First, can you please give us an idea of the sort of work you have done recently?

Our team has worked in three main areas in connection to the film industry in the Dominican Republic. First legal services for the operation of the prestigious Pinewood Dominican Republic Studios, where major Hollywood productions have shot (Paramount, Netflix and NBC productions). Secondly, we provided production legal services for over 90% of international audiovisual projects produced in the Dominican Republic over the last five years, including: Universal’s M. Night Shyamalan’s feature OLD, Barry Jenkins’ If Beale Street Could Talk, Lionsgate’s Shotgun Wedding, and David Fincher’s Netflix feature The Killer. Thirdly, rendering all legal services (IP, finance, production and delivery) required to produce and finance internationally awarded Dominican feature films. This involves more than 20 features, such as “Holy Beasts”, “Papi” and “Hotel Coppelia”.

These represent over US$300m in direct foreign investment in the Dominican Republic, employment of over 6,000 staff and investment in local film industry infrastructure in over US$100m. These remarkable results are expected to continue growing exponentially in the next five years, with companies like Netflix investing heavily in making content in the Dominican Republic.

Can you sum up the team culture in your legal department? How does this contribute to your success?

Our motto is: make it happen. As in-house lawyers, we aim to drive all deal-making for the production and studio services teams, as well as advise higher management of potential risks for the company, all in the process of handling IP, hiring thousands of crew members every year, hundreds of vendors, locations, equipment houses and everything necessary to make content.

We are service-oriented, encouraging lateral thinking to face the constant changes of an ever-evolving industry. We ultimately aim to create value for our shareholders, upholding their values of integrity, dedication, and growth.

What would you say are the unique qualities required to be successful as an in-house lawyer in your industry?

To be adaptive and receptive of change. Our industry is going through unprecedented changes in the way the content is distributed and in customers’ expectations of accessibility of all content. We have seen record-breaking amounts of investment in production, helped by the surge in the success of streaming services. Companies are adapting to these new needs, and in-house lawyers need to adjust to this changing environment.

Our focus remains on adaptability in the face of a fast-paced, record-breaking environment, with special attention to adding value to the company and supporting its growth long-term.