

Nicholas Rohlfing Law
Serving the Entertainment Community
new york entertainment attorney
NR
LAW
PRACTICE
AREAS
THEATER
The Firm practices in all areas of live theatre, representing a broad range of clients in the theater community including theatrical producers, composers, authors, collaborators, conductors, music directors, directors, choreographers, casting directors, arrangers and orchestrators, associate directors and choreographers, actors, musicians, recording artists and theatrical properties.
The Firm represents a group of Broadway Associate and Resident Directors and Choreographers as well as Dramaturgs and Literary Managers whose contracts are not within any union's collective bargaining agreements. The Firm specializes in working with the production's general management getting the best deals for these clients in this essential niche of the business.
BUSINESS
The Firm provides various services for its creative clients in the area of business entity formation and compliance--from "loan out" corporations to production companies--and handles all aspects of the producing process, from obtaining the production rights to filing the appropriate documents with the SEC and state attorneys general.
MUSIC
The Firm represents musicians and composers and assists them in navigating the business of recording contracts, mechanical, synchronization and performance licensing.
FILM & TELEVISION
The Firm offers services for clients in television and film, including on-camera talent, producers, writers and directors. The firm handles the many contracts required in the film and television industry: rights acquisition, production and financing, talent, releases and clearances, above- and below-the-line crew.
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
The Firm offers services for a wide range of intellectual property matters including in the areas of copyright and trademark registration and compliance, and advises clients with issues such as infringement, "fair use," defamation, life-story rights and more.
INTERNET AND NEW MEDIA
The Firm assists numerous internet and new media clients ranging from web designers and developers, to creators of web series, to composers and music distributors on the internet. The Firm also represents a cutting-edge streaming company geared toward increasing exposure of live theatrical presentations to theater fans across the US.
BOOK PUBLISHING
The Firm represents clients in book publishing with various agreements including those regarding publishing, author/agent relationship, distribution, as well as production rights agreements between authors and producers.
backstagelawyer.com

THE FIRM
Nicholas Rohlfing Law is a transactional entertainment law firm representing a broad range of clients in the entertainment community including theatrical producers, composers, authors, collaborators, conductors, music directors, directors, choreographers, casting directors, dramaturgs and literary managers, associate directors and choreographers, actors, musicians, novelists, filmmakers, web designers, recording artists and various rights holders.
The Firm's clients include well-established personalities in the entertainment community as well as many who are just rising in their careers. The Firm is the sole representation for some clients who only need an entertainment attorney, but also represents clients who have a "team" including agents, managers, and publicists.
The Firm is counsel for live theater productions, handling all aspects of the producing process--from obtaining the production rights of an underlying property, to contracting the creative personnel as the property is in development, to filing the appropriate documents with the SEC and state attorneys general during the financing process for a commercial production. The Firm also counsels various collaborators (bookwriters, composers, librettists and lyricists) through the entire creative process in live theater and opera, from the collaboration agreement at the outset of the process, to commission agreements, to the production rights option agreements with commercial producers. The Firm has represented clients with their matters in Broadway and off-Broadway, as well as national tour and West End productions including HADESTOWN, HAMILTON, SIX, HELLO, DOLLY!, A BRONX TALE, HUGH JACKMAN WORLD TOUR 2019, MRS. DOUBTFIRE, BEETLEJUICE, THE MUSIC MAN, FROZEN, THE BAND'S VISIT, BRIGHT STAR, METEOR SHOWER, SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS, AFTER MIDNIGHT, ROCKY, CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY, SOMETHING ROTTEN, ALTAR BOYZ, RADIO CITY MUSIC HALL'S CHRISTMAS SPECTACULAR AND NEW YORK SPRING SPECTACULAR, INTO THE WOODS, DISNEY’S FREAKY FRIDAY, CAGNEY THE MUSICAL, WHO’S HOLIDAY, and more.
The Firm has a unique group of clients in the Broadway and off-Broadway community made up of dramaturgs and literary managers as well as associate and resident directors and choreographers, whose contracts do not fall within any union's collective bargaining agreements and therefore tend to be out of parity (e.g. lower compensation, no health insurance or pension, no royalty or profit participation, etc.) with others on the creative team. Nicholas is working hard to bring about change in the custom and practice regarding the deals for these clients and specializes in getting the best terms for this essential group of creatives in the theatre business.
The Firm represents a number of concert performers who appear in venues around the country and the world--land and sea.
While not the primary focus of the Firm's practice, Nicholas has substantial experience--in both litigation and non-litigation contexts--resolving disputes that sometimes arise. Nicholas will evaluate a client's case and determine whether the Firm should handle the client's matter or whether it may be in the client's best interest to involve outside counsel.

ATTORNEY PROFILE

Nicholas is pictured here with friend and client--author and dramaturg--Ken Cerniglia at the opening night party for Hadestown on Broadway, which took home 8 Tony awards of its 14 nominations. Ken is the dramaturg for Hadestown and is the bookwriter of several new works in development.
Nicholas has been in the entertainment business for more than three decades. Starting his career as a young actor at sixteen, he came to New York City at the age of 23 and worked in theater, television and film as an actor and director for the next ten years. Nicholas graduated summa cum laude with honors from the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee and is a member of Phi Beta Kappa. He received his J.D. in the music-rich town of Athens, Georgia, at the University of Georgia School of Law.
Nicholas has been a practicing attorney for nearly fifteen years and continues to work in the community he loves by engaging on the business side of Show Business.
Nicholas has two teenaged sons and is married to actress, Heidi Blickenstaff.


Nicholas Rohlfing Law

CONTACT
FIRM ADDRESS
1140 Avenue of the Americas, 9th Floor, New York, NY 10036
Email: nicholas@nicholasrohlfinglaw.com
Tel: 646-760-4560
For any general inquiries, please call or send an email.