"I love the whole atmosphere of the law. Not so much the adversarial aspects of it as much as the intellectual aspects of it. It's fascinating to study law and it was a whole new world."

    About This Interview

    In his four-hour interview, Dixon Dern talks about his early career working as an in-house attorney for the animation production company United Productions of America, and talks about how his work was affected by the Hollywood Blacklist. He discusses working in the legal department as an associate counsel at CBS, and recalls his involvement with series Perry Mason and See It Now (including an incident when his life was threatened). He describes in detail his years as the head of the legal department at Desilu, working closely with studio head Desi Arnaz. He describes many of the legal issues that arose with the detective series The Untouchables, including a lawsuit filed by the family of Al Capone. Next, he talks about working at United Artists Television and describes the development of the sitcom Gilligan's Island. He discusses his later work in private practice, representing clients such as the Creative Artists Agency (since its inception) and the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (including during its split with the National Academy in the mid-1970s). 

    In his one-and-a-half-hour follow-up interview, Dern discusses his continued work with the Television Academy, as well as his opinions on the challenges facing content creators and distributors in the age of new media. Michael Rosen conducted the first interview on October 10, 2003 in Los Angeles, CA. Karen Herman conducted the second interview on May 7, 2009 in Los Angeles, CA.

    All views expressed by interviewees are theirs alone and not necessarily those of the Television Academy.
    People Talking About ...
    Thumbnail of Dixon Dern

    On what intellectual property means

    01:37
    Thumbnail of Dixon Dern

    Dixon Dern on the lawsuit over the Emmy Awards settling by the creation of two separate academies: NATAS in New York and ATAS in Hollywood; the "divorce" of the Emmys into primetime and daytime awards how the Emmy award itself was divvied up in the negotiation between NATAS and ATAS; unusual for a trademark

    46:22
    Thumbnail of Dixon Dern

    Dixon Dern on working for the UPA studio during the McCarthyism era and the Hollywood Blacklist; he was asked to submit the names on the list; he calls it "A conspiracy of censorship". Lucille Ball was accused of being a communist.

    04:51
    Thumbnail of Dixon Dern

    Dixon Dern on the legacy of Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball

    02:07
    Thumbnail of Dixon Dern

    Dixon Dern on Desi Arnaz; as a shrewd negotiator, his personal problems, and how he was the one who really ran Desilu

    04:56
    Play Full Interview

    Chapter 1

    On his childhood in Colorado, his parents, early education, and hobbies

    58:43

    On early film "shorts" he enjoyed as a child, enjoying radio in the days before television

    54:57

    On his love of school, an early interest in political science

    52:51

    On his father's coffee business; early influences from his teachers

    51:30

    On the social changes surrounding the "Iron Curtain" and early McCarthyism

    48:44

    On going to college at Stamford University; majoring in philosophy; his activity in the Democratic Party

    47:08

    On why he decided to pursue law school

    42:50

    On starting a family; meeting his first wife (later married to animator Chuck Jones)

    38:29

    On passing the bar; focusing on entertainment law

    36:27

    On what intellectual property means

    01:37

    Chapter 2

    On moving to Los Angeles; his first job as the in-house attorney at UPA; an animation studio to work on an animated series The Gerald McBoing Boing Show

    59:37

    On one segment of Gerald McBoing! Boing! was an animated vignette (drawn by Jules Engel) based on a Raoul Dufy painting. The company was refused the rights to reproduce the work by Dufy's widow, so the cartoon was tagged to never be shown in her home country of France.

    56:40

    On Richard "Dick" Hungate, another lawyer who later worked for RKO; Dern credits with teaching him entertainment law and the art of drafting legal documents. 

    53:55

    On the key to drafting a contract in the entertainment industry

    50:53

    On his tenure at UPA; learning about entertainment labor law

    49:15

    On the UPA animated feature short Mr. Magoo; 

    46:32

    On working for the UPA studio during the McCarthyism era and the Hollywood Blacklist; he was asked to submit the names on the list; how this affected actors in television at the time

    46:05

    On forming the Academy of Animation Arts

    41:00

    On his memories of his first television set

    38:53

    On moving to CBS from UPA; he handled network programming and employment contracts; the Mayflower Decision which ruled on whether stations could editorialize

    37:13

    On the Payola investigation, which involved taking money for product endorsement; it came about after the Quiz show scandals

    34:08

    On the legal structure at CBS 

    01:17

    Chapter 3

    On the structure at CBS; on show he worked on there, enjoying leaving the legal department in order to work more directly with shows such as Perry Mason and Rawhide

    59:35

    On working more directly with TV shows and licensing music while at CBS

    55:23

    On an incident that occured on the set of See It Now ; when a thief stole their equipment

    52:49

    On leaving CBS to work at Desilu as the head of the legal department in 1962; 

