Brian Alexander

I am an entertainment Business & Legal Affairs attorney with more than 20 years of experience in the acquisition, development, production and licensing of film and television content.

My background includes senior in-house roles at UMG/Polygram Entertainment, Discovery/TLC and Viacom, as well as leading production legal at Magical Elves. I have worked within studios, networks and production companies, giving me a practical understanding of what creative and production teams need from their lawyers.

Much of that work sits where music and artist IP becomes audiovisual content: securing the recording, publishing, performance, name and likeness, and promotional rights a program needs, then structuring how it can be exploited across platforms, territories and windows. I have negotiated those rights with labels, publishers, artists, managers and estates, and structured the approval, exclusivity and territorial terms underneath them.

I negotiate and draft development, production, co-production, talent, rights, format, services, licensing and distribution agreements and independently handle production legal and clearance matters throughout the life of a project.

I am also building LicenseDesk, a music rights licensing system that handles clearance, rate cards, approvals and license generation across master use and publishing, for both catalog and live music.

I keep negotiations focused on the business points that matter, with terms that are clear, defensible and workable in production.

My approach is direct, responsive and relationship-focused. I protect the company’s interests while recognizing that a successful deal should also preserve the creative and business relationships needed to make the project.

Projects produced during my tenure received Emmy Awards and nominations, a Peabody Award for STAX: Soulsville U.S.A., the Sundance Audience Award for Selena y Los Dinos, and selection of The Velvet Underground for The Criterion Collection.

My role was to provide the dealmaking and legal infrastructure behind that work: structuring transactions, securing rights, resolving production issues and helping creative, business and corporate teams move projects from concept to release.