ABOUT
A 3-day workshop designed to demystify legal issues in media content production. Learn your rights, protect your IP, negotiate the best deal for YOU!
- Learn the basics of contractual terms and industry best practices, the basics of personal service contracts, and tips on working with guilds and unions.
- Learn the basic elements of working with intellectual properties, including registration and protection.
- Get to know more about corporate structures, basic regulatory procedures and policies regarding Canadian content, and so much more!
Entertainment Law is multi-faceted and unusual in that it overlaps with so many other legal areas: intellectual property law, employment law, contract law, tax law, insurance law, and sometimes international law. This three-day course is designed to provide an introduction/overview of key legal considerations - Contracts and Negotiations, Intellectual Property and Regulations and Policies - in the screen-based media industry.
ELIGIBILITY
The WIFT+ Toronto Introduction to Entertainment Law workshop is recommended for anyone who has an interest in learning the basics of the legal landscape in the screen-based industry.
This is an introductory course designed to demystify topics for those who work in the screen-based industry. Previous experience working in or around entertainment law (or any of the three main topics of Contracts and Negotiations, Intellectual Property or Regulatory Procedures and Policies) will be beneficial, but is not required.
DATES
Registration Open (Members): Monday, April 20, 2026
Scholarship Open: Monday, April 20, 2026
Registration Open (Public): Monday, April 27, 2026
Scholarship Close: Sunday, May 24, 2026
Registration Close: Sunday, May 31, 2026
Program Runs:
Saturday, June 6, 2026 (9:30am - 4:30pm)
Saturday, June 13, 2026 (9:30am - 4:30pm)
Saturday, June 20, 2026 (9:30am - 4:30pm)
FEES
WIFT+ Toronto Members: $375 + hst
Non Members: $500 + hst
Two (2) scholarships will be available to cover program fees for participants of this program and are made available through the Foundation for Women in Film & Television – Toronto. The scholarship application deadline is May 24, 2026.
LOCATION
CSI Spadina
Toronto, Ontario
M5T 2C2
*Please note, the location is subject to change.
SESSIONS & INSTRUCTORS
Day 1 – Intellectual Property
- Identifying, registering and protecting intellectual property
- Copyright Act (including fair dealing), Trade-Marks Act, and clearances • Acquisition and licensing of rights, Life rights
- How does A.I. figure in all of this?
- Errors and Omissions insurance and clearance procedures • Chain of Title
- Rights of privacy and personality
Instructor: Tara Parker, Partner, Entertainment Group at Goodmans LLP
Tara Parker is a partner in the Entertainment Group at Goodmans and represents major US and Canadian studios, broadcasters, streamers, independent producers and a range of creative and business clients, in the development, production, financing and exploitation of film, television, and other digital media projects.
Recognized by The Best Lawyers in Canada (named 2021 Toronto Entertainment Lawyer of the Year), The Canadian Legal Lexpert® Directory, The Lexpert®/American Lawyer Guide to the Leading 500 Lawyers in Canada (Entertainment Law), Chambers Canada, Who’s Who Legal Canada and Euromoney’s Guides to the World’s Leading Technology, Media & Telecommunications Lawyers and Women in Business Law (media), Tara is a frequent speaker/panelist at media conferences and guest lecturer on entertainment law at the University of Toronto Law School and Ryerson University.
Tara has appeared as a guest expert on “format/reality programming” and “copyright/street art” on BNN and CTV networks and is a former advisory Board Member and current lecturer for the 2025 BANFF Spark Accelerator for Women in the Business of Media (Producer’s Edition). Tara has contributed articles to various entertainment law publications and is a Past President and Chair of Crow’s Theatre. Tara is a member of LSUC, WIFT-Toronto, Film Ontario and ACCT, Duty counsel for ALAS (Artists’ Legal Advice Services), and past member of OBA’s Entertainment, Media and Communications Law Section Executive.
Day 2 – Contracts and Negotiations
- Contractual customs and practices
- Drafting and negotiating key terms of agreements (talent, writer, production, etc.)
- Personal service contracts (basic terms, miscellaneous provisions and types of agreements) • Standard form agreements (appearance releases, location releases, license agreements)
- Working with unions and guilds
- Working with broadcasters and distributors
- Favoured Nations clauses (scope re: terms, scope re: comparables) • Royalties and residuals
- Completion guarantors
Instructor: Jacqueline Luksha, Labour and Employment Lawyer at Hicks Morley
Day 3 – Regulatory Procedures and Policies
- Canadian Content overview
- Corporate Structures (production services, co-ventures and treaty co-productions
- Tax Credit and funding implications
- Broadcast licensing and regulatory issues
Instructors: Hatty Reisman, Founding Partner Reisman Law Offices and Douglas Barrett, Adjunct Professor, Arts, Media & Entertainment MBA Program; Strategic/Governance Adviser; Media Industry Veteran
Hatty Reisman, founder and senior lawyer at Reisman Law Offices is a seasoned corporate lawyer with business and operations experience. Prior to establishing this firm, Hatty spent 20 years in the trenches getting to know her clients' business. She was a founding partner of the Toronto office of Heenan Blaikie and went on to serve as General Counsel of two leading Canadian entertainment public companies - Atlantis Communications and Nelvana Limited.
Hatty offers legal and business expertise specializing in the cultural industries sector including advising on all aspects of the film and television industry, interim financing, corporate transactions and day to day corporate matters, intellectual property, employment and immigration issues arising in these and other industries, small claims court matters, as well as on issues faced by technology startups, and on music, publishing and new media matters.
Hatty is a frequent speaker at industry events and conferences, is recognized by Lexpert as a leading entertainment lawyer, and by Cambridge's World Wide Who's Who. A sampling of her articles and presentations can be found on the Articles and Presentations tab.
Douglas Barrett is the Principal of barcode SDG, a strategic and governance advisory firm. He is also an Advisory Board Member of the Vancouver based Feldman Agency and an invited member of the City of Toronto’s Film, Television and Commercial Production Industry Committee, the Toronto Film Board. In June 2013, Mr. Barrett received the John Peace Part-Time Faculty Teaching Award for his work at the School of Business.
From 2006 until the company’s sale in mid-2013, he was President & CEO of PS Production Services Ltd., one of Canada’s leading film and television equipment rental houses. PS was a mid-sized company with approximately 150 employees and operations in Vancouver, Toronto and Halifax.
From 2004 to 2008, he was Chair of the Canadian Television Fund’s Board of Directors, having served as a board member from 1994 to 1996, and legal counsel from 1996 to 2004. The Fund is the principal federal agency responsible for supporting television production in Canada.
For 20 years until 2006, Doug was the senior partner practising Media & Entertainment law at McMillan LLP under the KNOWlaw banner. He has repeatedly been listed by the legal directory LEXPERT as one of Canada’s 500 Leading Lawyers.
He has served on the Boards of the Canadian Media Production Association, the Banff Television Foundation and the Feature Film Project of the Canadian Film Centre. He was instrumental in founding the Alliance Atlantis Banff Television Executive Program.