Negotiating with Carl Lewis

As I prepare to ask Carl Lewis about his negotiation experience, he receives a phone call from Don King. He is taking a trip to Russia to represent Don on an upcoming boxing match.  From eavesdropping on his call with Don, it is obvious that Lewis is a very busy man who knows his stuff!

Carl has been a practicing attorney for over 20 years.  He received all three of his degrees from the University of Cincinnati in 85’, 86’, and 89’.  While in college, Lewis promoted concerts and represented songwriters in copywriting ventures. After college, Carl moved to Louisville working in insurance defense.  In 1990 he moved to Ohio and began working in white-collar public defense. In 1991, He started his private practice, Lewis Law Firm Inc., in Cincinnati, OH. By 1992, Carl was representing his first fighter who was on the same Olympic team as Mexican boxer Oscar De La Hoya.  Since then he has focused primarily on representing boxers.  Carl has worked with celebrities such as Don King and Daymond John.  He has also participated in negotiation deals with networks such as HBO and ESPN.

(All background information was obtained from Carl during the phone interview)

After a few days playing phone tag, I was able to link up with Lewis for a brief phone interview.

Kiera: What inspired you to pursue entertainment law?

I have a very strong musical background.  I’ve been playing piano for years.  I love music and entertainment, and wanted to find a way to tie my musical background with my legal training.  Instead of being a performer, I wanted to provide legal council to other performers and athletes. 

Kiera: What types of negotiations do you make on a day-to-day basis?

Carl: Oftentimes I work directly with songwriters, musicians, and producers on contracts, production deals, and publishing.  On the boxing side, I represent fighters in negotiating their management contracts, promotional deals, and compensation.  I also represent them in deals with television networks such as HBO, ESPN, and Showtime.   I never represent the production company; I represent the actual fighters themselves. I handle a lot of negotiation deals that focus on the promotional packages for the fighters.  We are negotiating those types of deals everyday.

Kiera: What is the key to finding mutual benefit for both parties while negotiating?

Carl:  The world famous boxing promoter Don King taught it to me best… you’ll love this! He told me, “When you’re negotiating, working together works”.  That’s my philosophy when we are making deals.  I’m not working against the opposite party, we are working together.  We have to try to compromise.  The beauty of negotiation in entertainment is that when you are working with a huge artist, such as Beyonce, sometimes it’s a ‘take it or leave it’ deal because they are so popular. Those negotiations are usually easy. However, when you are dealing with an up and coming artist or fighter, there is always room for negotiation, but I always try to make the deal a team effort and not a fight between two separate parties. 

Kiera: Have you ever been in a situation where positional bargaining was used and neither party came to an agreement.

Carl: Several.  Sometimes you have to agree to disagree.  My mindset is, if we cant make a deal today, we can make one tomorrow.  Going back and forth is never productive. Maybe you have to walk away, regroup, and try again.  Sometimes it’s more beneficial to both parties to make an agreement than to not do business with each other at all. 

Kiera: This is my last question. Can you give me an example of how you’ve used objective criteria in negotiations?

Carl: My firm is actually handling a case right now where my client thinks her case is worth 1 million and the opposite party wants to settle on minimal dollars.   We’ve been in negotiation for about two or three days now.  We are now about $35,000 apart and we need to close the deal.  Looking at the objective criteria, it is clear that my client is negotiating too high and this has assisted in our decision to lower our deal. 

Kiera: Well, I think that’s all I have for you! Thanks so much for taking the time to talk to me.

Carl: No Problem! Keep doing well in school!

Performer Profile : Idina Menzel

One of my favorite performers to grace the Broadway Stage is Idina Menzel.  Menzel is a Tony Award winning performer that has had a diverse career on stage, in film, television, and music.

            Born and raised in New York, NY, Idina has always had a love for the stage.  She spent a lot of her childhood in musicals, taking lessons, and writing her own music.  From the time she was a little girl, Idina knew that music was her passion

            Menzel went to New York University’s School of Arts where she majored in music.  She earned her bachelor’s degree and gigged here and there to make ends meet.  She received her big break in 1993 when she was offered the role of Maureen in the musical ‘Rent’ Off-Broadway.  In 1996, the show made it to the Broadway stage, really giving Menzel the exposure she had been longing for.  She left the show in 1997, but received the opportunity to play Maureen again in 2005 when it was brought to the big screen.    I fell in love with Idina in 2004 when she premiered the Broadway show ‘Wicked’.  Her role as Elphaba brought her a Tony Award for Leading Actress in a Musical.  In between her on-stage work, she took on small television roles and released a few studio albums.  Recently, Menzel has gone on to appear in the Disney hit ‘Enchanted’ and the Fox sitcom ‘Glee’. 

