Ivy Kagan Bierman

Bierman is Hollywood’s go-to guild and union legal specialist. One of a handful of entertainment-focused legal experts, she serves as outside labor counsel to film, television, digital media and advertising companies in connection with the labor issues that are unique to the industry. Matters she handles can include guild and union collective bargaining agreements, strikes and work stoppages and National Labor Relations Board claims.

After graduating from law school and coming to Los Angeles, she was a practicing labor lawyer before segueing into entertainment-related labor work. “I knew I loved the entertainment industry. I wanted to be working in the entertainment industry. And yet I also have this background and interest in labor,” she said.

She now primarily represents talent agencies, advertising agencies, commercial production companies, television production companies, feature film companies and internet companies. Bierman carries a reputation as the lawyer to call to resolve disputes that threaten a production, or pull together the deals necessary to get a crew back to work.

Last year, for example, Bierman represented the producers of “Heaven Sent,” a live show that featured a stunt performer jumping from an airplane — with no parachute.

Bierman negotiated with the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists labor union to enable the performer to be able to do the jump live for a major network. “I was engaged literally within about 48 hours before he needed to jump out of that airplane and SAG-AFTRA had not cleared him,” she said, adding there were other stunt performers who would be jumping wearing parachutes. “They engaged me because I have a reputation of having exceptional relationships with the guilds and unions and being able to resolve high-profile disputes very quickly.”

Budding trends in her area of law include new needs arising from the variety of ways projects are being produced and how that relates to compensation and residuals.

For example, rather than producing a project solely for film, for television or for the internet, Bierman said, companies are now producing content for use in multiple mediums and they often aren’t sure which will come first, although that affects compensation and residuals.

“It’s created very complicated issues in terms of which agreements apply, and what the obligations are,” said Bierman, adding that some in the industry believe it would be better to have a comprehensive agreement that “contemplates all the different uses that may be possible.”

— Michele Chandler