Entertainment & Sports Law

The entertainment industry is dynamic, global, and intensely competitive—where creative vision intersects with complex business, legal, and financial realities. Evolving distribution models, heightened intellectual property risks, cross‑border opportunities, and increased scrutiny of rights and revenues demand counsel that understands both the art and the enterprise behind it.

At Smith Gambrell & Russell, we help creators, talent, and companies bring ideas to market, protect their work, and capitalize on opportunity. With deep industry knowledge and the resources of a full‑service firm, our Entertainment practice provides end‑to‑end legal support that allows clients to focus on what they do best: creating, producing, and performing.

Our Capabilities

We represent a wide range of clients across the entertainment ecosystem, including writers, actors, musicians, podcasters, producers, managers, agents, visual artists, theatrical and television production companies, and their financial supporters, live event spaces, record labels, publishers, and entertainment‑driven businesses. Our team delivers comprehensive counsel across the lifecycle of creative and commercial projects.

We advise on:

• Film, television, and digital media production agreements
• Book publishing, literary, and life‑story rights acquisitions
• Music licensing, publishing, and clearance matters
• Live event productions
• Advertising and new media, including the use of AI-created content
• Visual art, gallery, exhibition, and commissioning agreements
• Sponsorships, endorsements, and brand collaborations
• Corporate incentive and benefits plans, financing structures, tax incentives, and government production credits

From early‑stage development through distribution and monetization, we help clients structure deals that are commercially sound while protecting long‑term value.

Our Approach

In entertainment, every deal is personal—and every decision can shape a career or a brand. We take a collaborative, business‑minded approach, tailoring our advice to align with each client’s creative goals, risk tolerance, and growth strategy.

Our practitioners draw on the firm’s strengths across intellectual property, corporate and transactional law, litigation, tax, real estate, antitrust, immigration, aviation, and estate planning. This integrated approach allows us to address not just the immediate transaction, but the broader business and personal considerations that accompany success in the entertainment industry.

We pride ourselves on being accessible, responsive, and practical. Whether negotiating a headline deal, clearing rights on tight production timelines, or resolving disputes efficiently, our focus is on keeping projects moving forward while safeguarding our clients’ interests.

Sports Law

The Firm’s sports law roots run deep as a predecessor firm to SGR served as general counsel to the old American Basketball Association. A substantial portion of our work for for-profit sports law clients involves the representation of management and equity participants in ownership groups for the acquisition and operation of professional sports teams. A substantial portion of our work for non-profit sports law clients involves the representation of associations in structuring their governance arrangements and daily operations including matters necessary to qualify as a Section 501(c)(3) organization formed for charitable and educational purposes.

We also represent both amateur and professional sports-related associations, primarily in connection with the protection of their intellectual property. For example, our attorneys are experienced in the negotiation of sponsorship contracts for the utilization of professional sports team brands and logos in commercial settings.

Because we are a full-service law firm, our sports and sports-related clients benefit from the wealth of experience and breadth of knowledge of the Firm’s attorneys in numerous areas of the law. Should a need or question arise in an individual practice area, there is likely a Firm attorney at SGR capable of providing professional assistance. For example, we have handled pension and employee benefits work for professional and amateur athletic associations. Our attorneys also bring practical client perspectives as one of our attorneys currently serves on, and has been president of, the board of directors of the athletic association of a Southeastern Conference member institution.