While attending the Cannes Film Festival, Eisner, LLP Partner Michael Sherman sat down with le film français, where he reflected on how his career has touched nearly every corner of entertainment law and film finance — from representing actors and directors at the start of their careers to structuring multi-layered financing for major productions.
Michael also discussed his work on films including “Horizon” and “The English Patient” — the latter of which required him to finalize director and actor contracts in just four weeks after the project moved from Fox to Miramax. He also shared his thinking on the attention economy and how social media creators are rewriting the economics of content, by shifting power away from traditional studios and instead toward individual creators who build audiences before they ever seek investment.
Read the full feature here.
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Michael Sherman
Partner at Eisner LLP
What areas does your expertise cover?
I’ve touched on virtually every legal and financial aspect of the industry. I started as a talent lawyer for actors and directors at the beginning of their careers. Then I specialized in film financing, representing banks and borrowers. I’ve handled production legal work, deal structuring, distribution, and TV agreements. There’s almost no area I haven’t explored.
Can you give us examples of films you’ve worked on?
On Horizon, I orchestrated all the financing: private funds, Kevin’s personal money, banks, and international sales. My firm handled the production’s legal oversight. For The English Patient, one of my biggest experiences, I had to urgently finalize the director’s and actors’ contracts in four weeks, after the project transferred from Fox to Miramax to preserve the artistic vision.
You’re now particularly interested in the “attention economy”…
It’s a model that’s the inverse of the traditional system. In traditional cinema, you invest heavily upfront (development, production), creating immediate financial risk. By contrast, creators on social media spend nothing at the start. Their priority is capturing attention. Once the audience is built, money flows in through advertising and sponsorships. Investment only comes after success, as with MrBeast. This shift moves power from the studio to the creator and is revolutionizing how content is financed and conceived.
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