Silvia Vannini

As the entertainment industry expands to new geographies overseas, Vannini remains a go-to lawyer for O’Melveny’s clients like Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. and Lions Gate Entertainment Corp.

“My recent deals have an international focus,” she said. Vannini led the O’Melveny team that represented Starz Play in establishing a strategic alliance with E-Vision, a wholly owned subsidiary of United Arab Emirates-based multinational telecommunications company Etisalat.

The deal closed in February. Vannini previously represented Starz Entertainment LLC in the international joint venture that created the over-the-top entertainment platform launched as Starz Play in the Middle East and North Africa.

“The complex structure and the number of international parties made it a first of its kind deal for Starz,” she said.

Vannini herself has an international background. A native of Italy who went to law school in Michigan, she worked as a corporate associate in the Los Angeles and Hong Kong offices of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom and Affiliates LLP. In addition to Italian and English, she speaks fluent French and is conversant in German and Spanish. She has a Ph.D. from the University of Bologna.

“Seven years ago I transitioned from corporate M&A to entertainment,” she said. “It has been very interesting as the industry transforms.”

She represented Imagine Entertainment, the film and television company founded in 1986 by director Ron Howard and producer Brian Grazer, in the formation of a TV co-financing venture with TVB Venture Investment LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Hong Kong-based Television Broadcast Limited.

Under the deal’s terms, TVB has invested $100 million in the venture to be used in part for financing of television projects. Howard and Grazer’s company has won 10 Academy Awards and 40 Emmys; its current hits include “Empire” for Fox Television and “Genius” for the National Geographic Channel.

TVB has been in the television business for 50 years. Its programs are accessible to more than 300 million households in Asia, Australia, North and South America and Europe. The deal closed in July.

“I like strategic alliances,” Vannini said. “It is particularly rewarding as you get to grow with your client. I just like to structure deals and get transactions done as quickly and efficiently as possible.”

As for her personal entertainment preferences, she said, “I have to admit I re-watched the entire ‘Game of Thrones’ series over about a month recently. And no, the entertainment industry is not really like that. I think it has an undeserved reputation. For every bad apple, there are four or five good ones.”

— John Roemer