            Idina is currently producing a special, “Friday Night is Music Night’, for BBC Radio.  The program is scheduled to air April 24^th, 2013.  She will be performing songs that she has sung throughout her career.  Idina will have an orchestra backing her up and special guests performing along side of her (Is anyone else praying for a duet between her and Kristne Chenoweth?).

            Idina Menzel is an amazing performer that I have always admired.  She is truly an inspiration and favorite in the theatre industry.

Theater Blogging

There are hundreds of great blogs that are dedicated to the musical theatre industry.  A lot of the information I blog about, I read it on the theatre blogs I follow first.  I decided to feature a couple of my favorite blogs in this post.  My two favorite theatre blogs are Theatermania.com and Broadwayworld.com.   If you are a theatre lover or just looking for information on a particular show, you should check out these two blogs first. 

Broadwayworld.com is a blog that provides highlights, news, and updates of Broadway, Off-Broadway, and community theatre.  They are headquartered in New York, NY, but feature performances all over the world.  They provide information on new musicals, ticket sales, show reviews, and tour schedules. Broadwayworld.com is owned by Wisdom Digital Media Publishing.  In November of last year, Wisdom Digital Media announced that they were planning to launch 10 new spinoff entertainment sites with a focus on movies, television, books, fashion, music, dance, opera, comedy, classical music, and art.  Broadwayworld.com (BWW) is continuously expanding their brand and branching out into other industries as well.

Theatermania.com was founded in 2009 in New York, NY.  A lot like Broadwayworld.com, it is a great blog that features news, reviews, and interviews about the musical theatre industry.  Even though they have a musical theatre focus, they also provide information on ballet, opera, and children’s theatre performances as well.  You can also purchase tickets in major cities through this site.

Theatremania and Broadwayworld both have established social media accounts on twitter, Facebook, Pintrest, LinkedIn and Tumbler.  They also have mobile apps that can be downloaded for easy access on mobile devices.   Both blogs ranked top 10 in the theatre category on invesp.com.  BroadwayWorld.com ranked 1^st place with a site score of 100.  Theatermania.com ranked 10^th place, with a site score of 96.86.   I have subscribed to both of these blogs, have their mobile apps, and receive their newsletters.  I have researched and subscribed to many theatre industry blogs, but in my opinion, Theatremania and Broadwayworld are two of the best.

National Alliance for Musical Theatre

The National Alliance for Musical Theatre is a national service organization specifically for the musical theatre industry. Their mission statement is to “advance musical theatre by nurturing the creation, development, production and presentation of new musicals, and to provide a forum for musical theatre professionals to share resources and exchange information”.  For the past 20-years, the National Alliance for Musical Theatre has been a major force in the production of new musicals

Founded in 1985, NAMT has assisted in the success of musical theatre all over the world.  In 1989, NAMT started the Festival of New Musicals.  The Festival of New Musicals is an annual festival held in New York City to showcase promising new musicals that have been produced around the country.  Since the start, the festival has showcased 288 musicals and 510 writers.  Many popular musicals debuted at this festival such as; Thoroughly Modern Millie, Honk!, Songs for a New World and I Love You Because. NAMT has employed over 22,000 people, staged over 20,000 performance, and provided educational programs for over 1.1 million students and teachers during last season alone.  NAMT hosts many conferences, workshops, and roundtable discussions for their members throughout the year for learning and networking purposes. 

The National Alliance for Musical Theatre is important to the musical theatre industry because it provides a stage for producers, writers, and composers to gain national exposure.  NAMT also provides networking opportunities for musical theatre professionals around the world.  New musicals and the people who create them have a very hard time breaking into this industry.  It is important to have an organization like this to help advance the artistic work of individuals who desire to work professionally in this industry.  This viddler video, “NAMTHistory”, is an amazing inside look of the history of the National Alliance for Musical Theater.  It truly captures the essence of the NAMT brand and what they stand for.