Allan M. Kassirer, Esq.
Partner

Mr. Kassirer is a founding partner of International Studio Group, LLC (“ISG”) and as an attorney primarily handles the business, legal and legislative issues related to developing the entertainment industry in a jurisdiction.

Mr. Kassirer brings his unique background in the entertainment business to ISG. He is or has been an entertainment Attorney, Feature Film Executive, Talent Representative, and Producer, and has an intimate working knowledge of all sides of the business. He understands why companies choose to shoot in certain locales, the economics of film and television financing, the tax incentives needed to lure production to a particular jurisdiction as well as what is needed to build an entertainment infrastructure in that jurisdiction.

Through Kassirer Entertainment Company and now ISG Consulting, Mr. Kassirer has over the past several years advised and consulted with current and former State Film Commissioners and legislators in Massachusetts, Arizona, South Carolina and elsewhere as well as a foreign government on developing their film/TV tax incentive programs, drafting tax incentive legislation, advising them on building their infrastructure and has consulted with a major multinational company on developing its film business and a studio in Southern California.

Due to his varied experience in the entertainment business for 30 years, Mr. Kassirer has developed an expertise on the status, nature and application of both domestic and international tax incentive legislation, a major component for the financing of studio/independent productions.

Mr. Kassirer previously taught at Georgetown University Law School and practiced law in the Washington D.C. area, as both a Public Defender and Assistant States Attorney. After moving to Los Angeles he practiced entertainment and First Amendment law with the firm of Selvin & Weiner; his clients included the Writers Guild of America, Playboy, The National Enquirer and numerous writers, producers and directors. Mr. Kassirer later became the Vice President of Business and Legal Affairs at Producers Sales Organization (the largest foreign sales company at the time) and Aspen Productions. He was involved in all aspects of the financing (including domestic and international tax deals and incentives), production, distribution (both domestically and internationally) and licensing of all rights, of major pictures during his tenure at Aspen and PSO.

As a Personal Manager and Producer, Mr. Kassirer represented actors, writers, producers and directors. He developed projects at studios, and he has developed, packaged and produced four films including, “North Shore Fish”, by Israel Horovitz, starring Mercedes Ruehl for Showtime, and “In God We Trust”, staring Christian Slater and Val Kilmer. He has represented clients that have written and directed and produced such classic TV franchises like “Tales from the Crypt”, “The Sopranos”, “Murphy Brown”, and “The Golden Girls”. His actor clients have included, John Ratzenberger, James Marsden, Ryder Strong, Billy Burke, Merrin Dungey, and others.

Mr. Kassirer is a founding director and a member of the board of directors of Youth League Tennis, a 501(C)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to the grass roots growth of tennis and to providing tennis to underprivileged children. Youth League Tennis is the fastest growing youth tennis program in the U.S. and is sponsored by Wilson Tennis, Adidas and Loeb and Loeb, LLP. It currently runs throughout California, Florida, Texas and North and South Carolina.

Robert A. Papazian
Partner

Robert A. Papazian, an Emmy Award winner for his critically acclaimed production of NBC’s Inherit the Wind, is recognized as one of Hollywood’s most successful and creative television producers, executives and Studio operators. Born in Boston and raised in Los Angeles, after a stint as Head of Production at ABC Circle Films, Papazian partnered with writer-producer James G. Hirsch in 1987 to create one of the industry’s most respected independent production companies, Papazian-Hirsch Entertainment. Among their achievements, Bob and Jim created and Executive Produced HBO’s highly popular, smash success, “ROME”. He is a founding partner of International Studio Group, LLC (“ISG”).

Bob brings to ISG the unique skill set of having been a senior studio executive who decided where films were shot, produced hundreds of hours of film and television and knows what a producer needs on location and at a studio, and has successfully built and operated independent film and television studios.

In 1997 Papazian and Hirsch co-founded Ray-Art Studios, a full-service, state-of-the-art production facility, which housed many of Hollywood’s leading independent producers, studios and networks (e.g. MGM, Fox, Disney, Paramount, Spelling NBC, ABC, WB and TNT). With 8 stages, 90,000 sq. ft. of office space, on 12 acres, the highly profitable Ray-Art Studios was sold in May 2004, just prior to the team’s acquisition of Sunset-Gower Studios.

