Talent agreements, music and publishing, film and TV production, theater, live events, sponsorships, creator and influencer deals, and visual artists — all at one transparent price. Built for an industry where deals move fast and budgets are scoped.
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Entertainment law is a contracts practice with industry-specific knowledge baked in. Almost everything that matters in a creative career — the rights you keep, the money you make, the credit you get, the control you have — is determined by the contracts you sign. We negotiate them on your behalf and draft them when you're the one offering the deal.
"Talent" in entertainment law covers actors, voice talent, hosts, models, athletes, influencers, and anyone else whose appearance or performance is the subject of a contract. Talent agreements vary widely — a single-day commercial shoot, a multi-episode series option, a brand endorsement, a hosting deal — but the core structure is similar. Defined services and time commitment, compensation (fixed fee, day rate, royalties, contingent payments, or some combination), rights granted (exclusive vs. non-exclusive, term and territory), credit, approvals, and termination terms.
We negotiate talent agreements on the talent side and draft them on the production-company or brand side. Talent-side priorities are usually: getting fair compensation for the actual rights granted, retaining rights that aren't necessary for the project, ensuring credit and approvals, and limiting liability. Production-side priorities are usually: getting the rights needed to actually use the work, controlling timeline and changes, and protecting against talent issues that could disrupt production.
Music industry contracts have evolved fast in the streaming era. The legacy deal types — record contracts, publishing deals, distribution agreements — have been reshaped by the shift from album sales to streaming, the rise of independent artists, and the legal evolution of master rights, sync licensing, and producer points. The contracts a new artist signs in 2026 look different from what their predecessors signed even five years ago.
We work on music industry agreements for artists, songwriters, producers, managers, and labels. The most common engagements: recording agreements (artist with label or distributor), publishing agreements (songwriter with publisher), producer agreements (producer with artist/label), and management agreements. We also handle sync licensing (placing music in film, TV, ads, and games), sample clearances, and master use licenses. The work is contract-focused but informed by current industry economics — what's standard now isn't what was standard five years ago.
Film and TV production runs on a stack of contracts. Option and purchase agreements (acquiring rights to a property). Writer agreements. Director agreements. Cast agreements. Producer agreements. Crew deal memos. Location agreements. Music licenses. Distribution agreements. Each one has its own framework, and they all need to align so the production has the rights it needs and the contributors have the protections they're entitled to.
We work with independent producers, production companies, writers, directors, and other production-side and creative-side participants. For producers: we structure deals across the full production stack, paying particular attention to chain-of-title (the documentation that proves who owns what at each step) since errors here can stop a film from being distributed. For writers and directors: we negotiate compensation, credit, control, and back-end participation. The flat fees are based on the role and the deal complexity, not the production budget.
Theater law differs from film and TV law because the underlying business is different — theatrical productions are typically funded as separate ventures, often with multiple investors, and the contracts reflect that. Common documents: producer agreements, investor agreements (limited partnership or LLC documents for the production company), author agreements (for plays and musicals), director agreements, designer agreements, and cast contracts.
We work with producers, playwrights, composers, directors, and theater companies on contracts and on the entity-level work that supports theatrical productions. Off-Broadway and Broadway contracts often layer industry collective bargaining agreements (Actors' Equity, the Dramatists Guild, IATSE) on top of the individual contracts — those frameworks need integration into the deal documents. Smaller productions and developmental work have more contractual flexibility but the same underlying legal structure.
Live event work spans contracts for performers, venues, sponsors, vendors, and ticketing. The legal framework is contract-based but heavily logistics-driven — performance contracts need to address weather, force majeure, technical requirements, and dozens of practical issues that don't come up in other contract types. Sponsorship agreements have their own framework: defined rights granted (logo placement, on-stage mentions, social media), exclusivity, payment terms, and termination triggers.
We draft and negotiate live event contracts for promoters, venues, performers, and sponsors. Common engagements include performance contracts for individual artists and bands, venue rental agreements for one-off events, and sponsorship agreements that bring corporate partners into events. For ongoing event series, we develop template-based systems that scale.
The creator economy operates on its own contractual framework. Brand deal contracts (sponsored content with a brand). Agency agreements (a creator with a talent agency or management firm). Platform agreements (creators with YouTube, TikTok, Patreon, Substack, or other platforms). Collaboration agreements (creators working with other creators). The contracts are smaller in dollar value than traditional entertainment deals but the legal issues are similar — rights, exclusivity, FTC compliance for sponsored content, payment, and termination.
