Jeffrey Schneider
Jeff Schneider is a veteran entertainment lawyer and studio executive who helps producers and creative leaders turn ideas into finished work—combining pragmatic deal-making, production legal, and risk management honed at Disney, Paramount, National Geographic, NBCUniversal, and A+E/Lifetime.
Client roster includes:
Independent producers & production companies (U.S. and U.K.)
Creative executives, showrunners & production leadership
Documentary & unscripted storytellers
Writers, directors, and on‑camera talent
International producers entering the U.S. market
Jeff’s work focuses on:
Development & Production: End‑to‑end guidance for scripted, unscripted, and documentary projects—from rights acquisition and development through production, delivery, and distribution.
Producer & Talent Deals: Pragmatic, business‑minded negotiations with networks/streamers, producers, on‑air talent, writers, and directors.
Rights & IP Strategy: Book/life‑rights options, underlying IP chains of title, and co‑production frameworks that protect creative vision and future exploitation.
Production Legal, Clearance & E&O: Clearance workflows and fair‑use/E&O strategies for non‑fiction and scripted projects, including sensitive subjects and complex archives.
Risk, Safety & Crisis Planning: Field protocols and reputation/risk management for challenging environments and high‑profile storytelling.
U.S. Market Entry for International Producers: Guidance for non‑U.S. companies—especially U.K. producers—navigating U.S. talent, agency, and buyer practices.An
A Concierge for Creatives:
Jeff’s practice is built on clear, concise guidance that removes friction and keeps productions moving. As a former studio executive and chief legal officer, he solves problems quickly, protects the creative, and provides one‑stop, full‑service counsel to get projects made.
A Commitment to Leadership & Learning:
After 17 years teaching as an adjunct at four schools, Jeff made a deliberate pivot to full‑time academia to build for USC Gould School of Law a cohesive, industry‑facing program that connects the classroom to where deals and productions happen. As Executive Director of the USC Gould Center for Sports, Entertainment, Media & Technology Law, he is standing up an interdisciplinary hub that bridges law, business, media and technology, and equips graduates to hit the ground running.
Center focus areas: interdisciplinary curriculum, experiential learning, alumni/industry engagement, and thought leadership on emerging legal issues.
Law‑school–sponsored opportunities: advising panels and placements that bring students into live matters rather than leaving them to find their own.
Convening & voice: moderates and hosts panels, symposia and industry conversations; builds networks across Los Angeles and beyond.
Faculty/Adjunct (current & prior): USC Gould, Georgetown Law, Carnegie Mellon (Heinz College), Pepperdine Law.
Affiliations:
Academy of Television Arts & Sciences
Bar Admissions:
California
Education:
USC Gould School of Law, J.D.; Law Review
UCLA, B.A., Communication Studies, cum laude
Judicial Clerkship — Hon. Edward C. Reed Jr., Chief Judge, U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada
“On a high-risk doc, weather and access changed by the hour. My job was to redesign the risk profile overnight—align the field team, insurer, and network—so we protected people and still kept the cameras rolling.”
“A good lawyer should be a concierge to the production—answer the question, fix the problem, keep the show moving.”
“Great production legal doesn’t take the air out of a story; it finds the safest path to yes and protects the film you set out to make.”
representative matters
Guided independent producers end‑to‑end on multiple cable features: acquired book/life rights, negotiated writer hires and producer agreements, shopped to buyers, and provided production legal through delivery.
At National Geographic Content, led business affairs and operations on high‑risk factual projects—structuring risk/liability protocols (including for the Academy Award®‑winning Free Solo) and coordinating reputation and crisis planning for extreme‑environment productions.
Advised U.K. documentary/unscripted production companies on U.S. talent, agency, and deal practices; served as their point‑of‑contact in Hollywood to reduce friction with networks and streamers.
Oversaw business affairs across a diverse portfolio of television and digital assets (including Bravo, Oxygen, Style, Sprout, Telemundo, and Fandango) while at NBCUniversal; negotiated development and production deals across unscripted and scripted slates.
Managed business and legal affairs for Lifetime Television Networks (A+E Networks) programming and marketing initiatives, including scripted content across Lifetime, A&E, and The History Channel.