In 2005, Papazian was named Chief Executive Officer of Hollywood’s legendary Sunset-Gower Studios, originally the headquarters for Columbia Pictures and famed movie mogul Harry Cohn. In addition to heading-up the studio’s operations as CEO, Papazian and Hirsch have also partnered with GI Partners, a $1.2 billion private equity fund, to acquire the Studios. They returned Sunset-Gower to its original luster while upgrading the studio into a state-of-the-art facility. Sunset-Gower was recently sold for over $200mm.

Papazian’s prodigious body of producing work includes producing more than 60 television movies and miniseries, garnering a total of 27 Emmy nominations and 9 Emmys. Other television laurels include the all-time top-rated (46.0/62) multi-Emmy nominated television movie, The Day After (ABC); the Christopher Award for Crisis at Central High (CBS); California Governor’s Community Excellence Award for A Reason to Live (NBC); and the Excellence in Programming Award from American Women in Radio and Television for Why Me? (ABC).

Papazian-Hirsch also produced the long-running CBS hit hour dramatic series, Nash Bridges, starring Don Johnson; the highly rated, critically acclaimed miniseries The Invaders, starring Scott Bakula; Crazy From the Heart (TNT), for which Christine Lahti won the coveted ACE Award; and the highly acclaimed ABC Theater presentation, The Boys, starring John Lithgow and James Woods. Additionally, the team produced five separate one-hour Hart to Hart TV movies, starring Robert Wagner and Stephanie Powers. In 2004, Papazian and Hirsch were honored with the ARPA International Film Festival “Lifetime Achievement Award” for their distinguished accomplishments as filmmakers on both the big and small screens. They have just complete production on three feature films for Warner’s Home Video to be distributed under the DVD label, RAW FEED.

Bob, together with Jim Hirsch teach film 1 at Arizona State University.

James G. Hirsch
Partner

James G. Hirsch, founding partner of International Studio Group, LLC (“ISG”) is one of Hollywood’s most inventive and successful writer-producers. He brings to ISG the perspective of an experienced producer as well as having built and successfully operated independent film/TV studios.

After writing and producing hundreds of hours of award winning film and television, Jim and his partner Bob Papazian built, marketed and very successfully operated their own motion picture and television facility, Ray-Art Studios. Ray-Art became a full-service, state of the art facility which housed many of Hollywood’s leading independent producers, major studios and TV networks, including MGM, Fox, Disney, Paramount, Warner Bros., NBC, ABC, TNT and Spelling, among others. The highly profitable Ray-Art was sold in 2004.

In 2005, Bob, Jim, and GI Partners, a $1.2 billion private equity fund, purchased Hollywood’s legendary Sunset-Gower Studios, formerly Columbia Pictures and home to Columbia’s famed movie mogul Harry Cohn. The 18-acre facility along Sunset Boulevard, features 12 motion picture and television sound stage and is currently the home of NBC’s breakout hit, “Heroes”, among many other shows and feature films. It was successfully operated and recently sold for over $200mm.

In 2005, Papazian and Hirsch received the coveted ARPA International Film Festival Lifetime Achievement Award “For outstanding and lasting contribution to the arts”. The award, given at a banquet at the Sheraton Universal Hotel and attended by over six hundred film enthusiasts, was the culmination of a long and storied career for both artists.

Previously Hirsch, through Papazian-Hirsch Productions, has been the executive producer, producer or writer of more than 40 television movies, series and miniseries, including Executive Producing HBO’s highly acclaimed and smash hit “ROME”, The Rape of Richard Beck (ABC), for which he was nominated for a Writer’s Guild of America Award and for which Richard Crenna won the Emmy; a Media Access Award nomination for In the Best Interest of the Child (CBS). Other distinguished productions include The Outsiders (Fox TV), Willing to Kill: The Texas Cheerleader Story (ABC), Line of Fire: The Morris Dees Story (NBC), The China Lake Murders (USA Cable), Guts and Glory: The Rise and Fall of Oliver North (CBS), The Deadly Tower (NBC), and the provocative Crisis at Central High.

