Welcome to Entertainment Law

On Monday August 15, 2011, I had the opportunity to interview one of Maryland’s most prestigious entertainment attorneys, Cynthia Blake Sanders, Esq.

Besides being an associate at Ober/Kaler Attorneys at Law, Ms. Sanders is also an adjunct professor at the University of Maryland where she teaches entertainment and sports law.  She is also involved in many community and professional organizations, which include, but are not limited to:

1. American Advertising Federation, Baltimore Chapter

2. Maryland School for the Arts

3. Maryland Lawyers for the Arts

4.  Baltimore Downtown Partnership

5. Safety Providers Network

6. Black Cherry Puppet Theater

The above-mentioned are just only a few of the organizations in which Ms. Sanders is involved. You can find out more about her on www.ober.com.  Ms. Sanders was licensed to practice law in the state of Maryland in 1999.  “ She focuses her practice on copyright, trademark, advertising, arts and media law matters, technology transfer and works closely with her firm’s Intellectual Property and Business Groups.” (Ober, 2011)

We conducted our interview via telephone and Ms. Sanders quickly dispelled any nervousness I was experiencing with her conversational manner.  Ms. Sanders was quite interested in Full Sail University and my personal pursuits.  I shared with her that I wanted to have a company one day akin to Walt Disney Corporation (Disney).  I want to be able to produce television shows, movies and music.

The biggest piece of advice that Ms. Sanders shared with me was be prepared to work hard and if I wanted to be a phenomenon like Disney that I would need to acquire my rights horizontally and vertically, meaning own ALL rights to everything (that will come in time). She advised me as well to double check EVERYTHING:

1. Employee Agreements

2. Proprietary Rights

3. Building Rights

The list goes on. There are special rights for film as there are for television and most importantly when negotiating, don’t give away too much. I must also have separate agreements for all persons involved in my projects.

Overall, my conversation was extremely enlightening, she made aware of the entertainment industry in Baltimore and encouraged me to investigate and network as well.  It was great speaking with her, because it proved what many of our professors have been stating over the course of the last few months. There are those who are willing to HELP us along the way, but we have to make the first step. I, personally, was humbled that Ms. Sanders had taken the time to speak with and was so open with her wisdom and guidance.

Finally, I will end this writing as I normally do, what price are you willing to pay to become a celebrity?  Everything has a price and fame is no exception, to gain anything meaningful hard work and dedication must be employed.


<script type="text/javascript">

  var _gaq = _gaq || [];
  _gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'UA-26074626-1']);
  _gaq.push(['_trackPageview']);

  (function() {
    var ga = document.createElement('script'); ga.type = 'text/javascript'; ga.async = true;
    ga.src = ('https:' == document.location.protocol ? 'https://ssl' : 'http://www') + '.google-analytics.com/ga.js';
    var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(ga, s);
  })();

</script>