Michael C. Donaldson, Partner
Michael C. Donaldson is an entertainment attorney who has been fighting for independent filmmakers for over 30 years. In addition to working on films by such industry icons as Oliver Stone, Davis Guggenheim and Lawrence Bender, Michael serves as General Counsel to Film Independent (home of the Independent Spirit Awards and the Los Angeles Film Festival) and the Writers Guild Foundation. He is the industry’s go-to attorney for fair use (a doctrine in United States copyright law permitting limited use of copyrighted material without permission from the rights holders) and other clearance- and rights-related issues.
Some of Michael’s notable accomplishments include:
• Being honored with the Amicus Award by The International Documentary Association – an honor bestowed on only two others in the 25-year history of the awards: Steven Spielberg and John Hendricks (founder of the Discovery Channel).
• Serving as one of the authors of the Documentary Filmmakers Statement of Best Practices in Fair Use and being the only attorney in private practice to serve on the drafting committee for the recently released Statement of Best Practices for Online Video.
• Serving on the Advisory Committee of the Stanford Fair Use Project.
• Successfully negotiating with Media Professional Insurance Company and Chubb Insurance Company to offer fair use riders on the E&O insurance policies, allowing many films to be made under the fair use doctrine.
• Assisting in the drafting and lobbying for Orphan Works legislation.
• Being the sole American attorney to assist in the drafting of the Rome Resolution of 2007 to harmonize Fair Use across the European Union.
• Holding the position of President of the International Documentary Association.
• Organizing and leading the Documentary Credits Coalition in negotiations with the cable networks to prevent the wholesale migration of credits from the screen to the Internet.
• Contributing to The Film Foundation’s book entitled City Secrets: Movies.
Michael graduated from UC Berkeley School of Law, Boalt Hall in 1967. His book Clearance and Copyright, the third edition of which was just released in September 2008, is used in over 50 film schools and has become the standard industry reference book. Michael also wrote Negotiating for Dummies (now in its second edition and translated into eleven languages), Fearless Negotiating (published in hardback in 2007 by McGraw Hill) and The E-Z Legal Guide to Trademarks & Copyrights.
Michael has worked on such projects as “This Film is Not Yet Rated” (where all 134 clips were utilized under fair use), “Wanderlust” (saving its filmmaker over $400,000) and “Expelled” (which featured the song “Imagine,” prompting an unsuccessful law suit by Yoko Ono). Michael has also worked with the Geffen Playhouse and the REDCAT, as well as representing Center Theatre Group (Ahmanson Theatre, Mark Taper Forum and Kirk Douglas Theatre) for over twenty years.
Aside from lecturing frequently at law and film schools across the United States and in Europe, Michael is an avid skier, world-wide hiker and kayaker, and award-winning photographer. He also won a gold medal at the 1998 Senior Olympics for Parallel Bars and a silver medal on the rings. But what remains most important to Michael is his pro bono and philanthropic work.
Lisa A. Callif, Partner
Lisa Callif is an entertainment attorney whose primary focus is on representing independent filmmakers in all aspects of their moviemaking, including financing, production and distribution. As part of her practice, Lisa does a significant amount of clearance work for documentaries as well as being one of the few attorneys in the entertainment industry to represent live theaters. Lisa has worked on such films as “This Film is Not Yet Rated,” Haskell Wexler’s “Who Needs Sleep,” “I.O.U.S.A.,” “Bigger, Stronger, Faster – The Side Effects of Being American” (all of which have premiered at the Sundance Film Festival), “The Art of the Steal,” and “The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and The Pentagon Papers” (which is on the documentary shortlist for an Academy Award). Lisa is currently working with Oliver Stone, Lawrence Bender, Davis Guggenheim and Lesley Chilcott on their documentary projects.
Prior to working with her now-partner Michael Donaldson, Lisa spent four years at Proskauer Rose in the Litigation Department where she practiced general civil litigation, including entertainment matters, and specialized in SEC enforcement and white collar defense. While at Proskauer, Lisa represented national and international corporations as well as senior executives at both private and public companies.
After graduating summa cum laude from New York University with a BS in Communications, Lisa worked extensively in the music industry in New York and Los Angeles before enrolling in the Southwestern University School of Law. At Southwestern, Lisa received her J.D., made the Dean’s List, participated on the moot court team – where she placed first in both writing and oral advocacy in a national competition – and was a Lead Articles Editor on Southwestern’s Law Review. Additionally while in law school, Lisa wrote an article about online distribution of motion pictures, which was published by Hastings’ Communications and Entertainment Law Journal in 2000.
Lisa is a frequent speaker on panels sponsored by Film Independent, American Pavilion and UCLA (where she also teaches “legal basics” at the UCLA Summer Producer’s Workshop).
Lisa currently resides in Los Angeles with her husband Dustin and their son Dylan.
Dean R. Cheley, Associate
Dean Cheley is an entertainment attorney who offers expertise in all areas of the entertainment industry, including structuring deals and negotiating contracts for individuals and corporations involved in the film and television industry. He works with book authors, screen writers, performers, directors and producers, as well as institutions such as studios, networks, guilds and talent agencies. Prior to joining the firm, Dean litigated numerous types of entertainment disputes, including copyright and trademark infringement, rights of publicity, breach of contract and partnership disputes.
Mr. Cheley received his law degree in 2006 from the University of California, Berkeley (Boalt Hall), where he was awarded the American Jurisprudence Award and was Executive Editor of The Berkeley Technology & Law Journal. While at law school, he interned at the Samuelson Intellectual Property Clinic, where he authored comments on behalf of media archives, filmmakers and libraries in response to a US Copyright Notice of Inquiry concerning orphan works and exemptions to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.
Prior to his career in law, Mr. Cheley worked as a producer and consultant for companies developing new media technologies, e-commerce, and branded entertainment. He brings this experience to bear advising his clients with regard to copyright, trademark, licensing and other IP matters, as well as marketing and other promotional activities related to the entertainment industry. Dean earned his bachelor’s degree from University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) in Digital & New Media Studies, an Interdisciplinary Program sponsored by faculty in the schools of Design, Film and Television and Communication.
Christopher Perez, Associate
Christopher Perez joined Donaldson & Callif in 2009. Christopher specializes in all aspects of the firm’s practice, including representing independent filmmakers through financing, production and distribution. He also performs clearance work for independent filmmakers and assists in the firm’s theatre practice.
As a member of University of Southern California’s Intellectual Property and Technology Law Clinic in 2008-09, Christopher appealed to the U.S. Copyright Office to allow documentary filmmakers secure an exemption from the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) for extracting material from commercial DVDs for use in their documentary films under the doctrine of fair use.
Christopher graduated from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor with a BA in American Studies and a minor in Film and Video Studies, where he produced, directed and wrote several student films. After college, Christopher returned home to Los Angeles to work in marketing and membership development for the American Youth Soccer Organization (AYSO). He studied law at the Gould School of Law at the University of Southern California where he received his J.D. in 2009. Christopher was Academic Chair of the Latino Law Students’ Association and an active member of the Public Interest Law Foundation, where he had the opportunity to participate in several legal assistance projects for the National Lawyers’ Guild, the AME Church, and Homeboy Industries in Boyle Heights. During law school, Christopher worked for California Lawyers for the Arts, Technicolor, and the Cyberlaw Clinic at the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard Law School, where he worked on an array of cutting-edge entertainment, Internet, intellectual property and privacy issues.
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