than you could
ever imagine.”
Kayira has worked with record producers, publishing companies, songwriters
and independent record companies, as well as multi-platinum recording
artists such as rappers Chingy and Ebony Eyez, both St. Louis natives.
He says his exposure to such artists has increased his client base
significantly.
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Eric
Kayira, entertainment lawyer, Blackwell Sanders Peper
Martin |
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“Representing a multi-platinum artist such as Chingy puts you in
a whole different league, because their needs are so great,” he
explains. “I’ve represented him for over 2-1/2 years now, which
is pretty unusual.”
Kayira says generally most attorneys only represent an artist for
the deal and then they’re gone. But because of his long relationship
with the rapper, he’s been exposed not only to new up-and-coming
artists, but to established ones as well.
“They see that I’m able to handle negotiations with some of the
biggest players in the entertainment legal community. So my practice
has increased because of word-of-mouth,” he says. “And I believe
if you try to do the right thing, people will take notice.”
As Nelly’s counsel, Michelman also has profited from national exposure.
Still, St. Louis is a long way from Los Angeles, the heart of the
entertainment industry. So why would an artist look to the Gateway
City when Hollywood is in their own backyard? Michelman says, in
part, it’s our Midwestern values.
“There’s definitely a different ethic in the Midwest,” he says.
“We’re perceived as less sharky and more honest. And I can stay
in touch with my clients and provide the same services and expertise
as the West Coast law firms. What’s more, I can do it at an hourly
rate that is half or a third the cost.”
It also helps to be centrally located. Hop on a plane, and in a
relatively short amount of time, you can reach either coast. And
if something needs your immediate attention, with today’s technology,
you can be in touch within a matter of minutes. A case in point
is one of Kayira’s clients, a recording artist, who was entering
into an agreement with the television show, “The Apprentice.” Kayira
had only 12 hours to negotiate a 48-page agreement involving intricate
licensing and royalty details.
“We not only turned it around on time, but maintained what was in
our client’s best interests,” he says. “And we did it from St. Louis.
That shows we can move every bit as quickly as someone on the coast,
and still provide quality service.”
Of course technology does have its limitations. For one thing emails,
faxes and cell phones don’t have the same impact as a face-to-face
meeting. And with the record labels, film and production companies,
and industry people in general primarily located on the coasts,
personal contact is of utmost importance.
“A lot of younger people are really into technology and prefer dealing
with clients that way. But I like going eyeball-to-eyeball with
someone. You can tell a lot about what someone’s thinking just by
watching them,” comments Michelman. “And it’s very important to
develop relationships. That’s difficult over the phone. Besides,
you can’t know what a rapper or rock ‘n’ roll musician is like,
unless you go outside of the office and spend some time in their
world.”
Still like Rodney Dangerfield, it seems St. Louis “gets no respect”
from the entertainment meccas on the coasts. But that’s about to
change. St. Louis is on the verge of becoming a significant market
in the entertainment industry, especially in the field of music.
“We have a good mix of things happening here,” says Kayira. “We
have Story of the Year, which is a St. Louis rock band that signed
with Maverick records. Then there’s Potzee, The Bangars, and Tiffany
Fox, all of whom came out of St. Louis and signed major recording
contracts. Then, of course, there’s Nelly, JKwon, Chingy, and Ebony
Eyez. And there’s a huge buzz in the industry right now over another
St. Louis group, 4th Down.”
Besides talent, St. Louis is also home to a number of successful,
nationally recognized music producers such as Track Boyz, Basement
Beats and Pie Productions. And even more are developing. Hardly
Davidson/Soundtracks is one of the most notable. We also have a
number of high quality music studios producing industry standard
recordings such as Fat Buddha, Jupiter Studio and Shock City Musicworks.
Shock City is building one of the biggest studios in the country,
and it’s right off Gravois Avenue.
