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Producers United, the advocacy group dedicated to protecting and advancing the rights of “career producers” in film and television, has added some significant legal muscle to its bench.
Entertainment litigator Bonnie
Eskenazi and leading labor and employment attorney Allyson L. Belovin will represent the group of 300 name producers – whose membership includes Oscar winner Jonathan Wang (“Everything Everywhere All at Once”), Barbara Broccoli, Jeremy Kleiner and Dede Gardner and Cathy Schulman.
Since launching three years ago, Producers United has set numerous campaigns to center the importance of the career producer, individuals responsible for identifying and developing content and guaranteeing safe, timely and on-budget production and delivery. As Variety explored at length in a cover story last year, this group of filmmakers have been marginalized in a post-streaming world of shrinking budgets. They’ve also watched their fees and credits raided by talent seeking producer titles (while doing no actual producing work).
While Producers United is not currently taking action to unionize, the organization hasn’t ruled it out. The addition of Eskenazi and Belovin to their team, however, is a clear indicator that the group is serious about policy changes at the major studios and finding a path to fair compensation.
Eskenazi and Belovin will help guide Producers United on legal and labor matters as the organization pursues meaningful change around compensation structures, healthcare contributions, credit proliferation, and the long-term sustainability of producing careers.
Eskenazi is a partner at Greenberg Glusker LLP, and widely regarded as one of the entertainment industry’s premier litigators. Her practice spans royalties and profit participations, motion picture and television contracts, intellectual property disputes, reputation protection and new media and technology matters. Eskenazi has also played a leading role in advancing protections for workers in entertainment, including helping create Women In Film’s sexual harassment Help Line and pro bono legal aid initiative. She teaches Entertainment Law at Stanford Law School and has been recognized for years as one of the entertainment industry’s top attorneys.
A partner at Levy Ratner specializing in labor and employment, Belovin has devoted herself to protecting and advancing the rights of working people by representing labor unions and individuals. Her experience includes litigation in state and federal courts as well as before the National Labor Relations Board, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and numerous labor and human rights agencies. She has negotiated collective bargaining agreements covering thousands of workers and represented unions across industries including sports and entertainment, healthcare, education, and media.
“Bonnie and Allyson bring extraordinary experience to Producers United at a pivotal moment in the industry,” said the members of Producers United. “Their combined expertise in entertainment, labor, and employment law will significantly strengthen our ability to advocate for meaningful reforms that recognize, remunerate and protect the contributions of career producers.”
“As our organization grows, Producers United is better positioned than ever to engage on the structural issues reshaping Hollywood,” the group added. “Career producers remain central to how great film and television projects are developed and brought to audiences, and we deserve protections and participation that reflect that reality.”
