Thursday, October 15, 2015

Equity Crowdfunding Will Become Reality In 2016

In 2016, regular people (aka, the "crowd") will gain access to a highly sought after, often risky asset class: start-up and early stage companies. FINRA, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, announced the release of its rules for crowdfunding portals promulgated in connection with Title III of the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act. This rule release suggests that the Securities and Exchange Commission will soon release its final version of “Regulation CF," paving the way for a launch of crowdfunding platforms in 2016.

Monday, September 28, 2015

CUTWATER LAW® ATTORNEY TO SERVE ON INTERNATIONAL BLACK FILM FESTIVAL PANEL DISCUSSION

Bob Zeglarski will participate in a panel discussion on legal pitfalls common in the film industry

Bob Zeglarski, founder of Cutwater Law PLLC, a Nashville based new media, technology and entertainment law firm, will participate in a panel discussion on Friday, October 2, 2015, at the International Black Film Festival of Nashville.

International Black Film Festival of Nashville


 The morning session is entitled “SHARK TANK: Protecting Your Business, Brand & Project from Legal Pitfalls.”
• WHEN: Friday, October 2, 2015 from 9:15 am to 10:30 am
• WHERE: Cal Turner Family Center at Meharry Medical College
• ABOUT: The world of entertainment can be a complex place. If not careful, industry hopefuls and veterans alike, can find themselves trying to navigate through a sea of business relationships that can prevent them from achieving their goals. Join us for an informative discussion with some of the most respected legal minds and industry experts on how to avoid pitfalls.
• INFO: http://www.ibffevents.com/ 

Cutwater Law


 At Cutwater Law, Zeglarski focuses his practice on new media, technology and entertainment, including television and film finance and production. Bob has represented numerous independent film producers, investors, and financiers, including a leading alternative lender providing production loans secured by state tax credits. He earned his J.D. from Seton Hall University School of Law and currently sits on the Nashville Bar Association’s Committee on Continuing Legal Education. 

Cutwater Law represents several Nashville-based, new media and traditional television and film concerns, including the first subscription video on demand television network delivering dance related content "over-the-top", a television and film production and distribution facility, and several feature films.

Follow @CutwaterLaw and @BizLawyer on Twitter and visit Cutwater Law’s website, cutwaterlaw.com for more information.

The International Black Film Festival (IBFF), established in 2006 as a non-profit 501 c(3), was founded by Chief Executive Officer and Owner Hazel Joyner Smith. IBFF also relies on a highly competent team of committed professionals who invest their time and expertise in this effort to bring culturally diverse communities together to showcase their work as emerging and skilled independent filmmakers, actors, composers, screenwriters, directors and other film industry profession

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Contact: Robert Zeglarski, (615) 933-3545, bobz@cutwaterlaw.com

Wednesday, September 2, 2015

Cutwater Law® Sponsors Nashville Japanese Film Festival


Local media law firm aims to help foster cultural exchange through film.  

Nashville, Tennessee, August 28, 2015 – Cutwater Law today announced that it is sponsoring the Second Annual Nashville Japanese Film Festival. By sponsoring Nashville’s newest cultural film festival, Cutwater law is reinforcing its commitment to promoting the local film industry while fostering cross-boarder exchanges of arts and culture through film.  The Nashville Japanese Film Festival’s mission is to bring the best in Japanese cinema to Nashville.
“Japan is the third largest audiovisual market in terms of box office revenue, but less than 10% of all U.S. audiovisual exports find their way there. To expand our audiovisual export opportunities, Nashville’s television and film industry must engage with this key market. My hope is that the television and film industries in Japan and Tennessee will look at the Nashville Japanese Film Festival—and the Cutwater brand—and see a global trade opportunity.” 

“In Nashville, we have an enormous opportunity to export audiovisual products and services into the Japanese market because Tennessee already has substantial economic ties with Japan. Japanese investors have historically played an important role in Tennessee’s economy. For the past 10 years, Tennessee has ranked second among all U.S. states for total Japanese foreign direct investment,” Zeglarski said.

Follow @CutwaterLaw and @BizLawyer on Twitter and visit Cutwater Law’s website, cutwaterlaw.com for more information

About Cutwater Law

Headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee, Cutwater Law is a media entertainment law firm. Cutwater Law provides results driven solutions for small and medium sized businesses, entrepreneurs, and the entertainment industry, including television, film, music, publishing, and multimedia.

For more information, visit cutwaterlaw.com.