“So the infrastructure is beginning to come together, from the brick
and mortar like the studios, to the creative types that transcend
just the artists in this market, and the production companies themselves,”
says Kayira. “As more facets of the industry become successful and
engaged nationally in the music scene. Quite literally, St. Louis
could become the next Atlanta or Motown. It’s truly an exciting
time here.”
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Minding
the Store
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Once
an artist achieves any amount of success, keeping track of
the money coming and going gets a bit tricky. And horror stories
about entertainers who achieved fame and wealth, only to lose
it through financial mishandling abound in the industry. It’s
no wonder then that the question uppermost in the minds of
today’s entertainers is, “Who’s minding the store?”
In St. Louis it’s probably Larry Rubin. Rubin says as far
as he knows he has the distinction of being the only St. Louis-based
CPA specializing in entertainment. And like St. Louis’ entertainment
attorneys, Rubin’s clients come by word of mouth.
“I’m a music fanatic, so I’ve developed a number of personal
relationships with some local musicians,” he explains. “It’s
a close-knit community, and trust means a lot to them. They
know they can trust me, so I get a lot of referrals.”
He also gets his referrals through local entertainment attorneys
like Jeffrey Michelman.
“I don’t do legal work and Jeff doesn’t do financial work,
so we’ve shared a number of clients,” Rubin says. “As a result,
my client base has expanded a little beyond St. Louis.”
Rubin admits only about 10 to 20 percent of his business involves
entertainers, even though he does handle a lot of work for
some nationally-known artists out of New York and L.A. He
says once they really hit it big, most will generally use
whomever their management team suggests. Currently, the bulk
of his works comes from local corporate clients.
“I suppose if I wanted to do this full time I could possibly
be based in St. Louis. But I would have to travel a lot to
make the contacts,” he says. “Of course, if opportunities
occurred where I could spend more time with this, I would
consider it. But right now, I have enough to do, and it’s
a good mix.” |
TalentPlus-Spotlight;
Sharon Tucci— Corporate Entertainment
Sharon Tucci, president and owner, TalentPlus-Spotlight |
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Even
established entertainers may sometimes find themselves with
down time. After all, tours come to an end, contracts expire
and not everyone can jump from movie to movie. So to fill
the gap and bring in a little extra money, many entertainers
are turning to corporate entertainment.
In St. Louis, the main source for corporate entertainment
is TalentPlus-Spotlight. Sharon Tucci, president and owner,
started the agency in 1977 as TalentPlus to represent models
and other talent in print and electronic media. It was something
she says no one else in the area was doing.
“There were a few mom and pop shops working out of their homes,
but nothing established in our marketplace that brought it
to a more professional level,” she says.
TalentPlus became the first American Federation of Television
and Radio Artists (AFTRA) and Screen Actors Guild (SAG) commercial
talent agency in St. Louis and the first of the premier agencies
in the Midwest. Today, TalentPlus-Spotlight handles a diverse
roster including professional speaking experts, sports stars,
media personalities, celebrities, and corporate headline entertainment.
“We’ve always been known as a full-service agency,” Tucci
says. “Now we can offer even more to our clients. We’ve signed
people like singer Chubby Checker and actor Jack Wagner from
The Bold and the Beautiful. He’s also a singer and the lowest
handicapped celebrity golfer in L.A. Then we have Sylvester
Stallone’s brother, Frank, who is a singer, and musician Bobby
Caldwell.”
Tucci says many artists aren’t being exposed to corporate
entertainment, because that’s not what their agents are focusing
on. TalentPlus-Spotlight is their entry into the world of
corporate entertaining. It’s also a chance for local artists
to move into a regional or national market.
“Absolutely,” says Tucci. “We’re very interested in the local
scene as well. In fact we have one person, Jack White, whose
focus is strictly national talent. He’s a 20-year veteran
of the entertainment industry. Then there’s Chris Hansen who
will handle signing talent from the local area. So we hope
to be bringing some unique and exciting opportunities to our
clients.”
Jeremy
Davenport
Patti
Paige
Jack
Wagner
Frank
Stallone |
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