Variety Names Akin Gump Trio to Dealmaker’s Impact Report

December 10, 2013Variety

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(Los Angeles) – P. John Burke, head of the entertainment and media practice at Akin Gump, partner Marissa Román Griffith and counsel Alissa Miller have been named to Variety magazine’s sixth annual 2013 “Dealmakers Impact Report.” As Variety notes, “[i]t takes a lot of give-and-take – and hardball-playing – to make things happen in Hollywood,” and those selected for the Report “are experts in the rules of the game.” Burke and Griffith are included in the “Law” category, while Miller is profiled in the “Up Next” section as one of five rising stars in the industry.

Mr. Burke’s practice focuses on media finance, with a particular emphasis on transactions involving feature films. Variety notes he recently represented RatPac-Dune Entertainment in a $450 million investment in up to 75 Warner Bros. pictures and also represented Dune on three earlier slate financing deals with 20th Century Fox.

Variety also noted that Ms. Griffith, who concentrates on media finance and entertainment transactional matters, negotiated the credit facility for RatPac-Dune. Other recent matters for Ms. Griffith include serving as the lead attorney representing Bank of America and JPMorgan on a credit facility that financed Content Partners’ acquisition of 50 percent of the CSI television franchise from Goldman Sachs and representing Comerica Bank as agent and lender on a credit facility providing up to $150 million of borrowing base financing to a U.S. studio.

Ms. Miller represents financial institutions and other financiers with respect to their film and television lending. In addition to her work on financing for The Hunger Games movies, Variety notes that she advised Bank of America and JPMorgan on chain-of-title and diligence matters in connection with a $200 million credit facility and has worked with Comerica, Union Bank and OneWest Bank on other matters.

Both Mr. Burke and Ms. Griffith were selected to last year’s “Dealmakers Impact Report,” as was entertainment and media counsel Christopher Spicer, who was recognized in the “Up Next” section of the report. In April 2013, Mr. Burke and Ms. Griffith were named to Variety’s “Legal Impact Report,” which highlights the transactional lawyers who represent “the hottest names, the biggest properties, the funniest web series, and the most popular video games, and probably the next big thing.”

Founded in 1945, Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP is a leading international law firm with more than 850 attorneys in offices throughout the United States, Europe, Asia and the Middle East.

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