About Law Offices of Mark Litwak and Associates

Mark Litwak
Mark Litwak is an entertainment attorney based in Beverly Hills, California. His practice includes work in the areas of copyright, trademark, contract, multimedia law, intellectual property, and book publishing. As a Producer’s Representative, he assists filmmakers in arranging financing, marketing and distribution of their films. His filmmaker clients have had award winning films in Cannes, Toronto, Telluride and other festivals.

The firm has represented filmmakers who have produced award-winning films such as Prisoner of the Mountain (Director’s Fortnight, Cannes), To End All Wars (Telluride, Toronto), Hustle & Flow (Audience Award, Sundance), and winners of top prize at the Hampton’s International Film Festival (Unconditional Love, Mugshot, and Screen Door Jesus), and DeNadie (winner World Cinema Documentary Audience Award, Sundance 2006). During Sundance 2005, three clients had films acquired for distribution: Hustle & Flow, which won the Audience Award; The Matador and Marilyn Hotchkiss’ Ballroom Dancing and Charm School. Five clients had films exhibited during Sundance 2007 (Black Snake Moan, The Ten, Padre Nuestro, Expired and Fido).

Litwak is the author of six books: Reel Power, The Struggle for Influence and Success in the New Hollywood (William Morrow, 1986), Courtroom Crusaders (William Morrow, 1989), Dealmaking in the Film & Television Industry (Silman-James Press, 1994) (winner of the 1996 Krazna-Kranz award for best book in the world on the film business), Contracts for the Film & Television Industry (Silman-James Press, 2nd Ed. 1999), Litwak's Multimedia Producer's Handbook (Silman-James Press, 1998) and Risky Business: Financing and Distributing Independent Film (Silman-James Press, 2004).

He has contributed articles for The Los Angeles Times, The Business of Film, The Hollywood Reporter, Moviemaker and The Independent. He is the creator of the popular CD-ROM program Movie Magic Contracts.

Mark Litwak earned a B.A. and M.A. from Queens College of the City University of New York, and a Juris Doctor degree from the University Of San Diego School Of Law. Mr. Litwak has been a lawyer for 28 years. After graduation he was admitted to the bars in New York, California and Washington D.C. His practice today is based in Beverly Hills, California.

Litwak has been a lawyer for 30 years. He has an AV Peer Review Rating from Martindale-Hubbell and has been named a Southern California Super Lawyer by Law & Politics magazine in 2006 and 2007.

As a law professor he has taught such subjects as entertainment law, copyright, torts and worker’s compensation at such institutions as U.W.L.A., Loyola Law School and the University of Puget Sound School of Law. He has taught entertainment law courses at U.C.L.A. extension for 19 years. Litwak has lectured for continuing legal educations programs of the American Bar Association as well as programs offered by the California and Texas state bar associations. A frequent speaker, he has presented seminars across the United States, and in England, Australia, South Africa and Canada including presentations for the American Film Institute, Columbia University, N.Y.U, U.S.C, the University of British Columbia and the Royal College of Art in London.

Litwak has represented clients in entertainment industry arbitrations. He also serves as an arbitrator on the AAA and IFTA entertainment panels. He has completed several AAA commercial arbitrator training workshops.

His background also includes stints as a television journalist, writing and producing news segments for Telepictures, and as a television producer, with Marble Arch Productions. He is a former Vice President and General Counsel for Dorason, a merchant banking and communications company. Litwak has packaged movie projects and served as executive producer on such feature films as "The Proposal," "Out Of Line" and "Pressure." He has provided legal services or worked as a rep on more than 200 motion pictures.

Litwak has been interviewed on more than 100 television and radio shows including ABC News, "The Larry King Show," National Public Radio's "All Things Considered," and CNN. He has been the subject of articles in California Law Business, Australian Lawyer and L.A. Weekly. He is the creator of the Magellan 4 Star site, Entertainment Law Resources, at www.marklitwak.com.

Of Counsel

Glenn Litwak
Glenn Litwak has represented platinum-selling recording artists in all aspects of their careers, including artists who have successfully branched out into acting. He has also represented prominent music producers who have produced for recording artists such as Destiny’s Child, B2K, Omari, Marques Houston and Ginuwine. Glenn Litwak has negotiated recording agreements for artists who have been signed (through production deals) to major record labels such as Sony Music (Epic Records), Interscope (A&M Records), and Warner Music. He has represented recording artists who have been signed (through production deals) to such labels as Elektra, Atlantic, and Universal Music Group. Glenn Litwak also has experience in negotiating music publishing deals with publishers such as EMI Music, Zomba, and Notting Hill Music.

