Christine Lawton
Christine Lawton a lawyer and business advisor with 25+ years’ experience in entertainment and consumer technology, from major motion picture studios to new blockchain and NFT dynamos, Christine develops transactional frameworks that transform consumer entertainment experiences and create global markets.
Key career highlights
- Trusted business advisor to Universal and Fox home entertainment presidents overseeing ~$1B annual revenue; member of senior management teams and business affairs and legal affairs department head.
- Launched streaming and download licensing business for NBCUniversal with Apple, Microsoft, Sony, Google, Amazon, Netflix, Wal-Mart and Sony to add $40M incremental revenue.
- Structured and negotiated a major motion picture studio’s first-ever immersive media development, production, and distribution agreement.
- Developed and executed $100M partnerships and multiple manufacturing, licensing, and distribution deals worth $10M to $50M annually.
- Negotiated and administered ~300 digital platform licensing deals annually, each with term value of ~$5M+ to ~$10M+.
- Optimized acquisition and distribution terms for home entertainment releases of multi-billion-dollar franchises, including Hunger Games, Twilight, and Shrek.
- Led Business Affairs digital platform innovations, including video on demand, subscription video on demand, digital lockers, 4K, augmented reality, mixed reality, and virtual reality.
- Structured and negotiated partner relationships for Fox Innovation Lab.
Boards
Vice Chair, Board of Directors, I Have a Dream Foundation – Los Angeles, 2016 – 2019
- Member, Board of Directors, 2011 – 2019
- Member, Development Committee, 2009 – 2014
Honors and Distinctions
Moderator, xRS Week 2019, How Entertainment Companies are Rethinking Immersion, October 2019
Panelist, Digital Hollywood, The Next Generation of AR/MR-Transforming Digital Interactions; Content, Devices, Platforms, May 2019
Moderator, Digital Hollywood, Women in the Industry: Developing Film, Television & OTT About Women – A Golden Age in Hollywood and Indie Production, May 2018
Faculty Advisor, Women’s In-House Counsel Leadership Institute, 2015 – 2019
Moderator, Women’s In-House Counsel Leadership Institute, Financial Acumen Webinar, March 2017
Coauthor, “Harmonize Your Trade Secret Protection to Protect Your Assets,” ACC Docket, December 2017
Cohost and Moderator, Women’s In-House Counsel Leadership Institute Project 20/35, Disruptive Technologies Workshop, September 2017
Presenting Speaker, USC Gould School of Law, Black Law Students Association Annual Alumni Banquet, 2017
Member
- USC Gould School of Law Intellectual Property Institute Planning Committee, 2016 – Present
- USC Gould School of Law African American Admitted Students Committee, 2016 – 2018
- 2020 Women on Boards Los Angeles Planning Committee, 2016 – 2018
- Association of Corporate Counsel Diversity and IP Committees, 2016 – 2018
Chairperson, USC Gould School of Law Reunion Committee, 2010
Curriculum Advisor and Lecturer, USC Gould School of Law Entertainment Law Program, 2009 – 2013
Hub Co-Leader, Women’s Network @ NBCUniversal Los Angeles, 2010; Co-Chair, West Coast Regional Legal Conference on Women & Diversity, 2009)
Education
University of Southern California Gould School of Law – JD (1990); Merit Scholar Award (full tuition scholarship plus stipend)
University of Delaware – BA, Communications, French (1985); Reporter, UD TV News Program; Member, UD Dance Company; Certificate Studies, University of Paris, La Sorbonne
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