Papazian-Hirsch productions also include the long running CBS hit hour dramatic series Nash Bridges starring Don Johnson, the top-rated four-hour miniseries, The Invaders, starring Scott Bakula, and five Hart to Hart television movies starring Robert Wagner and Stefanie Powers. Television movies include Crazy from the Heart (TNT) for which Christine Lahti won the coveted Ace Award, the highly dramatic true-life account, The Betty Ford Story (ABC), for which Gena Rowland won the Emmy for Best Actress; and the highly acclaimed ABC Theater Presentation, The Boys, starring John Lithgow and James Woods.

James Hirsch was born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri and attended the University of Wisconsin, where he studied creative writing under Nobel Prize laureate Isaac Bashevis Singer. After college Hirsch moved to California, where he sold his first original television script, No Place to Run to the ABC network. Starting in the fall of 2005 Hirsch began teaching a master class in screenwriting at his alma mater, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and both he and Bob Papazian taught film class1 at Arizona State University.

Jack McDaniel
Partner

Jack McDaniel is a veteran of the entertainment and design industries. He is the owner and President of Action Design and Production, a concept development and project management company specializing in production, entertainment concept designs, project presentations, and construction management. His full service company has designed and built shows and themed rides for Universal Studios Florida and Universal Studios Hollywood; the Paramount Theme Parks in California, Virginia, and Ohio; the New York Mets at Shea Stadium; the Veda Land Park in Niagara Falls, Canada; the World of Wonder indoor theme park in Vienna, Austria; and the Ontario Place theme park in Ontario, Canada.

For Magna Entertainment (the world’s largest owner of race track facilities) for whom he has been its creative development and entertainment consultant since the Company’s inception in 1998, he has designed and built gaming facilities, restaurants, theaters, and concert venues at Santa Anita Park, California and Gulfstream Park in Miami, Florida. As part of Magna’s effort to promote the extended development of mixed-use facilities on the Arcadia, California site among city council members, community leaders, state agencies, and horsemen, McDaniel became President of Santa Anita Park during the 2003/2004 and 2004/2005 Thoroughbred racing seasons.

Among his significant project accomplishments was the development of Universal Studios Florida in 1990, the first major competitive theme park challenge to Walt Disney World in Central Florida. Designed and built in less than three years, it exceeded all business and financial expectations by generating over 8 million visits in its first full year of operation. While managing the construction and operations start-up of this project as Universal’s Executive Vice President of Recreation, he negotiated an agreement with the Nickelodeon cable channel to relocate all of their television production to USF. Not only did Nickelodeon Studios become a highly ranked visitor attraction for Universal, Nickelodeon credits the public awareness created by this unique production complex as the lynchpin to their meteoric ratings growth to the number-one cable network in America.

McDaniel’s broadcast, production and motion picture studio experience includes roles as President of Papazian-Hirsch Entertainment from 1990 to 1993, during which he managed a joint venture enterprise with Universal Studios for the production of movies for television. During his executive tenure, he also functioned as the Production executive on 12 television movies for every major Broadcast and Cable Network (CBS, NBC, ABC, USA, TNT, and Fox). From 1980 to 1986, he was the Vice President of Studio Administration for Universal Studios where he managed the Studio’s front lot operation and legal affairs, including the marketing and rental of sound stages and post production facilities. He was also responsible for all of Universal’s Human Relations activities and labor negotiations world-wide. He was the Director of Industrial Relations at 20th Century Fox from 1977 to 1980 where he negotiated all major union labor agreements (SAG, WGA, DGA, AFM, I.A.T.S.E., Teamsters, and Studio Basic Crafts). At the time, he was the Entertainment Industry’s first attorney to function in this capacity as an in-house negotiator. For the CBS affiliate, KLAS_TV in Las Vegas, Nevada, he was a studio cameraman, News Director and finally, as reported by Broadcasting Magazine in 1972, the youngest program director in the United States. He led the Station to its first place Arbitron market rating in the same year.

McDaniel was born in Las Vegas, Nevada and is a graduate of the University of Nevada at Las Vegas with a B.A. in Political Science. He relocated to Los Angles, California in 1973 and is a graduate of the Southwestern University School of Law with a Juris Doctor. He was admitted to the California Bar in 1977.

