​Bruce David Eisen

​Veteran Entertainment Attorney and Media Executive

Bruce Eisen’s legal practice focuses on the intersection of new and traditional media and the technology powering them. Eisen’s current and recent clients include AMC Networks, Comcast, Shout! Factory, RLJ Entertainment, Brainstorm Media, OTT.X (f/k/a Entertainment Merchants Association), Nagra, Wurl and Xumo as well various independent producers and production companies, among others.

Recent Services

Eisen’s services include structuring, drafting and negotiating technology agreements as well as film development agreements, content acquisition and distribution agreements, film finance agreements, and providing general legal/business affairs services for film, television, new media and other clients. Other recent activities include M&A legal work representing the seller of an entertainment company as well as the seller of a music library, each of which sold for seven figures.

Other recent work includes advising companies regarding the new California Consumer Privacy Act (“CCPA”), drafting privacy policies and terms of use that adhere to the CCPA and working with clients to ensure that their business practices are CCPA compliant.

Eisen was recently engaged by OTT.X to represent the trade association and negotiate its agreement with Premiere Digital Services with respect to the EMA’s Video Repository. Other individuals and companies that Eisen has recently negotiated with on behalf of his clients include Bret Easton Ellis, James Franco, Cross Creek Pictures, Palm Star Media, Grindstone Entertainment, Voltage Pictures, Netflix, Fandango, Tugg, The Orchard, Vudu, Hulu, Redbox, inDemand, Vubiquity, Verizon, Amazon, PlayStation Network, Showtime, Starz, HBO, Vimeo, Brightcove, Comcast, Oracle, ComScore/Rentrak, TiVo, Xumo, OperaTV and Zype.

DISH Network

From 2009 through 2012 Eisen was the Vice President Online Content Development & Strategy for DISH Network where he negotiated agreements with most of the major television networks on behalf of DISH, licensing over 20,000 television shows for distribution and acquiring on-demand rights from the major Hollywood studios including VOD/EST/SVOD rights for distribution of their content across multiple platforms including set-top boxes, DishOnline.com, iPad, iPhone and Android devices. In addition, Eisen negotiated agreements with various partners for DRM and other technology services including Synacor and Adobe.

CinemaNow

​Eisen was one of the principals who started CinemaNow in 1999 and, as the company’s general counsel, negotiated financing for the company in excess of $40 million, negotiated CinemaNow’s agreements with over 200 content licensors including all of the major Hollywood studios as well as agreements with local ISPs, portals and film distributors to bring CinemaNow to the U.K., the Netherlands, Taiwan, Philippines, Latin America, and Singapore. In addition, Eisen was instrumental in creating CinemaNow Japan, Inc., an affiliated entity that raised over $15 million in funding.

Eisen structured the strategy and business aspects of CinemaNow’s technology requirements to enable the efficient, cost-effective distribution of content on a worldwide, video-on-demand basis and, in that regard, licensed all required technology including agreements for content delivery network services, data services, data hosting, geo-targeting, recommendation engines, web analytics, network storage and customer relation management with companies such as Akamai, Limelight, Savvis, Intel, Microsoft, EchoStar, Qwest, RightNow Technologies and WebSideStory.

​Trimark Pictures

Eisen started his career as the head of Legal and Business Affairs for Trimark Pictures where his responsibilities included negotiating the company’s distribution agreements with companies including the Walt Disney Company, Miramax, The Samuel Goldwyn Company, Columbia Pictures, HBO and others.   Eisen also negotiated and drafted Trimark’s development agreements as well as its production legal agreements including those with such talent as Samuel L. Jackson, Renee Zelweger, Peter Jackson and Jim Belushi. In addition, Eisen structured the company’s relationships with the Screen Actors Guild, the Directors Guild of America and the Writers Guild of America and was instrumental in negotiating Trimark’s $25 million line of credit with Bank of America and Trimark’s $75 million line of credit with The Chase Manhattan Bank as well as numerous production financing agreements with various lenders and bond companies.

​Education And Appearances

Eisen received his J.D. from the University of Southern California and his B.A. cum laude with high honors in Philosophy from Clark University.

Eisen is a frequent speaker and has lectured at U.C.L.A. and U.S.C. and has spoken at conferences organized by institutions including Digital Hollywood, iHollywood Forum, Streaming Media, the California State Bar Association, the Beverly Hills Bar Association, NATPE, NAB, USC, UCLA, Piper Jaffray, Cowen and Company, the Independent Film and Television Alliance, the Entertainment Merchants Association, the British Screen Advisory Council, the Bangkok Film Festival, MultiChannel News and Broadcasting & Cable magazine.