Lisa A. Callif
Lisa specializes in representing independent producers and production companies in all aspects of content creation, including equity financing, production and distribution with extensive experience in fair use, copyright and personal rights issues. Lisa is the recipient of numerous prestigious awards – among her many accolades are recognition as a Hollywood Reporter Power Lawyer, a Variety 2023 Dealmaker, and a Daily Journal Top Entertainment Lawyer, as well as her recognition by Variety on the Women’s Impact Report and the Best and the Brightest list. Lisa cuts through red tape for her clients and works tirelessly to preserve artists’ voices so that they can shine a light on stories that otherwise might not be told.
In addition to representing content creators, Lisa serves as counsel to multiple non-profit organizations, including Film Independent, which produces the Film Independent Spirit Awards, and Women in Film, whose mission is to promote gender parity in all aspects of media. Lisa is also one of the few attorneys in Los Angeles to represent live theaters—she represents the Ahmanson Theatre, the Mark Taper, the Geffen Playhouse and other Los Angeles-based theater companies.
Along with Partners Michael Donaldson and Chris Perez, Lisa has co-written three books: The American Bar Association’s Legal Guide to Independent Filmmaking and Clearance & Copyright, 4th Edition & 5th Edition. She regularly publishes articles about emerging issues in entertainment and copyright law, and is often quoted in publications such as the Wall Street Journal, Variety, Intellectual Property Magazine and more. Lisa and Michael were featured on the cover of LA Lawyer Magazine,for which they co-authored an article about fair use and its application in documentary films.
Lisa graduated summa cum laude from New York University with a BS in communications, and worked in the music industry in New York and Los Angeles before obtaining her JD from Southwestern University School of Law. She previously served as an adjunct professor at Southwestern, and is a frequent speaker at Film Independent, the International Documentary Association, film festivals and UCLA, where she also teaches legal basics at the UCLA Producer’s Workshop.
Lisa lives in Los Angeles with her husband, Dustin, and her two children, Diggy and Liam.
Notable Projects
Telemarketers (HBO)
Love Has Won (HBO)
Past Lives (Sundance 2023 premiere, Golden Globe nominee)
Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields (Sundance 2023 premiere)
Deep Rising (Sundance 2023 premiere)
The Janes (Sundance 2022 premiere)
We Met in Virtual Reality (Sundance 2022 premiere)
Untrapped (Tribeca Film Festival 2022)
Uncut Gems
Free Solo (2019 Best Documentary Oscar Winner)
Won’t You Be My Neighbor? (2019 Oscar nominee shortlist, 2018 Sundance premiere)
Where’s My Roy Cohn? (2019 Sundance premiere)
Wu-Tang Clan: Of Mics and Men (2019 Sundance premiere)
David Crosby: Remember My Name (2019 Sundance premiere)
Kailash (2018 Grand Jury Prize, Best Documentary, Sundance)
Spielberg (2018 Emmy nominee)
Eighth Grade (2018 Sundance premiere)
The Price of Everything (2018 Sundance premiere)
The Biggest Little Farm (2018 TIFF premiere, 2018 Telluride premiere)
Gaga: Five Foot Two (2018 MTV Movie & TV Awards, Best Music Documentary)
Jane Fonda: In Five Acts (2018 Traverse City Film Festival, Best U.S. Nonfiction Film)
Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop: A Bad Boy Story (2018 MTV Movie & TV Awards nominee)
Bisbee ’17 (2018 Sundance premiere)
The Game Changers (2018 Sundance premiere)
Under the Silver Lake (2018 Cannes premiere), The Defiant Ones (2017 Grammy winner, Best Music Film)
Clive Davis: Soundtrack of Our Lives (2017 Critics’ Choice Documentary Award winner)
CNN’s The Sixties, The Seventies, The Eighties, The Nineties and The 2000s (Emmy nominee)
Making a Murderer series (2016 Emmy winner)
Weiner (2016 Grand Jury Prize, Best Documentary, Sundance)
He Named Me Malala (2015 Academy Award shortlist)
20 Feet From Stardom (2014 Academy Award and Film Independent Spirit Award winner)
Boyhood (2014 Academy Award and Golden Globe Awards winner)
Invisible War (2012 Film Independent Spirit Award Winner and Grand Jury Prize, Best Documentary, Sundance)
Inside Job (2011 Academy Award winner)
The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers (2010 Academy Award nominee)
Awards and Honors
Variety Dealmakers Report (2023)
The Hollywood Reporter Power Lawyers (2016, 2017, 2018, 2019)
Variety Women’s Impact Report (2018)
Variety Dealmakers Impact Report (2017)
Southern California Super Lawyers (2016 – 2019)
U.S. News – Best Lawyers® “Best Law Firms” (2019)
U.S. News – Best Lawyers® Business Edition (2017)
Daily Journal Top Women Lawyers (2014, 2016)
Daily Journal Top 50 Entertainment Lawyers (2015)
Daily Journal Top Law Firm Boutique (2015)
Variety The Best and the Brightest (2011)