Contracts & Transactional

Contracts and Transactional Counsel

Agreements Built for the Modern Creative Economy

Every Creative Deal Needs a Contract That Actually Works

In an industry where relationships and rights intersect at every turn, the agreement you sign today shapes your legal and financial position for years to come.

Entertainment and technology transactions have always required specialized drafting — agreements that account for the unique ways creative works generate value, the role of guilds and collective bargaining, the complexity of rights ownership and reversion, and the many ways a deal that looks simple on the surface can carry significant long-term consequences. What’s changed is the layer of AI-related considerations that now needs to be addressed in nearly every agreement.

Van Lier Law brings transactional experience forged in one of the most complex contracting environments in the entertainment industry. Our founder spent over two decades drafting and negotiating collective bargaining agreements at SAG-AFTRA — including developing new agreement types for emerging formats and the landmark AI provisions in the 2023 agreements. That experience informs every contract we work on: attention to what can go wrong, what rights matter most, and how to make sure the paper actually reflects the deal.

We work with creative professionals, production companies, studios, and technology businesses on a wide range of transactional matters — from individual talent agreements to complex multi-party deals involving AI-generated content, synthetic media rights, and emerging technology licensing.

Transactional and Contract Services

We draft, review, and negotiate agreements for creative professionals and businesses, with specialized depth in the AI-era provisions that modern entertainment deals require.

Talent Agreements

We draft and negotiate agreements for performers, writers, directors, and other creative professionals — including employment agreements, services agreements, and content deals. Our work reflects current industry standards and guild requirements while ensuring that AI-related provisions — digital replica consents, synthetic performance rights, voice cloning restrictions — are addressed clearly, specifically, and protectively.

Production & Development Agreements

From option and purchase agreements to co-production and distribution deals, we advise on the full range of production-side transactions. We help clients understand what rights they're acquiring, what they're giving up, and how to structure deals that protect their interests as projects move through development, production, and distribution — including across streaming platforms and emerging new media formats.

Technology & AI Agreements

As AI tools become standard in creative production, the agreements governing their use — licensing agreements, platform terms, data use provisions, and AI-generated content ownership clauses — require careful, informed attention. We advise on AI-related contracting from both sides of the table, helping clients understand their rights and obligations in an area where standard templates are often simply inadequate.

Contract Review & Risk Assessment

Sometimes you need someone to tell you what you're actually signing. We provide thorough contract review and plain-language analysis for creative professionals and businesses — identifying problematic provisions, flagging missing protections, and giving you the information you need to negotiate from a position of clarity rather than uncertainty.

Why Your Contracts Need to Address AI

AI-related provisions — covering digital replicas, synthetic performances, training data use, and content ownership — are now appearing in entertainment agreements across the board, and most standard form contracts weren't designed with them in mind. Getting these provisions right isn't just about protecting yourself today. It's about ensuring that rights you believe you have — or believe you granted — are reflected in language that will hold up as the law and the technology continue to develop together.