Legislators gone wild: California bill would cause chaos in profit participations

March 27, 2008 Robert Schwartz is a partner in the Century City office of O'Melveny & Myers Llp, where he heads the firm's entertainment & media litigation group. On Feb. 22, California Sen. Sheila Kuehl introduced a bill that would complicate the relationships between studios and contingent-compensation participants, form a dark cloud over the licensing of content for distribution and ultimately disadvantage the narrow slice of the talent community the senator wants to help. What's piqued Kuehl's interest is the common practice of studios licensing their film and TV product to affiliated broadcasters or cable channels.

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