Seven DLA Piper partners named to Variety’s 2023 Dealmakers Impact Report

DLA Piper is pleased to announce that Tom Ara, Claire Hall, Katherine Imp, David Markman, Richard Petretti, Robert J. Sherman and Alexander Steinberg have been named to Variety’s 2023 Dealmakers Impact Report in recognition of their contributions to entertainment deal making this year.

Ara, global co-chair of the firm’s Media, Sport and Entertainment sector; Markman, co-chair of the Entertainment Transactions practice; Los Angeles-based partner Imp; and New York-based partner Steinberg were recognized as a team in the report. Variety highlighted Ara, Markman and Imp’s work on LEGO Group content deals, as well as Ara and Markman’s representation of TikTok on virtual reality content production and other matters, and noted Steinberg’s role advising The E.W. Scripps Company on the launch of its Scripps Sports division.

Ara told Variety that advances in artificial intelligence will pose numerous questions for the entertainment industry, particularly whether “the inputs and outputs in AI infringe on anyone else’s rights.”

Sherman, co-chair of the firm’s Entertainment Finance practice, and Los Angeles-based partners Hall and Petretti were also recognized as a team. Variety noted Sherman and Hall’s representation of Concord Music in financing the purchase of Round Hill Music Royalties Fund for $469 million, as well as Petretti’s representation of lender JPMorgan Chase as administrative agent for a $675 million credit facility to Arnon Milchan’s Regency-Monarchy Entertainment. The publication also recognized Sherman and Hall’s representation of Concord in its historic US$1.8 billion music securitization at the end of 2022.

No longer an “esoteric” form of financing, securitizations are now “a market-leading financing technique for the holders of royalty-producing rights,” Sherman told Variety.

DLA Piper's market-leading international team of media, sport and entertainment lawyers, located throughout the Americas, Asia Pacific, Europe, Africa and the Middle East, advise on finance, borrowing, investment, M&A and corporate matters as well as development, production and distribution matters across media sectors, including film, TV, music, interactive and new media, staging and exploiting live sports and other events, intellectual property protection and enforcement, regulatory and administrative issues, antitrust and competition law, stadium and arena development and on the resolution of disputes.