Laura began her career in the entertainment industry as a dancer in musical theater performing in "Guys and Dolls", "Lil Abner", "No No Nanette", and numerous others.Head ...Show More
Laura began her career in the entertainment industry as a dancer in musical theater performing in "Guys and Dolls", "Lil Abner", "No No Nanette", and numerous others.Heading to Hollywood in pursuit of a career in front of the camera, she garnered roles in feature films, television series, commercials, and print ads. Falling in love with the motion picture industry, she went back to college and earning her Bachelor of Arts Degree in Film Studies at California State University of Los Angeles, where she graduated cum laude, Laura went on to work her way up the ranks of the studio system.Upon graduation, she obtained a job working physical production with Ivan Reitman on "Ghostbusters II" and "Twins." From there Laura became the Executive Assistant and in-house reader for Producer/Director Irwin Winkler ("Rockies I -V," "Raging Bull," "Goodfellas"). During her five-year tenure at Winkler Films, she worked in all aspects of operations, from development through post.Laura moved on to work for Producer/Director Renny Harlin ("Die Hard II," "Cliffhanger," and "Rambling Rose") and Actress Geena Davis ("A League of Their Own," "Thelma and Louise") where she ran the story department, developed material, and worked on the action picture "The Long Kiss Goodnight."Branching out on her own, Laura began working as a freelance story consultant for Sony Pictures, MPCA, Pandora, Jersey Films and others. She set up "The Label" with Banque Paribas/Patriot Pictures and produced numerous projects, including: "Independent Spotlight," a reality style TV show that focused on independent films; "Kate's Addiction" (a/k/a "Circle of Deception") which was picked up by Lion's Gate for distribution; and, "Rocky Road" and "Social Misfits" which both had limited releases at Laemmle's. After raising financing to form her indie banner, Winding Road Entertainment, she produced the romantic comedy "Face the Music," which won numerous awards touring the festival circuit and was released by New Line Cinema.Furthering her career, Laura enrolled in the Paralegal Training Program at UCLA and upon graduation, she joined the team at New Line Cinema, where she had a meteoric rise to Executive Director of Business & Legal Affairs Administration, where she supervised the production legal staff, handled in house theatrical production issues, negotiations of negative pickup and acquisition agreements and handled delivery due diligence review.After New Line, Laura joined the law firm of Stroock, Stroock & Lavan where she worked directly for renowned senior entertainment partner Sky Moore. There she drafted above and below-the-line agreements including option/purchase, writer, director, and producer contracts, reviewed chain of title, prepared guild signatory paperwork and handled union related issues, negotiated license agreements for use of copyrighted and trademarked materials, and prepared and filed security agreements including copyright mortgages, assignments, and UCC's. She handled corporate formation and maintenance, including preparation of resolutions, secretary certificates, and stock certificates and coordinated numerous related federal and state regulatory matters including, SEC, DOC and IRS filings. Being courted by the prestigious law firm O'Melveny & Myers she went on to work on complex slate financing transactions.From there, she was brought on board at Paramount Pictures where as the Executive Director of Production Legal she supervised, trained and managed the production legal staff. She was instrumental in implementation of production legal policies and procedures. There after, Laura became the Vice President of Business and Legal Affairs for Red Granite Pictures where she played a critical role in the start up by establishing business and legal affairs policies and procedures and handled all production legal matters on the pictures "Wolf of Wall Street" and "Horns".Drawing on over twenty years of experience, she launched her own Business and Legal Affairs consulting practice where she currently serves a number of clients facilitating corporate matters, copyright filings, production legal, guild signatory paperwork, and provides other entertainment solutions. Hide
