Leo Haidar
CounselLeo Haidar is Counsel in the Intellectual Property and Technology group in the Paris office, with a particular focus on the film and television sectors. He has extensive international experience, particularly with industry players in the US and the UK. Leo is at ease working across the French system of droit d’auteur and droit moral and the Anglo-American system of copyright and work-made-for-hire.
He is particularly active in media regulation, streaming platform content quotas, the qualification of European and British films, the development, financing, production and exhibition of feature films and high-end television series, and derivative rights for both traditional and new media. Leo regularly advises on tax credit eligibility and production incentives as well as complex cross-jurisdictional chain of title matters and treaty coproductions.
In a career spanning more than 20 years, Leo has worked on numerous films and television series for both independent producers and the Hollywood majors. He has extensive experience of production and distribution agreements. His work with financiers and investors in the sector extends to banks and equity funds, generally involving multi-party and cross-border financing agreements.
He has also acted as Production Counsel on numerous projects in France and other territories (general assistance to producers during physical production, negotiation and drafting of above-the-line and cast and crew agreements, also dealing with immigration, tax, and social security).
With respect to corporate and commercial law, Leo has worked on major transactions in the media sector, including acquisitions of companies in the film industry.
EXPERIENCE
- Advice to streaming platforms on their obligations to finance European content.
- Advising on numerous remake rights transactions, both for the seller and the buyer.
- Assistance to a symphony orchestra in organizing an international tours, including the audiovisual recording of performances.
- Assistance to French mini-majors in all aspects of their production and distribution activities.
- Assistance with the chain of title perfection (multi-jurisdictional) with a view to approval by the financiers and errors and omissions insurers.
- Assisting a production and world sales company with a due diligence exercise and securitization of its catalogue valued at EUR30m.
- Assisting lending institutions and funds with loan and security documentation, including foreign rights pre-sale financing, cash flow financing, gap financing and tax credit cash-flowing.
- Assisting most of the Hollywood studios in their production, distribution, and acquisition activities.
- Assisting several production companies of both Academy Award and César winning films as well as the studios and platforms acquiring distribution rights.
- Managing relations with Equity, SAG-AFTRA, the DGA and other guilds and unions on behalf of several productions.
- Negotiating and concluding agreements with A-list talent (Business Affairs).
- Negotiation and drafting of agreements relating to brand ambassadors (fashion, luxury) and advertising campaigns.
- Negotiation of the loan and security documents needed to cash-flow financing from streaming platforms.
- Structuring international co-productions to access tax credits and other production incentives worldwide.
- Supervision of the physical production of high-budget films shot in France, including supervision of access to tax relief for international productions (TRIP).
- French
- English
- German
- London School of Economics & Political Science
- Robert Schuman University (Strasbourg III)
Prior Experience
Partner in a niche law firm specializing in the film industry for several years.