    44:51

    On the structure of Desilu studios; putting a deal together on The Untouchables

    42:00

    On Desi Arnaz; professionally and personally

    04:56

    Chapter 4

    On Desi Arnaz; his reputation in the industry, his involvement with The Untouchables  

    59:33

    On lawsuits involving Desilu studios including over the Al Capone story

    55:33

    On Desilu Sales; which was set up to syndicate their own products

    52:14

    On leaving Desilu to run Business and Legal Affairs at United Artists Television

    46:42

    On how Gilligan's Island came about; saying it would never sell; difficulties with the series

    40:34

    On Leaving UA to start his own business

    02:30

    Chapter 5

    On continuing to represent Desi Arnaz and his familly, even after leaving Desilu

    58:56

    On Mothers-In-Law , directed by Desi Arnaz, and other projects such as the Mike Douglas Show, Desi's retirement

    56:48

    On Desi Arnaz's retirement and his continued work for Lucy Arnaz; the intellectual property rights of I Love Lucy and Lucille Ball

    52:16

    On the legacy of Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball; the continued merchandising of I Love Lucy .

    48:44

    On his first law practive in 1967 which became Dern, Mason, & Floum

    46:11

    On representing Betty White and her show Pet Set .

    44:42

    On packaging game shows with advertisers; Liar's Club, Celebrity Sweepstakes; working with Allen Ludden and helping to package game shows

    43:46

    On building a client list for his private practice

    40:46

    On arbitration for issues with reruns of The Dean Martin Show and the Red Skelton Show ; foreign claims in general

    37:33

    On representing the Jackson Five and eventually recommending each of the Jacksons get separate counsel

    01:48

    Chapter 6

    On representing the Jackson Five, as well as Michael Jackson; generally on the television show and Joe Jackson's involvement

    59:31

    On representing the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew intellectual property rights in a dispute between United Artists and Warner Bros.

    56:14

    On representing Arnold Shapiro in Scared Straight! a documentary

    50:21

    On the creation of the Creative Artists Agency (CAA), which was born out of the departure of Michael Ovitz, Ron Meyers, Mike Rosenfeld, Rollin Perkins, and Bill Haber from the William Morris Agency

    10:55

    On the origin of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences and its initial chapters: Hollywood, Chicago, San Francisco, Atlanta and New York; the Emmy Awards

    05:10

    Chapter 7

    On the growing rift between the chapters of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences; the lawsuit that was initiated to claim the rights to the Emmy awards

    59:39

    On the basis for the lawsuit from the Hollywood chapter and the National Academy over the Emmy voting process, initiated in 1975; attempts at settlement

    53:20

    On the negotiation between Marvin Burns and Dern in attempt to solve the lawsuit by the creation of two separate academys: NATAS in New York and ATAS in Hollywood; the "divorce" of the Emmys into primetime and daytime awards

    46:22

    On how the Emmy award itself was divvied up in the negotiation between NATAS and ATAS; unusual for a trademark

    42:45

    On the membership of the Television Academys; the broadcast rights to the Emmy awards

    40:57

    Chapter 8

    On the "Network Wheel" method of scheduling the Emmy telecast; the competitive bidding over the rights to the telecast

    59:32

    On the effect of strikes on the Emmy telecast; the 2002 renegotiation process for the Emmy telecast license fee

    55:12

    On the status of the ongoing litigation between NATAS and ATAS (at the time of this interview in 2003)

    52:18

    On the mission statement of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences; the education initiative of the Academy

    51:08

    On representing Judge Joseph Wapner in the 1980s; on how the People's Court show was initiated 

    49:04

    On working with Phil Roman Productions; other animation clients such as Chuck Jones

    46:34

    On representing Bob Hope

    41:39

    On his love of the legal profession

    39:03

    On being called "the godfather of entertainment law"

    34:17

    On his greatest professional and personal achievments

    02:01

    Chapter 9

    On what has transpired since his last interview (in 2003) and now: at the time he had been in the middle of litigation between NATAS and ATAS

    59:59

    On the division between the National Academy and the Hollywood Academy of Television Arts and Sciences: the various points related to that litigation: on John Cannon's involvement and his replacement, Peter Price at NATAS; a new dispute arose over a Spanish-language Emmys

    59:20

    On the beginning of a new arbitration over a Spanish-language Emmys; Dick Askin and Dwight Swanson as the heads of the respective Academys who held a series of talks

    54:14

    On talks to possibly re-merge the two Television Academys which never was agreed upon

    52:05

    On the continuing arbitration process between ATAS and NATAS; coming close to a settlement; bringing IATAS to the West Coast (ATAS); the attempt to bring the L.A Chapter to NATAS which was voted down

    05:31

    On the International Academy of Television of Arts and Sciences

    43:06

    On the advent of the interactive committee at the Academy; the next round of arbitration to enjoin NATAS from giving out any broadband awards pertaining to the primetime Emmys

