About us
Media Business Affairs
Experience from the best law schools, top-tier law firms, senior in-house positions and industry leading clients.
We are a team of experienced professionals who:
- Graduated from some of the world’s best law schools such as Columbia and Harvard (USA), National Law School (India) and Adelaide University (Australia);
- Have worked at top tier media and IP law firms and in-house at leading media companies (including Frankfurt Kurnit, Klein & Selz in New York, Herbert Smith and ITV in London as well as SmithDehn LLP, below);
- Between us we have worked for leading media companies and celebrities such as:
- Warner Bros;
- HBO;
- 20th Century Fox;
- Fremantle/Talkback Thames;
- Sacha Baron Cohen;
- So Television/Graham Norton;
- Channel 4;
- ITV;
- Channel 5;
- Tiger Aspect;
- Sony Pictures;
- Media Rights Capital;
- Darlow Smithson Productions
- Lion Television
We formed Media Business Affairs and SDD Global Solutions to address the need for professional business affairs services, at a reasonable cost.
As the name suggests, Media Business Affairs provides specialist deal negotiation and document drafting for the media industry, especially in the areas of film and television. Our years of experience mean we know how to negotiate and draft media industry agreements. We know what is likely to be contentious, the issues to focus on, what is realistic and what isn’t.
In many cases, we can also provide support from the brightest law graduates from the best law schools in our office in India to provide a high quality and efficient service, at a reasonable cost.
Our related legal services company and law firm (below) can also work directly for you, which may be more suitable in some cases.
SDD Global Solutions
High-end legal services, offshore
SDD Global is the leading offshore provider of high-end legal outsourcing (or legal process outsourcing / LPO / KPO ) services, such as contract drafting and legal research. Its headquarters are in the beautiful and peaceful city of Mysore in Southern India. It selects the best graduates from the best law schools in India and is managed by the US-based law firm, SmithDehn LLP. SDD Global is ranked the #1 outsourcing company in India, and #2 in the world, out of over 2,700 vendors evaluated, according to the comprehensive 2010 survey of 6,547 clients by the Black Book of Outsourcing.
Examples of work include assisting in the defence of claims against the films Borat and Bruno and claims against Channel 4 and HBO, reviewing and drafting numerous television and film agreements and related work such as title reports for dozens of Western production companies.
The SDD Global team was widely credited with a recent California Court of Appeals victory for Channel 4 and the “Ali G Show.” In that case, the court issued a landmark decision protecting “the free speech rights of all comedy performers and humorists.” This led to public praise for the India team from Channel 4 and the following statement:
SDD Global Solutions will go down in history as a revolutionary group of lawyers.
Sacha Baron Cohen
Actor, comedian, writer and winner of the Golden Globe for Best Actor
Either one person or a small team (or a large one if needed) at SDD Global can be dedicated to getting your work done expertly and efficiently. Although our staff are not in the same location as you (as is often the case anyway), our use of email, Skype, virtual private networks, secure online filing, screen sharing and digital audio notes all help make the location irrelevant. The only real difference is the time zone (4½ hours from UK in summer). That can often be used to an advantage as work can be completed before the UK and US wake up (and staff work hours to accommodate the time difference anyway).
We can provide a team to work in the background to help an existing in-house business affairs department or provide the full service ourselves.
SmithDehn LLP
SmithDehn LLP is a New York and London based international media and IP law firm that has hundreds of media-related and other clients on either side of the Atlantic, and in Asia. SmithDehn LLP delivers a top-tier service, while meeting the needs and budgets of companies and individuals in ways that few large firms can.
SmithDehn is now among the counsel of choice for the film and television production industries, from Hollywood to New York, London, Dublin, and Mumbai. In particular, our attorneys have been chosen to represent nearly a dozen television series, and several of the most significant motion pictures in recent years.