Entertainment Law: Film & Theatre

Are you fascinated by Hollywood? Do you want to know why Tom Cruise gets $20,000,000 per movie and why Leonardo DiCaprio was only paid about $1,000,000 for his work on "Titantic," which grossed over a billion dollars worldwide? Have you ever wondered what those credits mean when they crawl across the movie or television screen? Did it strike you as unusual that Harper Collins refused to publish Joan Collins' book after she insisted on writing it herself?

If any of these or similar questions have crossed your mind or you want to work in the entertainment industry, then Entertainment Law is the course for you. During the course of the semester, we will explore the legal relationships governing these major components of the entertainment industry: (1) film and television; (2) music; (3) theater and dance; and (4) publishing.

We discuss the legal and business relationships between entertainers and the commercial industry. The case book includes both cases and news articles from the national and trade presses.

The course will include guest speakers from the industry. Clips will be shown from Professor Burr's television show "ARTS TALK!" and she will talk about how the show was created, from initial treatment to the shows that aired in Honolulu and Albuquerque.

The text for this course is Burr & Henslee's "Entertainment Law: Cases and Materials in Film, Television, and Music (Thomson West 2004). Also recommended is Burr's "Entertainment Law in a Nutshell" (Thomson West 2004).