On Tuesday, December 1st, Harvard Square Script Writers and Women in Film New England present a panel discussion addressing many of the hot (and often complex) topics that confront scriptwriters and filmmakers.
The panel will discuss a wide range of topics from crafting releases, to contracts, to getting your script solicited, to finding representation, to protecting your work, and much much more.
Featuring three local legal eagles:
Lucy Lovrien conducts a solo practice in Boston focusing on copyrights, trademarks, contracts/licensing, publishing agreements, business law, real estate, and related litigation. Her clients include technology companies, authors, artists, nonprofits and other businesses.
She is co-chair for the New England chapter of the Copyright Society of the USA, and organizes many of their programs. She is a long-time board member of the Arts & Business Council of Greater Boston. She is an active member and leader at the Boston Bar Association.
Matthew Valentinas is an entertainment lawyer and literary agent. He has held varios creative and business administrative positions in the entertainment industry working in both New York and Los Angeles since 1995.
Upon returning to his native city of Boston, Matthew founded The Law Office of Matthew Valentinas in 2009 primarily focused on transactional work related to film, television, and publishing.
Additionally, Matthew also established Mom’s Basement Management to manage writers, directors, producers, and television personalities. Mom’s Basement Management focuses on sourcing and exploiting life rights, non-fiction stories (including true crime and historical non-fiction) and undervalued or undiscovered intellectual property that may appeal to a broader commercial market. Currently, MBM is executive producing White Devil, written and directed by James Gary, in development with Warner Bros. Pictures. The book, by the same name, penned by Bob Halloran and published by Ben Bella hits shelves in January, 2016, a true story about John Willis, the only white man to rise to the top of the Chinese mafia.
Matthew also packages and produces motion pictures, television shows, and documentaries with independent financing to be licensed and/or sold upon completion. Most recently he produced the documentary film An Open Secret about pedophilia in Hollywood.
Matthew received a BFA in Film and Television Production from the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University and his Juris Doctor in law from Suffolk University Law School.
Sandra Forman
Boston-based attorney Sandra Forman has a diverse practice in the areas of entertainment and copyright law. Her clients include film and television producers and directors, screenwriters, animators, book authors, talent, book publishers, distributors, and multi-media and educational software producers. Over the past ten years, she has also served as project director and legal counsel on the re-release of Eyes on the Prize, the fourteen-hour, Emmy Award winning series on America’s Civil Rights Movement. Ms Forman is on the Board of Directors of Filmmakers Collaborative, the Advisory Board of Women in Film and Video New England, and the Pro Bono Panel of Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts. She is a frequent guest speaker at colleges, conferences, film festivals and media organizations.
This event will be held at the Arts at the Armory at 191 Highland Ave., Somerville, MA from 7:00 pm to 9:30 pm. For current WIVF and HSSW members the donation requested is $15, for nonmembers $20, and for students $10. All proceeds go toward the development of further events.
