Problem solving is a strong asset for anyone in the entertainment industry. 

Film and television productions do not involve anything like rocket science, but they do involve a learned subjective approach to problems and solutions to them. 

My talk  will focus on business and creative issues I have faced or witnessed in my years of working as an attorney, business affairs executive, production executive and film producer in features and in television, and the solutions that were brought to bear on the problem. 

Some foreseen, some unforeseen. 

Some solved, some not.

We will review cases from Taxi Driver forward through my many film and television endeavors.

Meet the Speaker:

Lawrence Mortorff is an experienced entertainment attorney, as well as an agency and film company executive and a film and television producer and executive producer. He has been licensed to practice law in California for more than 45 years and is licensed as well in U.S. Federal Court. He graduated from Ucla School of Law in 1973 and began his law practice as an associate attorney with Kaplan, Livingston, Goodwin, Berkowitz & Selvin then moved to the entertainment law firm of Pollock, Rigrod & Bloom. These were two of the most prominent entertainment law firms in Los Angeles at that time. He left the Pollock firm to take the position as Head of Motion Picture Business Affairs at International Creative Management, where he rose to the position of Vice President. After leaving ICM, Mr. Mortorff was president of several film companies including Scotti Bros. Pictures and Kushner-Locke Films where he oversaw film development, production, distribution and business affairs matters of some 20 films. He has produced or executive produced some 40 films and television programs in his career, such as “Maria’s Lovers”, “Pinocchio”, “Tarzan”, “Jungle Book”, “Romero”, and “Billy the Early Years” on the early life of Billy Graham. Mr. Mortorff was executive producer on the 2022 Walter Hill film “Dead for a Dollar”. He has been a long-time consultant to many family-friendly and faith-based film and television companies. He has worked with Princess Grace Kelly, Robert Mitchum, Louise Fletcher, Jacqueline Bisset, Candace Bergen, Peter O’Toole, Omar Sharif, Reese Witherspoon, Renee Zelwegger, Lena Headey, Armie Hammer, Christoph Waltz, Willem Dafoe, Keith Carradine and Rachel Brosnahan, among other celebrities. He was Alumni of the Year at Cal State Fullerton in 2003. 

Mr. Mortorff is conversant with international film co-productions and has worked in film productions in many locales including North America, Latin America, Europe, Eastern Europe, Israel, Africa and Asia. Along with Peter Dekom and other Ucla Law School alums, he is a co-founder of the fabled Ucla Law School Entertainment Symposium, having been on the Board since its inception. He is also an arbitrator with American Arbitration Association, the Independent Centre for Dispute Resolution and IFTA, with focus on arbitrations involving film production, distribution rights and remedies as well as intellectual property rights. Mr. Mortorff published an article on arbitrations in the entertainment industry entitled “Before Closing that Killer Deal”. He has been an expert witness in numerous entertainment cases, is a long-term member of the Producers’ Branch of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences, is a past officer and director of the Santa Monica Rotary and a member of the Los Angeles Copyright Society. His hobbies include tennis, working crossword puzzles and cycling. He lives in Marina del Rey, California, has three grown daughters and six grandchildren.