When he was starting out as an attorney, Thomas Vidal gave seminars on entertainment law for fellow parishioners at Malibu Vineyard Church.
Vidal wasn’t so much looking to build up his client roster as provide members of the artist-filled congregation with legal guidance.
“I just wanted to offer the service because there were a lot of creative people there,” said Vidal, now an associate in the Los Angeles office of Sedgwick Detert Moran & Arnold LLP.
But as the industry of faith-based entertainment content burgeoned, the people who attended his seminars turned into film producers, singers, screenwriters and novelists. Vidal now devotes a portion of his practice to servicing their legal needs.
Today, his clients include Pure Flix Entertainment LLC, a “Christ-centered” film company, which in January will premiere “The Wager,” starring
country musician Randy Travis, in churches around the country.
With the growth in the size and complexity of business transactions involving faith-based organizations, some Los Angeles lawyers have developed practices that specialize in handling them not just in the entertainment sector, but also in real estate and other areas.
This trend is apparent all over the nation, but especially in the Los Angeles region, several attorneys noted, because it is a hub in the growing faith-based entertainment industry and home to several megachurches such as Calvary Chapel, Saddleback Church and Faithful Central. Their legal needs sometimes mirror those of large companies.
Back in the early 1990s, attorney Channing Johnson’s work with faith-based organizations consisted of representing Pasadena churches in their efforts to develop subsidized residential projects for the elderly.
But those real estate matters could be considered pedestrian in comparison to a 2000 transaction for Faithful Central. Johnson, a Century City-based partner at Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP, represented the megachurch in a deal to acquire the Forum, the Inglewood arena that was once home to the Los Angeles Lakers, for $22.5 million.
“The biggest hurdle was convincing the banking community of the financial viability of the transaction,” Johnson said. “They had a difficult time wrapping their minds around a church owning and operating a commercial venue that it would concurrently use. It took a substantial amount of convincing and explaining.”
In many instances, megachurches employ more than 100 workers, own large parcels of land, and control an array of related entities including radio stations, newspapers, publishing houses and record labels. All of which increases their need for legal services.
Mission and message
Additional sensibilities come into play when dealing with religious organizations.
“When representing a faith-based entity, you have to be sensitive to other aspects of how one conducts business,” said Johnson, whose secular clients include cable channel SiTV and Reach Media Inc.
“While they are still concerned about making money, protecting the mission and the message are very important.”
On several occasions, for example, Johnson’s faith-based clients have been willing to walk away from movie and music deals because they wouldn’t tone down the religious element of their films or songs.
Entertainment content is providing the most visible example of growth in the faith-based arena.
Johnson also represents Dallas-based televangelist T.D. Jakes and his megachurch, Potter’s House, in a number of areas, including the production and distribution of movies.
Jakes’ latest movie, “Not Easily Broken,” is in production, and will be released by Sony’s Screen Gems.
Financial resources
“The entertainment market has truly opened up for my faith-based clients,” said Vidal, who puts together financing deals, distribution agreements and talent contracts for both religious and secular film companies. “They are getting the financial resources they need and now have an opportunity to get their message out to the world through film and other forums of entertainment.”
Vidal’s clients have included christiancinema.com and the brothers Kevin and Bobby Downes, producers of Christian films.
Some observers have dated the explosion in demand for faith-based content to the 2004 release “The Passion of the Christ,” which grossed $370 million in American ticket sales. But even before that, the sales of religious books and other products were outpacing their secular counterparts. That continues into the present.
With Christian/gospel music sales continuing to climb they were up 3.4 percent in 2006, in contrast with the rest of the struggling music industry Sony BMG Music was inspired to buy Inglewood gospel record label Gospocentric in 2004. Top selling gospel artist Kirk Franklin is one of the label’s stars.
Representing Gospocentric during the acquisition was Akin Gump’s Johnson, who has served as the company’s main outside counsel for more than a decade.
“Sony was responding to growth in the marketplace,” Johnson said. “It is hard to put your finger on why, but there is a desire all over the country for entertainment content that is faith based.”
The revenues generated by religious books grew by 8.1 percent in 2005 to $2.29 billion. Last year, the segment grew an additional 5.6 percent, outpacing overall revenues in the publishing industry, which were only up 3.2 percent.
Among the most popular of religious books is the “Left Behind” series: 16 titles on a Christian-themed telling of the end of times. More than 65 million copies have been sold.
In 2001, when Tim LaHaye, an author of the series, was not pleased with the film adaptation, he turned to Los Angeles lawyer Christopher Rudd to represent him in the suit against the faith-based company that produced the movie. The case is ongoing.
While the “Left Behind” dispute has played out in the court system, Johnson and other attorneys said the use of nontraditional dispute resolution avenues is not uncommon.
In situations where both parties to a dispute are Christian, a minister might be included in settlement attempts, Johnson said.
“If the goal is about finding equity in a dispute, why not engage in Christian mediation?”
