ABOUT COURTNEY SABATINI

Courtney Sabatini started her legal career in the film and television department of a boutique entertainment firm in Los Angeles.  There, she worked with a variety of talent, from helping the firm's partners review agreements for Academy Award and Emmy Award-winning writers and directors, to negotiating offers for actors just starting out in the business.  Courtney also advised clients on legal issues, from dealing with the entertainment guilds to filing court documents for restraining orders.

In addition to representing talent, Courtney also provided day-to-day production legal services for production companies on primarily unscripted television projects (e.g., "The Sixties" for CNN, "The Profit" for CNBC, and "Face Off" for SyFy).  Her final project at the firm was as the production legal point person for the scripted show "Resident Advisors" for Hulu, which was being produced by a client of the firm in combination with Paramount Television (the newly-developed television division of Paramount Pictures).  After coordinating daily with Paramount Television on the project, Courtney was offered a Legal Affairs position at the studio and accepted the opportunity to round out her knowledge of the television industry.

At Paramount Television, Courtney was able to shape the policies and procedures of the newly-formed television department, with the backing of a major film studio.  She was fortunate enough to work on talent deals for projects in development, many of which have gone on to be successful productions (e.g., "13 Reasons Why" for Netflix, "Defending Jacob" for Apple TV+, "The Alienist" for TNT, "Grease: Live" for Fox, and "Made for Love" for HBO Max), while also negotiating the licensing agreements for many of these projects directly with the applicable networks.  Her background as a talent attorney helped her to come up with creative compromises to issues that arose during negotiations, and she appreciates that she had the opportunity as a young lawyer to learn about and understand both the talent and studio mindsets that typically lead to such disputes.

In 2016, Courtney and her husband welcomed their daughter and decided to move to Tennessee.  Courtney was fortunate to be able to continue her career by consulting for Los Angeles-based entertainment companies from afar; first as a continuation of her tenure at Paramount Television, and then with Legendary Television, followed by Anonymous Content.  As a consultant, Courtney has helped authors navigate the entertainment industry when their works are optioned for production, and she has also provided legal services on projects such as "Carnival Row" for Amazon Prime, "Lost In Space" for Netflix, "Eyes on the Prize: Hallowed Ground" for HBO Max, and "Swan Song" for Apple TV+.

In 2021, Courtney decided to take (and passed) the Tennessee Bar Exam so that she could open her own practice and bring her film and television experience to Music City.