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David
Spatt |
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Q. What does a typical day at work consist of? Mostly drafting and negotiating contracts. These days most days of my work is done on my computer, while my office staff handles some of the research and drafting, and most of the correspondence in and out of the office. Q. What is your office space like? It is small. I have been operating this way for over twenty years and have been computerized since the mid-80's. Without computers, my law practice would never have been possible. The Internet, email, IM, scanners, CD burners. It all has made life even easier and enable me to do my faster and at a lower cost to my clients. I now have clients from all over the US that I have never met most of the business is done by phone or email. The same goes for contract negotiations. They are not done over lunch or around a big conference table, but by email and the drafting is simpler since the text is already typed and in your computer by the time you first read it. After that, it is simply a matter of cut and paste. In the end, the client has lower fees due to all of the saved legal time and travel expenses. Q. What inspired you to start Artslaw.org? Actually, I volunteered at the original Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts in NYC while I was still in law school. Having been a professional musician, it seemed like arts & entertainment law would be an interesting field. Upon graduation, I joined the bars of New York and Rhode Island and set up my practice in Rhode Island and I noticed that the only person who had been providing pro buono (free) arts-law services had retired. In 1984, I attended a VLA conference and was encouraged to restart the RI chapter. Ocean State Lawyers for the Arts (OSLA) was born in December of 1984. Q. What are some of the obstacles that you encountered in the beginning of your career? The biggest obstacle was that the local arts community did not even consider the legal ramifications of their actions. Many people were signing contracts without reading them or understanding them. Others simply thought that they had to take whatever gigs they could get. Therefore, the main challenge was educating the arts community through free legal clinics, seminars and the early version of OSLA Arts & Laws, which I published as a subscriber newsletter. Q. What are some of the benefits and challenges to running Artslaw.org? The challenges are still trying to reach and educate as many members of the arts community as possible. Of course, the cost is also a challenge. I originally set out to make OSLA a non-profit corporation and seek funding, but the time involved was more costly than bearing the cost myself. So that is what I did- I pay all of the costs of OSLA, website, e-mail, web development, etc. The cost is worth more to me than the time I have saved. Q. Where do you see Artslaw.org in five years? OSLA has already changed from predominantly using one-to-one legal clinics and the newsletter to the free and purely informational website at and free general legal advice provided via email. New technology has already made operation simpler, faster, and more efficient. I suppose newer technologies will govern OSLA's (and my) future path. Q. Where do you see the future of Arts and Entertainment Law going? It is no longer just music or just literary or film, etc. The Internet already plays a huge role and most of my client are involved in the Internet in one form or another. I believe that the future of much of arts and entertainment will be online, and the law will have to follow by figuring out what rules, if any, that community will function under. I hope though, that it is the community that creates those rules with the help of others, including lawyers. It should not be the suits ( read lawyers and politicians) that tell the online community what do. The one part of the industry that I think will be the slowest to change will be publishing of fiction. It seems that many people, including twenty-somethings and younger who are the most computer-savvy of all, still prefer to read their stories, sci-fi, horror and children's books on paper that has been bound together. Q. From a legal standpoint, what are some of the biggest mistakes that you see fledgling creative artists make? Accepting the first offer that is made to them. If they are talented enough to be offered work, then they are talented enough to be paid what their work is worth. Artists and entertainers are professionals just are as doctors, lawyers, plumbers, teacher, carpenters, and so on. They entitled to make a living from their work. I also see a lot of scams which offer to get artists/entertainers work, but really are intended to line the pockets of the ones making the offers. As with everything in life, if someone seems to be offering you something without you having to work for it, then there is probably nothing going to come from it except perhaps big fees to the ones making the offers. Q. Who are some of your role models? My grandfather was a judge in the New York Courts and he always helping someone, always trying to do the right thing. I hope I can live up to that. Q.What do you do in your spare time? Spare time? Huh? I don't think I can remember any. Actually, I still played gigs in local clubs from time to time up until about two years ago. Now I tinker with a couple of old cars like my fiat spider-fuel efficient but a lot of fun to drive. I also teach a lot-like the Sports & Entertainment Law course I teach at Roger Williams U. School Law in Rhode Island. I teach undergrad course at a few other local schools as well. It is every bit as much fun as paying out used to be-maybe more fun. In terms of what else I would like to add, I say on my website, "Read and ye shall learn". There is no excuse for an artist or entertainer to not learn as much as possible about the business in which they have chosen to earn a living. That doesn't just mean learning to read music or paint or act, but learning the business. There are a lot of books out there, which can save them a lot of grief and legal fees, to dispel the ignorance. Some are reviewed at www.artslaw.org. If you cannot find help there, email me through the site, and perhaps I can help you find the info you need. I am not saying that these books would be a substitute for hiring a lawyer, but they may help them to avoid the need for an attorney in the first place, or may encourage the hiring of legal counsel when starting a business venture when it would be cheaper instead of looking for a hired gun, so to speak, after trouble arises due to mistakes made. That is when it can get really expensive. Another quote from OSLA ARTS & LAWS: YOUR TALENT IS YOUR ART YOUR ART IS YOUR BUSINESS YOU KNOW YOUR ART NOW LEARN YOUR BUSINESS AND GET IT RIGHT THE FIRST TIME
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