Entertainment Law in a Nutshell (Nutshell Series) (ISBN 0314171762)

Very Mediocre:
Sorry, I can't agree with the previous rave review. The book focuses mainly on the movie, TV and music industries. Sports, theater, and, for the most part publishing and electronic gaming are ignored (though of course some focus is to be expected in such a short book). The point of view tends to be that of an attorney representing talent, rather than representing a producer, a studio, an investor, etc. Prof. Burr's choice of emphasis is odd in many places. For example, she spends 10 pages discussing the privileges and perils of celebrity. Aside from mentioning that Kobe Bryant, Robert Blake and others have been involved in criminal cases, there isn't any mention of legal issues; it's more like a rather tame piece of tabloid journalism. As a result, it seems as if chunks of her book are intended for a popular audience, rather than the typical Nutshell audience of law students or practicing attorneys. The legal content is very haphazard. If you weren't aware of guild agreements or music performance rights societies, you can learn about them in this book. Prof. Burr introduces some collateral topics such as bankruptcy and trusts and estates law when discussing how entertainers squander their wealth (though to be accurate, she discusses celebrity bankruptcies, rather than bankruptcy law). On the other hand, entertainment finance and the related securities and corporate law issues never are mentioned. Yet movie lawyers, at least in L.A., actually tend to be quite sophisticated about these topics. Completion bonds aren't discussed at all. TV syndication is mentioned only in passing. The rights of publicity and privacy are discussed only in the context of celebrities - though they apply to ordinary folks too. If you're buying someone's "life rights", or want to shoot a documentary or publish an interview, you might not know from this text that you need to worry about these subjects. (In addition, the description of the Eastwood v. Superior Court case (Calif. Court of Appeal 1983) concerning the "right of publicity" is slightly misleading. This right is characterized as a "property interest ... grounded in state staututes, common law, and the federal unfair competition act" (p. 288). In California, the common law right is a component of the right of privacy and is definitely NOT a property interest. Nor is the original California statutory right (Civil Code Sec. 3344) a property right, as the heirs of Bela Lugosi found in a famous case. After that decision, the California legislature passed Civil Code Sec. 3344.1, relating to knowing violations of the right of publicity of a deceased person; it is only this stautory right that is a property right.) The chapter on entertainment contracts is especially scattered. The movie section has a good discussion of case law concerning "pay or play" provisions, but then jumps around. There's a long discussion of publishing contracts, though the publishing industry isn't mentioned anywhere else in the book. The concept of "turnaround" - one of the great IP inventions of entertainment lawyers - is mentioned only tangentially (as a writer's right of reacquisition) and in a different part of the book; you'll never find it in the scanty index. Generally, contracts are discussed in terms of case law, rather than in terms of the documentation customary in typical deals. This point of view may be helpful for litigators, but definitely isn't a deal lawyer perspective. A last chapter on globalization mentions piracy in Thailand ca. 1992, but has nary a mention of China (book was written in 2004). Localization, local content requirements and international distribution issues aren't addressed at all. The book is also marred by bad proofreading and bad editing, with chunks of text being repeated verbatim within a few pages of each other (e.g., compare p. 227 with p. 244, and p. 246 with p. 247). In lieu of this book, I'd recommend you consult a "legal issues for laypeople" type of book that focuses on the particular industry you're interested in, such as Mark Litwak's books or Erickson et al. for the movie business.

Poorly edited and researched:
I'm completing an independent study on entertainment law, and more specifically, copyright law and how it pertains to filmmaking. I got this book among several others, and was a little surprised at how poorly written this book is. First off, the editing is TERRIBLE: there are spelling and grammar mistakes ALL OVER the book! On some pages it's outright ridiculous. Honestly, who proofread this before publication? Second, and most unforigvable, is some of the content. There are some bits of information which are simply WRONG. I haven't taken the time to go through and find them all, but to give an example, it incorrectly states the mandates of a certain copyright act (and I don't mean poorly states, I mean the information is contradictory to what the actual copyright act reads). So I'm at a bit of a loss I guess. Honestly, I kinda wish I could get my money back. When you get past the bad english, it provides an interesting overview, but then you're always wondering "is this ACTUALLY how this law/fact is? or is this an error?", so you can't really feel like you can rely on it. One error alone was enough to make me question the entire integrity of the book as comprehensive resource. Summary: might give you some direction on what to read further into, but not too much more than that.

Entertaining book on entertainment law:
This is an outstanding book that would be useful for students, lawyers and everyone interested in an entertainment career. Burr has an easy-to-read style and has great quotes from the players in the entertainment field. She's also great at explaining complicated topics. I would not go out to Hollywood without Burr's book in my suitcase!

Interesting read:
the book was good, not really in sync with my law book, but it was interesting