The View From Up North: Biglaw Escapee Now Spends His Days Making TV And Films

Columnist Steve Dykstra would like to introduce you to someone who escaped Biglaw to something cool.

‘Tis the season. A time for joy and family, and year-end transactions that suck the joy and family-time out of you.

As you sit at your chair, staring at one e-holiday card after another and putting “New job that doesn’t drain the soul out of me” on your letter to Santa, let me introduce you to someone who escaped Biglaw to something cool. His name is Jamie Brown. He’s a former lawyer with McMillan Binch in Toronto who’s now the CEO of Frantic Films, a leading independent entertainment company that makes scripted and unscripted television programs, along with the odd feature film.

Many years ago, Jamie roamed the halls of McBinch with the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come and did not like what he saw. But, he found his path out of Biglaw starting at the intersection where serendipity meets hard work and the willingness to take a risk. He got an opportunity to join Sullivan Entertainment in 1996 as director of business and legal affairs. Aside from taking care of the legal stuff, Sullivan provided him with the chance to dip his toe into the creative side of the entertainment world.

From there, well, we’ll let Jamie tell you his path. Here is my conversation with Frantic Films CEO Jamie Brown:

Steve Dykstra: Were you always interested in entertainment?

Jamie Brown: No. Like a lot of people, I had a vague idea of what a lawyer did going to law school. I love law—law school was fantastic. But as I went out and looked at the practice, I thought, “Oh, God.” I remember at McMillan Binch walking down the hall at like 2 a.m. We were on a huge deal—I had gotten up to get some coffee—and all the offices were full of people. I thought to myself, this is my future. This is where I’m going to be in seven years. I’m going to be here at 2 a.m. working on another file. I thought, wow, I don’t love what I’m doing enough to do it this much. But I was looking for something interesting and I thought maybe the entertainment finance stuff [that I did a bit of] would be more interesting.

SD: How did you make the transition from law to the production side?

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JB: Credo Entertainment was trying to recruit someone who had executive producer, entertainment, business and legal skills who would come to Winnipeg and lead productions. For all the projects Credo had, they could find creative people. They needed someone who could handle the business side of it. They said, yes, sure, Jamie, you can go to set, you can develop shows, but really what they wanted me to do was help run the business side of all their shows. But, they let me in the door of also being able to develop ideas and to look at acquiring scripts.

SD: How do you spend your day?

JB: It’s heavily focused on development and production. The R&D side is really trying to find outstanding ideas for television programs. The bar is so high and getting higher. Is it fresh? What are the stakes? Is it unique? Which channel would buy this thing? I put a lot of energy into originating, developing, finding talent and pitching. We’re doing a lot more pitching into the United States.

On the scripted side, there are so few being ordered, we’re looking for things to be packaged or are packaged out of the gate. For the most part we really have to find something more [than just a good idea]—underlying literary property, big writer, big showrunner or an actor if they’re big enough. We’re always looking to differentiate between the good idea and the good idea-plus.

I also make those particularly crucial decisions that my staff aren’t comfortable making. You know, an actor is going to quit. The director is not going to apologize—he says the actor should be fired. Everybody’s like, “holy sh*t, this is a disaster. What are we going to do? Phone Jamie.” I’ll tell you, I think back to my days as a business affairs person and I didn’t appreciate how nice it was to go to the CEO and say, we have a problem, here’s the situation, what do you want to do? And if the CEO says “fire him”, you say, all right, we’re going to have to recast, it’s going to cost a bunch of money, but it wasn’t my ultimate responsibility. Now I’m the guy and I’ve got make those decisions.

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SD: What’s the most interesting part of your job?

JB: The most interesting part is reading new ideas for television shows. Most of the time it’s not amazing. But enough of the time it is amazing. It’s not always the most rewarding, but it is the most interesting. It’s not just the pitch itself. It’s the subject matter that’s in it.

SD: How did practicing as a lawyer help you run a film company?

JB: So many ways. I mean, the brass tacks of simply being able to add value to the business because I could do all the stuff an in-house lawyer could do. Incorporating single-purpose production companies, negotiating deals, licensing agreements—the stuff you learn in law school is all applicable. Then there is all the stuff we’re trained to do, which is the “what if’s”. And deal with that. When you realize you’re thinking through things as a lawyer, dealing with nightmare scenarios and trying to head them off. Those precautions can be lifesavers.

SD: Where would you like to take Frantic Films? Where do you see it in 10 years?

JB: I’d love to keep making the good shows we’re making. I think we’ve had some great shows. I’m always looking for the one that is going to break out internationally, like Myth Busters or Breaking Bad. If you make Myth Busters or Breaking Bad everybody goes, “Oh my God!” That’s what I would like. I would love to have one of our shows elevate to the zeitgeist so that everybody knows what it is.

SD: What would you say to lawyers who would love to break away from private practice, but feel chained to their desks as lawyers?

JB: What would I say would be to try and find a way to take an intermediate step from where you are and where you want to go if you really don’t know about the business you want to get into. Most businesses are competitive and tough. You’re going to be up against people who are very good at what they do. You probably bring a lot to the table—you’re smart, you’re hard working—but if you can work in the industry you want to work in as a lawyer, you get to something where, you’re still maybe practicing law, but you are one step deeper into the business and really understanding the “business issues”. It worked really well for me.

SD: Thanks Jamie.

That’s the View From Up North. Have a great week.


Steve Dykstra is a Canadian-trained lawyer and legal recruiter. He is the President of Steven Dykstra Law Professional Corporation, a boutique corporate/commercial law firm located in the greater Toronto area. You can contact Steve at steve@stevendykstralaw.ca. You can also read his blog at stevendykstra.wordpress.com, follow him on Twitter (@Law_Think), or connect on LinkedIn (ca.linkedin.com/in/stevedykstra/).