Andrew Hurwitz > Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz PC > Los Angeles, United States > Lawyer Profile

Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz PC
2029 CENTURY PARK EAST
Suite 2500N
LOS ANGELES, CA 90067
CALIFORNIA
United States
Andrew Hurwitz photo

Work Department

Entertainment

Position

Partner/Co-Chair

Career

Andrew Hurwitz is a partner and Co-Chair of the Entertainment Group at Frankfurt Kurnit and a founding partner of the firm’s Los Angeles office. He represents award-winning entertainment talent and owners of intellectual property and is widely considered one of the nation’s top film and television industry lawyers.

Mr. Hurwitz provides a full range of transactional and advisory services to clients in the motion picture, television, and digital rights businesses. He has negotiated and structured virtually every type of development, production, financing, and distribution agreement. He also advises on corporate matters — including acquisitions and joint ventures and on employment matters for senior media executives. His clients include writers, directors, actors, producers, financiers, as well as media companies and their executives. As many of his clients reside in the United Kingdom, Europe, and the Middle East, he has extensive experience advising clients in connection with cross-border entertainment, intellectual property and labor issues.

He works closely with attorneys in the firm with litigation and intellectual property expertise in securing, enforcing and exploiting valuable rights owned by best-selling authors, literary estates and toy companies in a rapidly changing media environment. His strategic counsel is frequently sought to resolve disputes and untangle complex business problems.

Mr. Hurwitz consistently ranks among the nation’s best entertainment lawyers, regularly listed in industry and legal publications like The Hollywood Reporter’s “Power Lawyers” issue, Variety’s “Dealmakers Impact Report” and “Hollywood Law Impact List,” Best Lawyers in America, Chambers USA and The Legal 500.

Mr. Hurwitz has taught the entertainment law seminar at New York Law School as well as motion picture business classes at Yale University and the Czech film school FAMU in Prague. He is a frequent panelist at industry and continuing legal education events and has written articles for The Hollywood Reporter and other publications.

Mr. Hurwitz is a graduate of Tulane University (B.A., cum laude) and Georgetown University Law Center (J.D., cum laude), where he was an editor of the Law and Policy in International Business law journal and recipient of the George Brent Mickum III Prize for excellence in legal writing. He is admitted to practice in New York and California. He is the former Chairman of the Board of Directors of Services for the UnderServed, a not-for-profit company serving New York City’s Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans, and persons with mental and developmental disabilities. Since moving to Los Angeles, he now sits on the advisory board. He lives in Santa Monica with his wife Ariella and son Jak.

Memberships

He is the former Chairman of the Board of Directors of Services for the UnderServed, a not-for-profit company serving New York City’s Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans, and persons with mental and developmental disabilities. Since moving to Los Angeles, he now sits on the advisory board.

Education

Georgetown Law Center (JD, cum laude)
Tulane University (BA, cum laude)

Lawyer Rankings

United States > Media, technology and telecoms > Media and entertainment: transactional

Leveraging its global presence, the media and entertainment group at Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz PC serves a wide client roster that encompasses banks, celebrity estates, authors, musicians, fashion models, and various professionals in the film, television, theatre, and comedy industries. Notably, as the digital landscape evolves, the team draws on integrated firmwide expertise in privacy and data security matters to advise on transactions related to blockchain technology and Web3 projects for video game and eSports publishers. Co-heading the practice from New York are Andrew Hurwitz, who maintains close relationships with clients in the film and television space, and Michael Williams, who is noted for his experience handling transactions in the fashion industry. Joining them in New York are Richard B. Heller, who focuses on new media and IP, Lisa Davis, whose practice centers on film, publishing, and live stage entertainment, and experienced M&A specialist Marcie Cleary. Also based in New York are Ben Moskowitz, who advises on transactional matters in connection with the production of documentary films and television programs, and Julie Murray, a specialist in television, documentary, digital, comedy, and branded content. A significant addition to the Los Angeles team in July 2023 was Melanie Tomanov, who joined the firm from Katten.