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Contact:
Robert Zeglarski, (615) 933-3545, bobz@cutwaterlaw.com

Thursday, April 30, 2015

Invest Tennessee Exemption Rulemaking Hearing


Last week, Cutwater Law’s founder, Bob Zeglarski, attended a public hearing regarding regulations being proposed by the Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance’s Securities Division pursuant to the Invest Tennessee Exemption (ITE). The hearing was held to allow the public to weigh in on the proposed regulations.
Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance’s Securities Division

Zeglarski appeared in support of the Divisions new rule after submitting the following letter earlier in the month (text follows):









Sent via Email
(sarah.branch@tn.gov)
Sarah Branch, Esq.
Assistant General Counsel

Securities Department of Commerce and Insurance 
500 James Robertson Parkway, 8th Floor 
Nashville, TN 37243

RE: INVEST TENNESSEE EXEMPTION
NEW RULE NUMBER 0780-04-02-.17 (“New Rule”)

Dear Ms. Branch,

Please accept this letter in support of the New Rule. I welcome the opportunity to share my viewpoint with the public at the Rulemaking Hearing on April 22, 2015. This letter represents my own views as a Tennessee securities lawyer who advises private and public emerging growth companies.

During the past 10 years, I have primarily helped businesses leverage capital to grow. In my experience, scarcity of capital is the greatest challenge faced by emerging growth companies, particularly those with total annual gross revenues of less than $10 Million. As a result, I have become an advocate for responsible deregulation of securities laws that facilitate small capital formation.

I support the New Rule because it codifies best practices for compliance with the intrastate exemption from federal securities registration requirements, a rarely utilized exemption that has numerous pitfalls. By establishing rules that require a conservative approach, issuers will be more likely to avoid such pitfalls. The New Rule will, therefore, protect our new marketplace, helping to keep transaction and capital costs low for Tennessee companies that use the Invest Tennessee Exemption to raise capital.

The Invest Tennessee Exemption will help most emerging growth companies in Tennessee access the capital they need to succeed. While late stage emerging growth companies can absorb the large transaction costs required to access capital in a national securities market, most emerging growth companies cannot. Instead, they must navigate a private marketplace that limits its sources of capital to banks, professional investors, and certain wealthy individuals that, all together, constitute only 1% of the US population. The Invest Tennessee Exemption provides smaller issuers with a new avenue to local public capital without the expense of registration. Having greater access to capital, small issuers will be better positioned for growth.

In addition to providing Tennessee companies with a new source of capital, the Invest Tennessee Exemption creates an opportunity to build a stronger local market for capital, spur local economic development, and create new jobs. One only needs to review the historical record to know that this vision is feasible. Before the passage of landmark securities legislation in the 1930s, local and regional stock markets flourished in the United States. They expanded local economies and helped create new jobs.

The Invest Tennessee Exemption contributes to a movement, particularly in the South, that will help fix certain small capital formation problems that have emerged over the last 100 years. Federal regulations have limited small issuer access to only the wealthiest investors, while virtually eliminating their access to public markets. At the same time, national marketplaces, like the New York Stock Exchange, have maximized economies of scale to drive down transaction costs, making local capital less economical. The Invest Tennessee Exemption solves the problem of access and makes small capital formation economically feasible on a local level.

The Invest Tennessee Exemption will also have a positive impact on our broader economy. The consolidation of our public markets has created a major market failure that adversely impacts our economy. By catering to the largest companies, the most lucrative clients, national securities marketplaces have dangerously narrowed the field of publicly listed companies. Today, most of our national wealth is yoked to the performance of national public capital markets that list less than 1% of all US companies, a very small group of companies that all have enormous market capitalizations. As a result, the failure of one can shock the entire system. The Invest Tennessee Exemption will help to diversify our public markets, reducing this systemic risk.

Thank you for proposing a rule that protects our local capital market, encourages local economic growth, and strengthens our national economy.

Enclosed please find my proposed revisions to the New Rule. Thank you.


Respectfully,
CUTWATER LAW PLLC

/s/Robert Zeglarski
Robert Zeglarski, Esq
Founder

cc: Daphne D. Smith, Assistant Commissioner for Securities (via email daphne.d.smith@tn.gov)


Suggested editorial changes to Chapter 0780-04-02-.17 Invest Tennessee Exemption:
  1. In §3(a)(1)(i), insert “deemed to be” after “An issuer shall be...” to harmonize the language with Rule 147.
  2. Strike §4 and replace it with the following language that is more consistent with the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Compliance and Disclosure Interpretations, released October 2, 2014:
    “(4) Use of the Internet. An issuer shall not use the Internet to offer or sell securities pursuant to this exemption unless such issuer limits communications that are offers only to those persons having Internet Protocol, or IP, addresses that originate from the state of Tennessee and prevents any offers to be made to persons having IP addresses that originate in a state other than Tennessee. The issuer shall maintain a log of all user IP addresses that have viewed issuer communications that are offers.”
  3. With respect to the established authority set forth at the end of the New Rule, strike all references to federal regulations, which provide no source of state rulemaking authority. 
Robert Zeglarski

Monday, April 27, 2015

Cutwater Law Opening Office On Legendary Music Row

Cutwater Law, PLLC, announced today that it is opening a new office on May 1, 2015 in Nashville on Music Row. The fast-growing, business and entertainment law firm was launched in October 2014.

