Joseph Calabrese
Partner
Joe Calabrese is a partner in O’Melveny’s Century City office, Chair of the Southern California Transaction Practice, and Chair of O’Melveny’s Entertainment, Sports and Media Practice. Joe’s practice is focused primarily on the creation, operation, and financing of entertainment and media companies, including the negotiation of complex distribution and licensing agreements, structured finance transactions, and mergers and acquisitions. His practice also involves the negotiation of broadcast licensing and joint venture agreements for sports entities and other sports-related transactions.
Illustrative Professional Experience
- Represented sports organizations and entities such as the International Olympic Committee, San Francisco Giants, Arizona Diamondbacks, Qwest Communications, and Anschutz Entertainment Group and its affiliates in connection with various sports and entertainment transactions
- Represented major motion picture studios such as DreamWorks Animation, Sony, and MGM in their complex distribution, joint venture, acquisition, and financing transactions
- Represented investment banks and private equity funds such as Soros Fund Management, Dune Capital Management, and Elliott Management in their structured finance/securitization and acquisition transactions
- Represented independent producers such as The Weinstein Company and Legendary Pictures in their production, distribution, and finance transactions
Professional Activities
Admitted to Practice, US District Court, Central District of California
Member, The International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences; International, Entertainment, and Sports Law Sections of the American Bar Association; Pacific Council on International Policy
Speaker, ABA National Institute on Representing High-Technology Companies, San Francisco, California (1998); “Formation/Termination of Employment/Partnerships/Corporations,” USC Entertainment Law Institute (1993)
Honors, Named "Leading Lawyer in Media" by
Euromoney's Guide to the World's Leading Media Lawyers (2012); named one of "Southern California's Best Lawyers" (2012); named a leader by
Chambers in Entertainment and Media Transactional Law (2006 - 2009; 2010 & 2011 - Band One), and Sports Law (2008 - 2011); named a “Power Lawyer” by
The Hollywood Reporter ESQ (2007 - 2011); named in
Best Lawyers in America—Entertainment Law (2006 - 2012); named a
Legal 500 leading lawyer for Media, technology and telecoms: Film, music and TV (2008, 2009); named a leading lawyer by
Legal 500 for Sports Law (2010); named in
PLC Which Lawyer? Global 50 Firms; named a “Leading Lawyer in Media” by
Guide to the World’s Technology, Media & Telecommunications Lawyers (2008); named a “Super Lawyer” in a survey conducted by Law & Politics Media Inc. and published in
Los Angeles magazine (2005 - 2011); named a
Variety Dealmaker (2009); named Century City Bar Association 2009 Entertainment Lawyer of the Year; Chair of Entertainment, Sports and Media Practice,
Chambers USA Award for Excellence in Media awarded (2008, 2009, 2011); named “Top 10 Lawyer in Media” by
Guide to the World’s Leading Technology Media & Telecommunications Lawyers (2008); named a “Top 100 Lawyer” by
Daily Journal (2008)
Past Chair, Constitutional Rights Foundation
Arbitrator, Independent Film & Television Alliance
Editor, “Financial Aids and Subsidies Available for the Development, Production, and Distribution of Motion Pictures in Europe”