ALAN ABRAMS

Senior Vice President, Head of Business Affairs

In recent years 2020 to date (2024), Alan was selected as a Southern California Super Lawyer by Thomson Reuters representing the top 5% of practicing lawyers in Southern California for his work as a transactional attorney practicing in the area of entertainment law.

Alan’s extensive experience in representation of independent producers over the course of a 45 year career has added to his legal and business affairs acumen and skill set. Throughout Alan’s career, Alan managed to find simple, practical and creative solutions to complex legal problems for his clients many times creating new pathways for others to follow. For example, one of Alan’s first tasks as a young lawyer after leaving the Writers Guild of America legal department was to structure and perform legal services for the first original HBO (non-sports) dramatic program, which was a three camera adaptation of an off Broadway play starring then top level TV talent. This show required structuring, negotiating and documenting deals of first impression with the network, talent, Actors Equity and the Dramatist Guild. Alan is generally considered to be a pioneer in the area of international film and television distribution, having served as part of a small group of lawyers and executives who created the first set of IFTA (formerly AFM) standard distribution agreement forms which are now used extensively in the industry. Likewise, as new markets and practices were developed (eg, home video, television syndication series productions, tax credit financing, etc), Alan was in the forefront as part of the early group of lawyers developing deal structures and forms to address these new business opportunities.