Steven Maier is an experienced and innovative entertainment and corporate lawyer and business executive.

Mr. Maier is highly regarded for his expertise in the business and legal issues related to motion picture, television and new media development, production, distribution, international joint ventures, co-productions, intellectual property, licensing and financing. He also has extensive experience advising clients regarding financing, corporate governance, international partnerships, licensing and supervision of litigation for businesses within and outside of the entertainment industry.

Mr. Maier was a Marine Corps fighter pilot flying numerous missions off aircraft carriers around the world. Then, he joined the staff of the Judge Advocate General office where he was trial counsel for more than 300 Special Courts-Martial and administrative proceedings.

Following his tour in the Marine Corps as a Naval Aviator with the rank of captain, Mr. Maier assembled some of the most inventive television series co-productions and led entertainment business negotiations for two of the three top U.S. television networks. He was responsible for licensing, talent and financial negotiations and oversight for television series, specials and movies broadcast by the ABC television network. While at ABC, Mr. Maier worked directly with George Lucas and Lucasfilm to develop and produce multiple Star Wars-related projects. Mr. Maier also led business affairs for MGM Television and was responsible for all talent negotiations for the NBC television network.

After leaving ABC, Mr. Maier was named president of the New York television and feature film division of New World Pictures, Highgate Pictures, Inc., where he was responsible for numerous television projects.

Mr. Maier then founded Steven Maier International, Ltd., which has acquired, developed and architected the financing of multiple properties for feature film and television exploitation. The company has produced more than 400 television episodes broadcast worldwide by major television networks, as well as television and theatrical motion pictures.

Among the television series produced or executive produced by Mr. Maier and for which he obtained innovative international co-financing are: Highlander: The Series, 106 episodes for TF1/M-6, RTL+, Reteitalia, and U.S. first-run syndication; Highlander: The Raven, 22 episodes for TF1, ProSeiben, Reteitalia and U.S. first-run syndication; Zorro, 75 episodes for Ellipse, Family Channel and RAI; Baywatch, more than 200 episodes co-produced by Freemantle, Pearson, Kinowelt and LWT; A Fine Romance 13 episodes for LWT, TF1 and ABC; Shadow On The Sun, 4 hour mini-series for LWT and CBS; Queenie, 5 hour mini-series for London Weekend Television and ABC; The Woman He Loved, 2 hour MOW for HTV and CBS; Scene Of The Crime 25 episodes for Stephen Cannell and CBS, La Cinq/M-6/Alliance; Palace Guard 13 episodes for Stephen Cannell and CBS/Canal+; and Tarzan, 75 episodes for TF1, Reteitalia, Taurus and Worldvision.

Mr. Maier and producer Michael Uslan spearheaded the development, financing, production and distribution of The Spirit based on Will Eisner’s iconic property.  Recent clients include prime time television performers, a celebrity chef, writers, rap artists, a television production company affiliated with a popular national retail chain, and a well-known group of African-American urban cowboys in addition to a top-rated university film school.

Beyond the entertainment industry, Mr. Maier was outside counsel to Telemac Corporation, the global leader in network-edge, real-time accounting and billing technologies for the wireless industry. Telemac’s licensees included industry leaders such as LG, Mitsubishi, Motorola, