About

The legal team at Insight Productions is headed by general counsel Rahmiel Rothenberg, who oversees all business and legal affairs files for the company, including major strategic objectives and structuring projects to qualify for government tax credits and incentives. Alex Kitz, vice president, legal and business affairs, manages all day-to-day legal matters, including negotiating talent and licensing agreements. Non-lawyers on the team include: Brett Hogg, manager of business affairs, who is responsible for managing all administrative matters, including filing financing and certification applications, drafting production documents, and managing the legal and business affairs associates, and includes Lindsay Paquette and Harrison Gill, legal and business affairs associates, who are responsible for completing administrative tasks relating to Insight’s various film and television projects. Given the decrease in budgets for film and television projects in Canada over the past few years, the company has had to find ways to operate more efficiently. In the last year, the team has restructured to maximise its resources as Rothenberg has removed himself from day-to-day matters to focus on high-level strategic objectives, which has allowed Kitz to take ownership of daily production legal matters. In addition, Hogg has recently taken on the increased responsibility of directly managing the legal and business affairs associates. Furthermore, the team has also evolved in response to a recent strategic investment made by Boat Rocker Media into Insight. Specifically, Rothenberg’s focus on high-level strategy now also involves maintaining a strong, collaborative relationship with new partners and adopting and implementing new policies and practices. As the legal department to one of Canada’s top film and television production companies, Insight has had the opportunity to work on some of the biggest projects in Canada over the years. These projects include the upcoming Martin Scorsese-directed SCTV documentary for Netflix, the internationally televised final concert of The Tragically Hip, and the upcoming Gordon Lightfoot theatrical documentary for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC). In addition, the Insight team has continued to work on some of the most watched television programmes in Canada such as The Amazing Race Canada, Big Brother Canada, The Juno Awards, and the new singing competition format, The Launch. As Rothenberg illustrates that, ‘In essence, the production industry itself is incredibly fast-paced as we are often on location filming and need to make important decisions quickly (for example on visual and intellectual property clearances, contractual matters, or rules in a reality-competition program); thus, we must be able to provide our clients with solutions in an expeditious manner that are both pragmatic to implement and legally compliant’.