We work with creators on brand deals, agency contracts, and platform agreements. We also work with brands on the company side, drafting creator agreements that achieve the brand's goals while complying with FTC disclosure requirements (which are enforced more aggressively now than five years ago). Most creator-side work is flat fee per contract reviewed or negotiated.
Visual artists — painters, photographers, sculptors, illustrators, digital artists — have their own contractual landscape. Gallery representation agreements (artist with a gallery), commission agreements (artist creating specific work for a buyer), licensing agreements (allowing reproduction of an artist's work), and exhibition agreements. The contractual issues focus on copyright (visual artists usually retain copyright even when selling the physical work), credit, control over reproduction, and resale rights (where applicable under federal Visual Artists Rights Act provisions).
We work with visual artists, galleries, photographers, and licensees. The most common engagements are commission contracts (negotiating fair terms when an artist is creating commissioned work), licensing agreements (controlling how the artist's work is used by others), and gallery agreements (the often heavily-tilted contracts artists sign for representation). For artists, the legal investment is typically modest but the value of getting these contracts right is significant — the work being created can be valuable for decades.
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Flat-fee entertainment work ranges widely depending on the deal. A simple release or one-page deal memo can be a few hundred dollars. A recording agreement, talent agreement, or production package typically falls between $1,500 and $7,500. Major deal structures with multiple parties price higher. We provide a precise quote within an hour of your initial inquiry. These are typical ranges, not promises — your matter might price within them, below them, or above them depending on the specific facts.
Yes. We draft and negotiate master use and synchronization licenses, coordinate with publishers and labels, and prepare the licensing documentation for productions of all sizes. We also handle the rights holder side — drafting licenses for artists, songwriters, and music libraries.
Chain-of-title is the documentation that proves you have all the rights you say you have — the underlying work, the script, the music, the talent performances, the location, everything. It's required by financiers, distributors, and E&O insurers. A clean chain of title is what allows your project to actually get sold or distributed. We build the chain as part of production legal work.
Yes — but not in the same matter. We represent talent, creators, and rights holders on one side, and producers, brands, and licensees on the other. Each engagement is single-sided. The judgment we bring to one side is what makes us useful when we're on the other.
Theater producer agreements differ meaningfully from film and TV production deals. The core elements: an option or rights agreement for source material (whether a play, novel, or musical composition), a royalty structure (typically a percentage of weekly box office, often pooled among the underlying authors), billing and credit terms, vesting of subsidiary rights (film, TV, foreign, recording), enhancement money provisions, and co-producer split arrangements when there are multiple producers. Broadway, off-Broadway, and regional theater each have their own conventions — we draft to the specific tier and the specific market. Royalty pools, in particular, are a New York theater convention that out-of-market lawyers often miss.
No. We focus on transactional entertainment work — the agreements, deals, licenses, and clearances that get projects made. Royalty audits, contract disputes, infringement claims, and entertainment industry litigation aren't part of our practice. If your matter requires litigation, we'll tell you during the consultation and refer you to counsel that handles it.
Live event agreements have moved well beyond a simple performance fee. The standard structure includes: performance terms (set length, set times, exclusivity radius), payment structure (flat guarantee, percentage of door, or guarantee against percentage), technical and hospitality riders, recording and broadcast rights, cancellation and force majeure provisions (much more carefully drafted post-2020), insurance requirements, billing and promotion approvals, and merchandise rights at the venue. Festival vendor agreements and venue-side contracts have a parallel structure with different leverage points. We draft and negotiate on either side.
Sponsorships and licensing deals look similar on the surface — both involve a brand paying for the right to associate with a property — but the structures are different. Licensing is largely transactional: a license to use specific content or marks for specific purposes, often with limited ongoing obligations. Sponsorships involve ongoing brand integration: category exclusivity, activation rights at events, deliverable schedules, brand approval rights over content, term-long performance obligations, and renewal mechanics. Sponsorship agreements also typically carry stronger termination and morality clauses because the brand is staking its reputation on the property over time. We draft both — for the brand and for the property.
New York is the entertainment capital — music, publishing, theater, broadcast, film, and the rapidly growing creator economy. Tatyana Agarunov is admitted in both NY and NJ, allowing direct representation for creators and businesses operating across the entire metropolitan area.
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