The 2025 Entertainment & Media Law Conference

On March 20 in Los Angeles, the MLRC presented its 22^nd Annual Entertainment & Media Law Conference in collaboration with our partners at the Biederman Institute at Southwestern Law School. The event brought together in-house attorneys, law firm counsel, filmmakers, and students for a series of fascinating discussions on topics both practical and fundamental.

We kicked off the conference with a session on reality programming, led by David Aronoff (Fox Rothschild) and featuring Emily Evitt (MSK), Chi Kephart (A. Smith & Co./Magical Elves), and Ivy Kagan Bierman (Loeb & Loeb). The session discussed tactics to approach legal risks common in reality television, including the intricacies of providing disclosures and obtaining consents, physical risks to performers, questions around employment status, and more. The panelists threaded these issues through a discussion of a purely hypothetical show, “Leap of Faith,” in which contestants looking for love face the challenge of leaping over a pool filled with ravenous piranhas. Studios looking to develop this concept should contact David.

Next was a deep dive into the issue of disinformation, with Prof. Michael Epstein of Southwestern moderating a feisty debate about the constitutionality of efforts to crack down on realistic and potentially deceptive computer-generated imagery while avoiding interference with the wide array of entertainment productions that rely on AI-based tools. We brought together Ted Frank (Hamilton Lincoln Law Institute), who litigated a First Amendment challenge to California’s deepfakes law, and Eric Shamlin (Secret Level), the CEO of a production company using the cutting edge of AI technology who is deeply aware of its risks. They were joined by your humble author, who—as always—was ready to discuss his all-time-favorite First Amendment case, U.S. v. Alvarez, at the drop of a hat.

(My current least favorite case is Anderson v. TikTok, but if you’ve been reading the Digital Review, you already know that. Speaking of which, yes, it’s been a while, but another issue is in the works.)

After their successful launch at last year’s Entertainment Conference, breakouts were back this year with attendees choosing between Series & Backend Deals (Elsa Ramo, Ramo Law, and Brad Miller, DWT), AI & Digital Media (Danielle Van Lier, VanLier Law, and Joe Anderson, Manatt), and Pre-Pub Review for Non-Scripted Content (Chris Perez, Donaldson Callif Perez, and Lindsey Faivus, Netflix). I had the pleasure of dropping in on all of them, and wish I could have stayed longer.

We then reconvened in the main hall for a session exploring the impact of the second Trump administration on the entertainment, journalism, and tech sectors. JP Jassy (Jassy Vick Carolan) wrangled the discussion, which veered between practical benefits and existential threats, with Jenn Dukarski (Butzel Long), David Loy (First Amendment Coalition), Evan Swarztrauber (Foundation for American Innovation), and Ben Sheffner (MPA) providing level-headed commentary on serious issues facing all MLRC members.

Finally, we turned the stage over to the filmmakers, with Diana Palacios (DWT) welcoming members of the production teams from Oscar-nominated Donald Trump biopic The Apprentice and influential Netflix documentary The Menendez Brothers to discuss the practical and legal challenges of bringing these films to the screen. The session, and the conference, ended with these guests offering their heartfelt appreciation to all of the media lawyers who help filmmakers bring their visions to life.

The MLRC and I would like to thank one last time our planning committee (Dave Aronoff, Kathleen Cullinan, Rob Gutierrez, Kevin Vick, and Joel Weiner), our partners at Southwestern Law School (Orly Ravid and Tamara Moore), all of our moderators and speakers, our coffee break sponsor Mutual Insurance, and our conference sponsors  Ballard Spahr, CNA Insurance, Davis Wright Tremaine, Fox Rothschild, Jassy Vick Carolan, Jenner & Block, Katten Muchin Rosenman, Mitchell Silberberg & Knupp, Motion Picture Administration, QBE Insurance, and Venable.

We hope to see you there next year!