Schuyler M Moore

Practice Areas

Entertainment; Corporate; Film Financing; Taxation; International; Opportunity Zones; Crypto & NFTs

Career

Schuyler (Sky) Moore, best known in Los Angeles for closing high-dollar, cross-border deals, is highly valued among dealmakers for his concise communications, willingness to quantify risk, and ability to get complex deals to the finish line as fast as possible. He has been practicing in the entertainment industry since 1981, and represents a broad spectrum of clients throughout the entertainment industry, including producers, sales agents, foreign distributors, and financiers.

Sky has handled some of the largest financing transactions in Hollywood, including Reliance’s investment in DreamWorks, the Ratpac-Dune slate financing for Warner Brothers, the Hemisphere slate financing for Sony and Paramount, and the Hunan Group slate financing for Lionsgate.

One unique skill Sky brings to deals and financings is his deep expertise in taxation and tax consequences. He specialized in tax in law school and has been a tax expert his entire career.

While Sky receives praise as a very practical and business savvy advisor in matters of crafting appropriate corporate structures and unique financing opportunities, his “trademark,” he says, is very short documents.

“I know what needs to be in a contract, and I know what doesn’t. Writing in plain English streamlines the process. I want clients to understand the contracts they are signing, so we can get to their goal faster.”

“Integrating all the different pieces of financing can be challenging, and instruments are always evolving. I’m a deal maker, not a deal breaker,” he says. “But, I won’t let clients sign half-baked term sheets, deal memos, or letters of intent unless they’re not binding.”

Sky was an adjunct professor at the UCLA School of Law and Business School and an adjunct professor at the USC School of Law, and he is a frequent speaker and writer on a wide variety of entertainment topics.

Publications

Sky is the author of several books, including The Biz: The Basic Business, Legal, and Financial Aspects of the Film Industry, a popular book in its 5th edition, Taxation of the Entertainment Industry, the leading treatise on that topic, and What They Don’t Teach You in Law School.