Thursday 11/15, 7:00 networking, 7:30 panel
The Actors' Temple · 339 West 47th Street · New York, N.Y. 10036

Speakers to include: Bob Brinkerhoff, associate general manager at KGM Theatrical; David Elliott, producer and general manager Perry Street Theatricals; Lee A.G. Feldshon, entertainment attorney; Ed Gaynes, producer, general manager, theater owner (The Actors Temple, St. Luke's Theatre); Eric Goldman, entertainment attorney.

If you have a serious plan for a new theater work in development, the first two people a producer or self-producer needs to have on board are a savvy general manager and an entertainment attorney. Just how early should you fill these roles? And who comes first? We'll define the responsibilities of each, and the dynamic between the producer and his two right hand people. Then we'll take a look at the usual steps of development for new works, and the agreements that need to be entered for each: table readings, stage readings, showcases and workshops. Plus the advantages and disadvantages of using a festival as a step in your project's development.

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  BOB BRINKERHOFF

  has twenty years of experience in theatrical general management.  He has worked on many Broadway and Off-Broadway productions, beginning with Fool Moon (Bill Irwin and David Shiner) in 1998.  His management credits George Gershwin Alone, Salome (with Al Pacino and Marissa Tomei – St. Anne’s Warehouse), Showtune (Jerry Herman), The Normal Heart (with Raul Esparza and Joanna Gleason), the IF/Then National Tour, Red Roses, Green Gold (featuring the music of Jerry Garcia & Robert Hunter) and many others.  For twelve years, Bob worked for Wicked, where he served as contracts manager and also as the liaison between all of the domestic productions and also multiple international companies.  He was central to organizing international productions in Korea, Mexico City and Brazil.
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  DAVID ELLIOTT

  has worked in the New York theatre community for over 25 years, much of that time with Martin Platt as a principal in Perry Street Theatricals (PST). PST, founded by Platt and Elliott in 2004, is a multi-award-winning producing and general management company where they collectively produced and general managed over 25 productions. Their productions have been nominated for nearly every award in the theatre industry. Highlights include - London: Lend Me A Tenor The Musical; Broadway: Dames At Sea, Vanya And Sonia And Masha And Spike. Off Broadway: Georgie, Bedlam’s Hamlet And Saint Joan, In The Continuum, The Exonerated, An Oak Tree, and 7 shows as Producing Artistic Director at the Cape Playhouse. As General Manager: Bedlam’s Sense & Sensibility, The Saintliness of Margery Kempe and 3 tours with The Aquila Theatre Company. David recently served as Producing Artistic Director at the Cape Playhouse in Dennis, MA.
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  LEE A. G. FELDSHON

  has over 25 years of experience in entertainment and corporate law. He launched his private practice, Feldshon Law PLLC, in 2018.  He represents producers, co-producers, composers, bookwriters, lyricists, directors, and other creatives in the live theatrical industry. He represented the New York Musical Theatre Festival from its 2004 founding to its dissolution.  He was production counsel for the Broadway revival of Pump Boys & Dinettes, and represented a Tony-award winning actor) in connection with the Tony-award winning Broadway musical The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.  He represents the producers and/or authors of other live theatrical works including Stranger Sings! The Musical Parody, EPIC, Lizard Boy, Islander-A New Musical, Mozart-The New Musical, Dangerous-A New Musical, Who's Your Baghdaddy? Or How I Started the Iraq War, Desperate Measures (2018 Drama Desk Awards for Original Music and Original Lyrics), Rooms, and others. He is also co-producing Austen's Pride: A New Musical of Pride and Prejudice.  He negotiates screenplay option/purchase agreements and financing documents for film producers, and has worked as film production counsel for  Fly Away (SXSW Official Selection) and the documentary Darkon: An American Fantasy (2006 SXSW Audience Award). While Director of Legal Affairs and Business Development of the Radio City Entertainment division of Madison Square Garden, L.P., he worked on The Radio City Christmas Spectacular, A Christmas Carol, and Rockettes performances. As a Levine Plotkin & Menin associate, he worked on Rent (Broadway, touring), The Wild Party (Broadway), De La Guarda (Off Broadway), and other shows. He started his career as a corporate associate at White & Case.  In addition, he handles trademark and copyright registrations for clients, and represents talent management companies.  He received a B.A. from Columbia College in 1991 (magna cum laude, Rhodes Scholar State Finalist) and a J.D. from Columbia Law School in 1994 (Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar). Bar Admissions: New York.
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  ED GAYNES

  As a theatre producer, Mr. Gaynes’ Off-Broadway productions include the long-running hit Black Angels Over Tuskegee (10 years), as well as Zero Hour (Drama Desk Award), The Devil’s Music: The Life and Blues of Bessie Smith (Drama Desk and Lortel nominations), Danny and Sylvia: The Danny Kaye Musical, The Rise of Dorothy Hale, The Big Voice: God or Merman?, Cougar The Musical, Picon Pie, Emily Mann’s Annulla, A Brush With Georgia O’Keeffe, Trolls, Panache, Chaim’s Love Song, Matty: An Evening with Christy Mathewson, Einstein: A Stage Portrait and Bein’ With Behan, which was nominated for an Outer Critics Circle Award. He also produced over 50 productios in Los Angeles, including the West Coast premieres of Marry Me a Little and Starting Here, Starting Now and was nominated for four Ovation Awards, Los Angeles’ highest theatre honors, for his productions of The Taffetas and Songs the Girls Sang. Mr. Gaynes also produced the National Tour of Gilligan’s Island: The Musical, which played coast to coast. He currently operates an Off-Broadway theatre in New York City: Actors Temple Theatre, and for fifteen years operated St. Luke’s Theatre, all through it’s glory years. He also operates the Whitmore-Lindley Theatre Center and the BrickHouse Theatre in Los Angeles. He has appeared as an actor in 13 Broadway and Off-Broadway shows including Greenwillow with Anthony Perkins, The Body Beautiful with Jack Warden, Promenade with Madeline Kahn, Edward Albee’s Bartleby and Best Foot Forward, in which he co-starred with Christopher Walken and Liza Minnelli and sang “Buckle Down, Winsocki” on the original cast album. TV credits range from Mary Martin’s Peter Pan to “Cheers”, “Kojak”, a recurring role on “The Patty Duke Show”, “N.Y.P.D.”, “The Sid Caesar Hour”, “Playhouse 90”, “The Ed Sullivan Show”, among many others, as well as a two-year run as Paul Stewart on “As the World Turns”. He was recently presented with the “Legend of Off-Broadway” honor by the Off-Broadway Alliance at Sardi’s in New York City.
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  ERIC GOLDMAN

  For over 25 years, Eric has provided legal services to Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony award winning talent, and to technology and internet entrepreneurs. Recent projects include representing the writers of the Broadway smash hit Come from Away and the producers of the highly successful Off-Broadway musical parody of the television show Friends. Before launching his own firm in 2011, Eric worked for 15 years as a Senior Associate for entertainment attorney Mark Sendroff of Sendroff & Baruch LLP. Eric also served as in-house counsel for St. Martin’s Press and Hertz Computer. His first job out of law school was working as an associate for copyright guru Stanley Rothenberg.  Eric is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and New York University School of Law.