Mark R. Drago
Former Massachusetts Film Commissioner

In the entertainment industry where success is almost always determined by the quality of one’s relationships with one’s clients, Mark Drago would be the perfect man on the ground at any studio facility, but especially in Boston, his hometown. Mark instinctually knows how to take care of people and he truly loves doing it. His “customers” know that he can and will take care of their every need, no matter how unreasonable, most often before they even realize that they need it.

Whether they be U.S. Presidents, governors, foreign dignitaries too numerous to mention, major sports personalities, senior government and labor officials, and yes, a myriad of actors, producers and directors, Mark has successfully “managed” them all and gained respect, admiration and devotion from each and every one.

In Boston, Mark’s network of boyhood chums, friends and professional relationships, intimately connects him to seemingly everyone in power from the Governor, to members of the Legislature, the Senate, State Troopers, Labor Unions, to name but a few. If a producer or actor needs anything, almost assuredly if it can “get got”, Mark can make it happen.

As Executive Director of Film and Entertainment for the State of Massachusetts, Mark helped spearhead the efforts to pass the first ever film tax incentive in Massachusetts (with ISG partner Allan Kassirer). This tax incentive was overwhelmingly passed by the Massachusetts House of Representatives and Senate and signed by the Governor.

As a result, Massachusetts has seen a huge influx of films which has had a highly positive economic impact on the Commonwealth. Films such as The Departed, Gone Baby Gone, Disney’s The Game Plan, The Farrelly Bros. Fever Pitch, (and six more shooting as of this moment in early 2008) have benefited from such tax incentives. During the course of running that office, Mark worked directly with noted Hollywoood celebs, Martin Scorsese, Michael Bay, Danny DeVito, Gov. Arnold Schwartzeneger, George Clooney, while planning and executing their personal and professional schedules.

At the same time, he was instrumental in uniting the state and the Local 25 Teamsters Union, the IATSE Union, and SAG/AFTRA an absolutely essential accomplishment if there was ever going to be a successful Massachusetts film industry.

Mark has served as a trusted aide to three Massachusetts Governors including William F. Weld, Argeo Paul Cellucci, and Lt Governor Jane Swift. As such, Mark is a highly regarded Beacon Hill “insider” who knows the ins and outs of how Massachusetts government works and how to get from it what is good for the State and good for his “clients”.

As aide to those three Governors, he implemented their daily events and meetings, handled the logistics of visiting dignitaries and foreign officials to Massachusetts, planed and organized site visits for international trade missions to Ireland, France, Canada, Australia, China and Japan. He also served as point of contact for all major state events pertaining to the Commonwealth, organized and directed all U.S. Presidential visits to the Massachusetts State House.

In 2004 Mark was appointed as President of the Massachusetts Sports Partnership (Commission). He was chosen for his political acumen and ability to work with extremely diverse and not always mutually cooperative constituents. At the time, the Sports Partnership was on the verge of loosing their only funding source. The Board of the Partnership enlisted Mark’s help. He successfully lobbied the Mass Senate and Legislature to secure their budget and exceed their overall projected budget’s goal by an excess of $800,000.

Prior to joining the Massachusetts Sports and Entertainment Commission, Mark served as the International Destination Marketing Manager for the Massachusetts Port Authority (Massport), marketing Massachusetts and New England to international markets.

Prior to leading the Advance Office, Mark held the position in 1988 as Deputy Director of Security for the Presidential Inauguration where he coordinated the logistics for dignitaries attending the inauguration balls and related events in addition to providing the safety of guests of the White House. He served as liaison between national officials and corporate executives, and was the point person for celebrities for Presidential events.

In addition, over the past 20 years Mark has had an active role in coordinating such monumental state events in Massachusetts as World Cup Soccer, Sail Boston, The Ryder Cup, Major League Baseball and National Hockey League All Star Games, Duetsche Bank PGA Championship, National Governor’s Association Conference, Republican National Convention, New England Governor’s Conference, Inaugural Ball for Governor’s William F. Weld and Argeo Paul Cellucci, State of the State Address, and many more.