The Hollywood Reporter's big Next Generation issue is out today, and the 16th annual list of Hollywood's top 35 executives 35 and under features a trio of attorneys: MRC's Jonathan Golfman and talent lawyers Tara Kole and Julian Zajfen. Their profiles are below, and the full list is here. Congrats!
Jonathan Golfman, 33
senior director business/legal affairs, Media Rights Capital
Golfman was perfectly happy with his legal practice, having moved from
New York to Los Angeles to handle film finance deals at the Sheppard
Mullin firm. But when he got a call two years ago about joining an
upstart production/financing outfit, he leaped at the opportunity.
"Diversity of work was the allure of MRC," the recently married
Montreal native says. "Financing through to delivery, I get to see it
all." He's since helped secure the company's $350 million credit
facility from JPMorgan, Comerica and a syndicate of banks, and he now
handles everything from talent deals on MRC projects like "Bruno" and
the upcoming "The Adjustment Bureau" to complex distribution agreements
to the company's day-to-day corporate issues - a breadth of
responsibilities not available in a traditional studio business affairs
department. "I see the nuts and bolts of a company, how the divisions
work together, from the smallest detail to real big-picture stuff," he
says.
Tara Kole, 32
partner, Gang Tyre Ramer & Brown
It's rare enough to see a former U.S. Supreme Court clerk hobnobbing
with actors and directors. But before embarking on a legal career in
Hollywood, Kole spent a year with Justice Antonin Scalia, the court's
cantankerous conservative. What does Scalia think of her career path?
"I didn't tell him for a good year or two because I didn't know how to
break the news," says the savvy Amherst and Harvard Law grad, who
worked in acquisitions and new media at Lionsgate before law school and
was named a partner at Gang Tyre only three years into practice. She
now plays a leading role in deals for actors like Gwyneth Paltrow and
"iCarly" star Miranda Cosgrove, "Hung" co-showrunner Colette Burson,
and directors Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu and Jon Avnet (as well as
longtime firm clients Clint Eastwood and Steven Spielberg). At a recent
reunion of Scalia clerks, the jurist insisted on knowing what Kole was
up to. "I finally told him and he said, 'So, who do you represent?' I
thought about it and said, 'Clint Eastwood,' and he said, 'Oh. That's
good.' "
Julian Zajfen, 34
Associate, Ziffren Brittenham
Zajfen first learned to swing on Hollywood's legal vines while handling
production work on Richard Linklater's "A Scanner Darkly." "I was
dealing with a lawyer from every one of the major talent firms," the
laid-back Stanford Law grad recalls. "I remember thinking that if I
screwed this one up, I would have blown my shot at every firm I wanted
to work for." Zafjen and the deal survived, allowing him to move to
Jackoway Tyerman, before shifting to Ziffren Brittenham where he's been
for the past two-and-a-half years. The Ziffren platform has allowed him
to work on deals for A-listers including Judd Apatow, Eddie Murphy,
Joss Whedon and production outfit Scott Free, while also developing his
own client list: Disney Channel sensation Demi Lovato, "Invention of
Lying" co-writer/director Matthew Robinson and "Bucket List" writer
Justin Zackham are all clients, as is Maria Sharapova. Zajfen, who
played tennis at UC Berkeley, keeps to his own courts though. "I've
played against Serena Williams but never Maria. She'd probably beat me
pretty badly."
