The Entertainment Law Master Class is a hands-on, ten-week intensive focused on the contracts, deal structures, and legal frameworks that determine whether film and television projects move forward or collapse. The program is designed to provide participants with a practical, deal-level understanding of how projects are developed, financed, structured, and executed, with a strong emphasis on the legal and business decisions that shape outcomes long before production begins. This is a contract-driven course centered on real agreements, real negotiations, and real-world risk.

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The course is taught by film producer, entertainment attorney, and law school professor Lee Rudnicki, Esq., and is grounded entirely in real production and transactional experience rather than academic theory. No prior legal or contract training is required. The class is designed for law students, attorneys, producers, and industry professionals who want to understand what entertainment contracts actually say, how deals are structured in practice, and where problems most often arise.

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Each week, participants meet in a live Zoom session for 2.5 hours of in-depth instruction and discussion.

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Throughout the program, participants work through realistic production and deal scenarios, analyze financing and distribution structures, and closely examine the core agreements encountered at every stage of a project, including option and purchase agreements, producer agreements, writer and director agreements, financing documents, distribution agreements, and key ancillary contracts. Emphasis is placed on learning how to read, evaluate, and negotiate these agreements from a practical industry perspective, with direct feedback provided throughout the course.

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The objective of the class is to give participants the legal literacy, business judgment, and deal fluency necessary to make informed decisions, protect projects, and operate with confidence when working with attorneys, financiers, talent, and distributors across the film and television industry.

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Who Should Enroll?​

• Film Students

• Law Students

• Producers or showrunners

• Attorneys who want to learn entertainment law

Course Highlights

• 10 classes, Monday Evening, 6:30 pm – 9:00 pm PST

• January 26, 2026, through March 30, 2026

• Three (3) required textbooks (around $100 total)​

• Two (2) required apps: MS Word and Grammarly

• All other materials provided

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