Everyday Law for Actors

by Robert Woods

Overview

Everyday Law for Actors is a resource and reference book, providing both professional working actors, and those who aspire to be, with clear, easy-to-read information about the everyday laws they need to know.

The book is intended for actors just starting out, for those who have been making a living at acting for a long time, and for every actor in between. All actors can benefit from knowing more about the everyday law that affects their trade. Even well-established "stars" with a full team of lawyers, agents, managers, and business managers will still find this book useful because they can learn all about that "legalese" and "business mumbo jumbo" that maybe they never fully understood.

Everyday Law for Actors features short chapters, numerous examples of legal principles in plain, understandable language, practical explanations about contract provisions and how to negotiate them, and useful and concise information about actors' unions, working with agents and managers, employment laws, landlord-tenant laws, and more.

Actors are artists. But actors must also be smart business people. They don’t call it "show business" for nothing. With this book in hand, actors will be much better prepared to work the "business" side of "show business," and will have easy reference in one manageable volume to the wide variety of legal information they need to advance their careers.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781493059102
Publisher:	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	07/15/2021
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	240
File size:	803 KB

About the Author

Robert Woods is the director of the University of Arizona Law Program at Ocean University of China School of Law and Professor of Practice. He previously taught entertainment law at the Los Angeles Film School, the University of Oklahoma College of Law, and Oklahoma City University School of Law. Before teaching, Woods was an entertainment lawyer in Beverly Hills, California, a producer of award-winning films for television, and producer/director of more than a dozen theater productions in Los Angeles

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments vii

Introduction: How to Use This Book ix

Part 1 Contract Law for Actors

1 Offers and Acceptances, or Did You Make a Deal or Hot? 3

2 Four Other Requirements for Valid Contracts and Three Reasons Why a Contract Is Invalid 11

Part 2 Negotiating Your Contract

3 An Introduction to Negotiating 25

4 Stage Productions 29

5 Film 37

6 Television, Commercials, and New Media 49

Part 3 Working with the Actors' Unions

7 An Introduction to Actors' Unions 57

8 Eligibility Rules and Requirements 61

Part 4 Working with Your Team

9 Agency Law for Actors 67

10 Managers and Management Contracts 75

11 Talent Agents and Talent Agency Contracts 85

12 Attorneys and Retainer Agreements 89

Part 5 At Home and on the Job

13 Landlord-Tenant Law: Types of Tenancies, Rent Control Laws, Obligations of the Landlord, and Assignments and Sublets 99

14 Employment Law for Actors: Discrimination in the Workplace, Sexual Harassment, Workplace Safety, and Immigration Laws 115

Part 6 How to Produce and Protect Your Own Projects

15 Business Organizations, or Why You Don't Want a Sole Proprietorship or Partnership 131

16 Business Organizations, or Why You Want a Corporation or Limited Liability Company 139

17 Copyright Law for Actors 153

18 Trademark Law for Actors 165

19 Don't Get Sued, or How to Avoid Committing Torts 173

20 Get It in Writing! Contracts You Will Need When Producing 185

21 Get It in Writing! Cast and Crew Contracts 193

22 Get It in Writing! Using Music in Your Project 197

Glossary 205

Notes 209

Index 221