Five DLA Piper lawyers named to Variety's 2022 Dealmakers Impact Report

DLA Piper is pleased to announce that Tom Ara, David Markman, Robert J. Sherman, Richard Petretti and Katherine Imp have been named to Variety’s 2022 Dealmakers Impact Report in recognition of their contributions to entertainment deal making in 2022.

Ara, Global and US co-chair of the Media, Sport and Entertainment sector, Markman, co-chair of the Entertainment Transactions practice, and Imp, a senior associate, were recognized as a team. Variety noted Ara and Markman’s representation of TikTok in the MTV original streaming series, “Becoming a Pop Star,” with Pepsi as a sponsor. Ara and Imp were recognized for their representation of ZASH for a streaming and promotional partnership with event-promoter Insomniac for its Electric Daisy fest that included an NFT token drop.

Variety also highlighted Ara’s role representing Coupang Play for its streamed Tottenham Hotspur soccer match in South Korea, as well as Markman’s representation of Jeanie Buss and David McLane in their all-female wrestling association “WOW — Women of Wrestling,” including the worldwide syndication distribution. Among other notable transactions, the team was recognized for their representation of Pfizer in a Marvel comics promotion to boost vaccine awareness.

When speaking on content creation disruption by tech media and falling stock prices in Hollywood, Ara told Variety, “The opportunity is for one or more new business models to arise, each of which, in my mind, will have a technological core component.”

Sherman, co-chair of the firm’s Entertainment Finance practice, was recognized for his representation of longtime client Concord Music in purchasing the publishing and recorded music catalogs of Phil Collins, Tony Banks and Mike Rutherford. Variety noted Sherman’s representation of HarbourView Equity Partners, a global alternative asset manager focused on investment opportunities in the media and entertainment space, in a number of deals carrying a total value of over US$350 million.

Sherman told Variety, “There have been many more sophisticated parties investing in music industry and music rights over the last five years. It’s been a huge influx. It’s been really exciting being part of this wave of sophisticated capital coming into this marketplace.”

Variety also highlighted the recent addition of Richard Petretti to the MSE Group. Petretti has extensive experience as a finance lawyer with a particular emphasis in the media and entertainment industry, advising on financing transactions routinely in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

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.