Biography
A veteran entertainment lawyer, arbitrator, expert witness and author, his practice includes work in the areas of copyright, trademark, contract, multimedia law, intellectual property, and book publishing. Litwak also functions as a Producer's Rep, assisting filmmakers in the marketing and distribution of their films. His filmmaker clients have had award winning films in Cannes, Toronto, Telluride and other festivals. During Sundance 2005, three clients had films acquired for distribution: "Hustle & Flow" which won the Audience Award (Paramount); "The Matador" (Miramax); and "Marilyn Hotchkiss' Ballroom Dancing and Charm School," (Goldwyn).
He has packaged various movie projects and served as executive producer on such feature films as "The Proposal" (Miramax/Buena Vista), "Out Of Line" (First Look) and "Pressure" (Blockbuster). He has provided legal services or acted as a producer rep on more than 100 feature films.
Mark Litwak is the author of six books including: Reel Power, The Struggle for Influence and Success in the New Hollywood, Courtroom Crusaders, Dealmaking in the Film and Television Industry (winner of the 1995 Kraszna-Krausz Book Award), Contracts for the Film and Television Industry, and Risky Business: Financing and Distributing Independent Film. He is also the author of the popular CD-ROM program Movie Magic Contracts.
He has written articles for The Los Angeles Times, The Business of Film, The Hollywood Reporter, Moviemaker and The Independent.
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 40 years and and is AV rated and has been designated a Super Lawyer multiple times by Law and Politics Magazine. 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.
As a law professor, he has taught students at U.W.L.A., the University of Puget Sound and Loyola Law School. He is an adjunct professor at USC Law School where he teaches entertainment law. He has been on the faculty at UCLA for more 23 years where he has taught a variety of movie industry courses. He has instructed lawyers at presentations organized by the American, California and Texas bar associations. A frequent speaker, he has lectured at many universities including Harvard, the American Film Institute, Columbia University and NYU. He has presented movie industry seminars in England, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Canada.
In the Multimedia arena, Litwak is the author of "Potholes on the Information Superhighway," published in New Matter the magazine of the Intellectual Property Section of the California Bar. He is also the author of a White Paper on licensing content published by the Interactive Multimedia Association. Litwak has co-chaired UCLA. symposiums on "Multimedia Marketing & Distribution," and "Legal Issues for Multimedia Entrepreneurs." He has taught a course on "Law & Business for Multimedia Entrepreneurs" at the New School for Social Research in New York, and he has lectured on multimedia topics at Digital Hollywood, the Century City Bar Association and the Author's Guild.
Mr. Litwak has been interviewed on more than 100 television and radio shows including ABC, "The Larry King Show," National Public Radio's "All Things Considered," and CNN. Feature articles have been written about him in California Law Business, Australian Lawyer and L.A. Weekly.
