The Fowler School of Law Entertainment Law Clinic provides students with a unique opportunity to work directly with low budget independent filmmakers and to serve as production legal counsel for a feature length motion picture. Filmmakers who have used the services offered by the Entertainment Law Clinic have won numerous awards and honors, including the Newport Beach Film Festival Audience Award for Best U.S. Film, the Netflix Find Your Voice Film Competition, and have premiered at the Los Angeles Film Festival. The names of our clinic students appear in the on-screen credits for each film.
Under the supervision of the faculty, participating students set up corporations or LLCs, file for copyrights, and draft all production-related contracts and documents including crew, actors and locations agreements for real clients.
In conjunction with entertainment industry organizations such as the Directors Guild of America, Chapman Law Professors Mary Lee Ryan and Kim Tyler identify eligible film(s) that are ready to begin production. The producer and/or director of the selected film then works directly with clinical students who will draft all production-related contracts and documents.
“The Entertainment Law Clinic is truly the highlight of my legal education. Combining the foundational principles and practical skills that Chapman has to offer is what every student should experience. Through the clinic, I was able to gain real-world experience that applies directly to the work an entertainment attorney handles on a daily basis.”
“Through the networks I developed and the skills I acquired from the Entertainment Law Clinic, I was able to step right into film and commercial producing while continuing to have the day-to-day interaction in business and legal affairs that I was trained for.”