Cutwater Law (www.cutwaterlaw.com) brings to Music Row its deep experience representing public and private companies, business executives, accredited investors, angel investors, venture capital funds, hedge funds, and private equity funds. Cutwater Law also represents high-profile entertainment industry projects and individuals such as television, film and new media productions, their producers and talent, as well as recording artists.
Location of Cutwater Law’s Music Row Office
Location of Cutwater Law’s New Office
“Over the past year, I have observed an increase in interest among professional investors seeking opportunities in and around entertainment,” says Founder, Robert Zeglarski, Esq. “It’s the right time for Cutwater Law to establish a formal presence on Music Row, a globally recognized entertainment hub.”

The firm represents clients in a broad range of corporate and securities matters, including contract negotiations, business formations, the purchase and sale of closely held businesses, mergers, acquisitions, as well as public and private securities offerings.

Robert Zeglarski, Esq.
Robert Zeglarski, Esq., Founder of Cutwater Law PLLC
Robert Zeglarski, Esq., is licensed to practice law in the states of New York, New Jersey, and Tennessee. He graduated from Seton Hall University School of Law in 2004. Zeglarski also earned a BS from Wake Forest University and an MS from the University of South Carolina’s School of Public Health. He is a member of the Nashville Bar Association’s Continuing Legal Education Committee and the Nashville Rotary Club.

Cutwater Law’s Music Row office will be located at:

20 Music Square West
Nashville, TN 37203
Phone #: 615-933-3545

For more information about the firm, visit www.cutwaterlaw.com or contact Robert Zeglarski at 615-933-3545.

Friday, April 24, 2015

TNEMC Hosts China Film Producers' Association Members

On April 24, 2015, the Tennessee Film, Entertainment and Music Commission (TFEMC) hosted a panel presentation providing an introduction and overview of Tennessee’s entertainment industry that featured TFEMC Executive Director Bob Raines, Film Com Chairman Andy van Roon, Senior Vice President of Affirm Films/Sony Pictures Entertainment Rich Peluso and Cutwater Law Founder Bob Zeglarski.   
Bob Zeglarski
Wang Fenglin, Vice President of the China Film Producers’ Association (second from right) hears a presentation from TFEMC Executive Director Bob Raines
The delegation was organized through the China Film Producers’ Association, a trade organization of Chinese film production companies that offers a link between the Chinese government, Chinese film producers and the Chinese people to insure Chinese films’ direct and efficient access to the market.  The organization also helps strengthen international exchange, develop international cooperation and promote Chinese films in foreign countries.  
Members of the delegation visiting Nashville include top ranking officials from the China Film Producers’ Association, Beijing Forbidden City Film Co., Beijing Huaying Century National Film and Television Production Center, Heilongjiang Yuetong Culture Media Co., Ltd., Beijing Li Yanqiu Culture and Art Studio Co., Ltd., and Legends of the Fall (Beijing) Culture Co., Ltd.
Tennessee: A Sino-Us Co-Production Destination
China is home to a rapidly growing entertainment industry with the world’s second largest box office behind only the U.S.  In February of this year, China beat the U.S. box office for the first time ever with $650 million in revenue compared to $640 million in U.S. revenue according to entertainment research firm EntGroup.  Recently, the U.S. movie “Furious 7” had the biggest opening day and opening week ever for any film in China.

Robert Zeglarski

Thursday, March 26, 2015

Regulation A+ Rules A Boon for Late Stage Emerging Growth Companies

On March 25, 2015, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) adopted final rules for Regulation A+, promulgated under the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act (JOBS Act). As a result, late stage Emerging Growth Companies (EGCs) should benefit from a modest reduction in transaction and reporting costs when compared to a full blown IPO.

What impact will this have on small capital formation?  Not much.  An EGC is any issuer with total annual gross revenues of less than $1 billion during its most recently completed fiscal year.  While EGCs at the high end of the revenue producing spectrum stand to benefit, the adoption of Regulation A+ will likely have no impact on small and medium size entities.

The SEC’s proposed rules say as much.  They estimate that very few new issuers will gain access to the public capital markets because of Regulation A+.  Most Regulation A+ offerings will be siphoned from other segments of the current public capital market.

Robert Zeglarski

Friday, March 13, 2015

Thank You Nashville Rotary Club For the Coolest Induction Gift!

Every city has its own vibe and culture, but none like Nashville, Tennessee. I recently moved to Nashville and joined the local Rotary Club, a "civic club for businesspersons committed to community service." I wanted to better integrate myself into the business community while giving back to the community at large.  Inductions are conducted during weekly meetings at, of all places, the Wildhorse Saloon.  If that was not Nashville enough, they gave me this awesome poster made by Hatch Show Print.  Thank you Nashville Rotary Club!



 Bob Zeglarski