    07:19

    On NATAS bringing up doing a Spanish/ Latin Emmys for a second time

    33:32

    On NATAS' appeal

    02:55

    On attempts to settle the arbitration case; the agreement to drop the appeals

    07:29

    Chapter 10

    On the history of syndication; his representation of both buyers and sellers; setting up Desilu sales

    59:59

    On changes within the Television Academy; the advent of broadband

    51:40

    On the problem of the "window" between entertainment mediums (ipod versus video sales); on piracy; on the video-on-demand paradigm

    50:10

    On working with guilds and unions; on setting up the clip licensing procedure for the Emmys at the Academy

    46:00

    On copyright issues; the broadening of "fair use" in the digital domain; on Lawrence Lessig (Creative Commons/ Electronic Frontier); on the Harry Potter case; the Digital Millenium Copyright Act

    41:15

    On protecting the actual Emmy statuette from illegal sales on ebay

    34:40

    On advice to someone starting in the legal profession today; the importance of mentors; on continuing to enjoy work 

    01:51

    $64,000 Question

    Dixon Dern on the Payola investigation encircling the $64,000 Question, which involved taking money for product endorsement

    34:08

    Gerald McBoing Boing

    Dixon Dern on one segment, an animated vignette (drawn by Jules Engel) based on a Raoul Dufy painting. The company was refused the intellectual property rights to reproduce the work by Dufy's widow, so the cartoon was tagged to never be shown in her home country of France.

    02:51

    I Love Lucy

    Dixon Dern on the legacy of Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball

    02:07

    Jackson 5ive

    Dixon Dern on representing the Jackson Five as legal counsel, and Joe Jackson's vision for Michael Jackson

    02:19

    Mister Magoo

    Dixon Dern on Mr. Magoo- the animated character first appears in a series of theatrical shorts from 1949-1959 out of UPA. 

    46:30

    Mothers-In-Law, The

    Dixon Dern on Mothers-in-Law , starring Kaye Ballard and Eve Arden, produced and directed by Desi Arnaz

    02:41

    Perry Mason (1957-66)

    Dixon Dern on his involvement with Perry Mason , and music composers

    03:15

    Scared Straight!

    Dixon Dern on representing Arnold Shapiro in Scared Straight! franchise, in which young boys meet hardened criminals who gave them an insight to life behind bars

    50:21

    See It Now

    Dixon Dern on an incident that occured on the set of See It Now ; when someone stole $75,000 worth of equipment and his own life was threatened

    06:47

    Emmy Awards

    Dixon Dern on the lawsuit over the Emmy Awards settling by the creation of two separate academies: NATAS in New York and ATAS in Hollywood; the "divorce" of the Emmys into primetime and daytime awards how the Emmy award itself was divvied up in the negotiation between NATAS and ATAS; unusual for a trademark

    46:22

    Hollywood Blacklist

    Dixon Dern on working for the UPA studio during the McCarthyism era and the Hollywood Blacklist; he was asked to submit the names on the list; he calls it "A conspiracy of censorship". Lucille Ball was accused of being a communist.

    04:51

    Quiz Show Scandals

    Dixon Dern on the Payola investigation, which involved taking money for product endorsement; it came about after the Quiz show scandals

    34:19

    Attorney

    Dixon Dern on the key to drafting a legal agreement; learning labor law at UPA

    03:39

    Dixon Dern on the scope of his duties as legal counsel for CBS

    05:26

    Dixon Dern on an incident that occured on the set of See It Now ; when someone stole $75,000 worth of equipment and his own life was threatened

    06:47

    Dixon Dern on packaging game shows 

    43:46

    Dixon Dern on intellectual property rights involving characters such as the Hardy Boys; the difficulty in determining rights ownership between authors and studios

    04:49

    Dixon Dern on the creation of the Creative Artists Agency (CAA), which was born out of the departure of Michael Ovitz, Ron Meyers, Mike Rosenfeld, Rollin Perkins, and Bill Haber from the William Morris Agency

    46:32

    Desi Arnaz

    Dixon Dern on Desi Arnaz; as a shrewd negotiator, his personal problems, and how he was the one who really ran Desilu

    04:56

    Dixon Dern on the legacy of Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball

    02:07

    Lucille Ball

    Dixon Dern on Lucille Ball's being accused of being a Communist during the McCarthyism era and the "Hollywood Blacklist"

    00:20

    Dixon Dern on the legacy of Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball

    02:07

    Jerry Goldsmith

    Dixon Dern on working directly with music composer Jerry Goldsmith while at CBS

    00:50

    Michael Jackson

    Dixon Dern on representing the Jackson Five as legal counsel, and Joe Jackson's vision for Michael Jackson

    02:19

    Allen Ludden

    Dixon Dern on working with Allen Ludden and helping to package game shows

    00:45

    Pete Seeger

    Dixon Dern on submitting names during the McCarthyism era and the Hollywood Blacklist; Pete Seeger was vetoed as he was thought to be a Communist

    02:01

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