Showbiz mediation service launches

By Matthew Belloni

There's a new player in town for resolving Hollywood disputes. Launching March 8, the Entertainment Mediation Institute is billing itself as "the first-ever organization dedicated exclusively to resolving disputes among parties in the entertainment industry."

Co-founded by veteran showbiz lawyer James Mulholland and former State Senator Charles Calderon (who once chaired the senate's select committee on entertainment), the goal here seems to be to compete directly with mediation companies like JAMS and ADR Services by offering a roster of former showbiz execs as insider neutrals. Here are the mediators on board so far:

Ron Mardigian, former William Morris exec and head of West Coast motion picture lit

David Braun, a music and entertainment attorney

Irwin Russell, attorney and former Disney board member

Claire L. Rothman, former president of the Forum and executive vp of Ticketmaster

Ralph Kamon, a former lawyer for Paramount and United Artists

David Wardlow, former agent at ICM subsidiary Chasin-Park-Citron, currently president of Wardlow & Associates

Gregory Bernstein, former Columbia Pictures, TriStar and WGA exec

Fred Kuperberg, former Disney/ABC Cable Networks Group general counsel

Steve Peace, former state senator, film/TV producer and San Diego Padres board member

Priscilla Wardlow, EMI’s executive director and principal consultant to PricewaterhouseCoopers; holds a Harvard MBA and is a former vp of Honeywell, Inc.