O’Melveny & Myers LLP announced today that Bruce Tobey, a highly regarded entertainment transactions lawyer with more than a decade of executive experience, has joined the Firm’s Entertainment, Sports and Media Practice. He will reside in the Firm’s Century City office.
Tobey’s practice covers all aspects of production, distribution, financing and licensing of feature film and television productions as well as digital media. He also will provide strategic and operational advice to investors and companies in both traditional and new media.
Tobey is the former Chief Operating Officer of CBS Films, which he helped found, and oversaw all aspects of its motion picture development, production, and distribution businesses and operations. His executive duties included the negotiation of all of the company’s strategic agreements, including key distribution and production arrangements.
Previously, Tobey served as Executive Vice President of Paramount Pictures Corporation. There he was responsible for the business, legal, and administrative operations of the company, including Paramount’s digital entertainment division, and the financing of both individual films and slates, and was involved in the full range of key transactions and strategic decisions for the company. He also served as one of two Paramount representatives on the Motion Picture Association of America’s Board of Directors. Tobey also served as an Executive Vice President of the Viacom Entertainment Group, which comprised businesses focused on television production and distribution, print publication, consumer products, theatres, and music publishing.
“Bruce’s many years as an industry executive give him enormous insight and grounding in a host of strategic and business issues that will help our clients navigate the ever-changing media landscape,” said Joe Calabrese, chair of O’Melveny’s Entertainment, Sports and Media Practice. “That perspective, coupled with his strong relationships and proven track record as a leading lawyer in the entertainment and media industries, make Bruce a perfect addition to our team.”
“I look forward to joining O’Melveny’s renowned Entertainment Practice and contributing my extensive experience as a business leader and as a lawyer as the group continues to broker the industry’s most important deals and agreements,” Tobey said.
Tobey received a B.A. from the University of California, Los Angeles in 1981 before earning his J.D. in 1984 from UCLA School of Law. He began his legal career as a transactions associate with an international law firm, where he focused on financing, and went on to develop a broad transactional entertainment practice at the former Hill Wynne firm, where he rose to the status of named partner prior to departing for the business world.
