ATTORNEY PROFILE

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Steven Kalb has been practicing transactional entertainment law for over 30 years, both in-house and in private practice. He has in-house experience with major studio 20th Century Fox, independent motion picture financing/production/distribution entity Epic Productions and independent producer Esparza/Katz Productions, and in private practice at Prokauer Rose LLP and Steven M. Kalb, P.C.

 

Steve brings a broad perspective to the practice of entertainment law. He completed a joint J.D. and MBA program at the University of Washington and in addition to his knowledge of general entertainment and copyright law, he is an avid film buff and has a thorough understanding of the business of the entertainment Industry and the filmmaking process, and a broad range of experience in all phases of motion picture, television and digital content development, financing, production, acquisition and distribution.

 

In private practice he has represented a wide range of institutional clients including motion picture lenders, a cable television network, mini-major motion picture financing/production/ distribution companies and independent television and motion picture producers in development, production, financing and distribution transactions for live action, documentary and animated productions from the smallest independent features to the tentpole Sahara. In addition he has represented a diverse range of entertainment industry professionals including motion picture directors, producers, screenwriters and key crew members, graphic novel authors and television animators.

 

Among other credits, Steve was production counsel for several notable feature films including “Selena”, “Gettysburg”, “Brothers”, “The Way Way Back”, and multiple Academy Award winners “Ray” and “Manchester by the Sea” and for several movies that were produced all or partially in China.  He has also been the financing counsel for numerous films including Nine.

 

Steve’s experiences includes acquisition of feature film distribution rights, licensing foreign distribution rights for features, single-picture loans (as counsel for both lending banks and for borrowing producers), chain of title review, furnishing opinions of counsel for single picture bank loans, production and post production counsel for independent feature films and documentaries (produced both inside and out of the United States, including in Hong Kong and Mainland China), representing producers of video/lecture series, concert and live podcast presentations and as seller’s counsel for a digital EFX company, a legendary film archive and a world renowned photo archive.

 

Prior to attending law school, Steve was a luthier, handcrafting acoustic guitars for recording artists such as Leo Kottke, Paul Simon, Jerry Garcia, Robbie Robertson and David Crosby.