Glenn Litwak has extensive experience and expertise in representing teen R&B/Pop groups in all aspects of their careers, including the platinum selling group “B2K” and “Immature” (which later became “IMX”). In the motion picture and television fields, Glenn Litwak represented ten individuals involved in the 2004 hit movie “You Got Served,” including the writer-director, five of the stars and two of the producers.

Glenn Litwak has handled more than 100 trials and arbitrations over the last 25 years. He has extensive experience in handling a wide variety of Civil Litigation including breach of contract cases, fraud, unfair competition, copyright infringement and personal injury claims. Trials successfully handled by Glenn Litwak have appeared in the “Verdicts and Settlements” section of the Los Angeles Daily Journal, the largest legal newspaper in the country. His cases have been reported in the press by the Los Angeles Times, the Los Angeles Daily Journal and the Hollywood Reporter.

Glenn Litwak has been profiled in California Law Business Magazine (February 1998). He has also been interviewed on a number of television shows including: Celebrity Justice, Inside Edition, “Xtra,” and Fox Cable News.

Glenn Litwak has been a speaker at entertainment law seminars at UCLA Law School, Loyola Law School, and for the California Lawyers for the Arts and the California Alliance of Paralegal Associations. He teaches a seminar entitled “Self Defense in the Music Industry” at the UCLA Extension, Entertainment Studies Program.

Pete Wilke
Pete Wilke is a Los Angeles entertainment and "SEC" attorney (private placement, Regulation D and public offering securities). Pete Wilke has been practicing law for more than 25 years. He specializes in helping film producers start their businesses and provides investor documentation and securities law compliance for the financing of their independent films. He provides movie production legal services for indie films and advises producers on movie distribution relationships.

Stella A. Havkin
Stella A. Havkin is a 1984 magna cum laude graduate of York University in Toronto, Canada with a B.A. in Political Science and Psychology. In 1987, Ms. Havkin graduated with a Juris Doctor Degree from the University of California, Hastings College of Law. While at Hastings, she was Associate Note Editor on the Hastings International and Comparative Law Review. Her Note, entitled “The Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act: The Relationship Between the Commercial Activity Exception and the Noncommercial Tort Exception in Light of De Sanchez v. Banco Central de Nicaragua" was published in Volume 10:2, September, 1987 and was selected for publication on Westlaw. Since graduating from Hastings in 1987, Ms. Havkin has practiced primarily in business, commercial and bankruptcy law. Among others, she has represented landlords, financial institutions, creditors and debtors. She has developed an expertise in collections on behalf of creditors and financial institutions which has required litigation in Texas and Florida.

Jim Talbott
Attorney, technologist and author Jim Talbott is an expert in entertainment, technology and new media law. His expertise spans the entire spectrum of intellectual property and technology matters, throughout the digital and traditional media worlds. He is also a practicing television and computer engineer, with decades of experience in the field.

Jim Talbott has been the Senior Director of Licensing and Business Affairs for Mforma Americas, Inc. a mobile game and information publisher and distributor. He has taught entertainment and intellectual property law at Loyola University in Los Angeles and is a member of the Screen Actors Guild, the American Bar Association and the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers, in addition to being the Chairman of the Standards Committee of the Interactive Television Association and a member of the Interactive Television Peer Group of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.

As a writer, Jim Talbott is an author, editor and frequent lecturer on digital media-related legal issues. He has authored and co-authored several legal books, including the popular New Media: Intellectual Property, Entertainment, and Technology Law published by Clark Boardman. His articles have also appeared in the American Bar Association’s Entertainment and Sports Lawyer and The European Intellectual Property Review among others. Topics include: Intellectual Property Law, Entertainment & Technology, Copyrights, Unfair Competition, Regulation of the Internet, and Software Taxation. He is invited to speak all over the world, and has presented at the Cannes Film Festival, MIP-TV, American Bar Association Forum on Entertainment and Sports Law, Screen Actors Guild and the Banff New Media Festival.

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