Join us for a virtual conversation with Alexa Whiteside, CEO and Managing Partner of WAM Entertainment Law. With Alexa’s over fifteen years of expertise in the entertainment industry, we will discuss her advice for emerging filmmakers when it comes to navigating legal elements of the film and television industry, including protecting IP, fair use, insurance, and the importance of paperwork at each step in the process.
Alexa Whiteside
WAM Entertainment Law
About Alexa Whiteside:
Alexa Whiteside is the CEO and managing partner of WAM Entertainment Law, a law firm founded after more than fifteen years in the entertainment industry. She is credited as legal advisor or VP of business affairs on over 140 film and television titles, including Sony’s A Man Called Otto starring Tom Hanks, Kevin Hart’s talk show Hart to Heart on Peacock, Mission Unstoppable with Miranda Cosgrove on CBS, and Hello Sunshine’s Something from Tiffany’s. She has also has experience in entertainment law working with partners such as Lionsgate Entertainment, Disney-ABC Television Group, NBCUniversal, Netflix, Amazon Prime, Paramount+, CNN, Laugh Out Loud Network, and the Sundance Institute.
With a passion for supporting creatives and businesses and bringing their unique and diverse stories to the public, she provides tailored legal services to clients in the film, television, literary publishing, and digital media industries and is licensed to practice law in California, New York, and North Carolina.
Prior to founding her law firm, Alexa’s journey began in New York City, where she worked as an independent producer, unit production manager, and casting associate both during and after her undergraduate years at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts Kanbar School of Film & Television. This hands-on experience gave her firsthand insight into the intricacies and on-set realities of film and television production.
Later, Alexa worked as an attorney at a boutique law firm in Beverly Hills where she advised producers, distributors, and content creators across film, television, new media, live events, literary publishing, radio, and podcast content, offering legal guidance from financing through to distribution across multiple platforms.
Before launching WAM Entertainment Law, she served as Vice President of Business Affairs at the broadcast television production and distribution company Hearst Media Production Group, where she supported production, regulatory compliance, and rights management initiatives while overseeing the company’s Standards & Practices, Programming, and Rights & Clearances teams. In this role, she provided business and legal affairs guidance for the company’s vast library of over 4,500 episodes of children’s programming that aired 52 weeks a year and collaborated with the company’s management, production, post-production, and network teams to ensure its programming complied with federal and state regulations.
A dedicated advocate for creatives, Ms. Whiteside is the Co-Chair of the Pro Bono Committee and former Chair of the Sports and Entertainment Law Section of the North Carolina Bar Association, is a voting member of the Television Academy, and is an active member of numerous other organizations in the legal and arts communities including the Creative Coalition, Beverly Hills Bar Association, and California Lawyers for the Arts.
IMPORTANT DETAILS:
This panel will take place virtually over ZOOM. Ticket purchasers will receive a ZOOM link to this panel 2 hours before the published start time. If you don’t already have the ZOOM app, please make sure to download on your device before the panel start time.
If you purchase an All-Access Pass for our July Festival events prior to the date of this panel, you will also receive admission to this virtual panel, included as part of your pass.
If you are a current Annual Member of NFMLA, please email info@nfmla.org to receive a complimentary ticket to this panel. If you are not an Annual Member of NFMLA and would like to join, you can become a member here.
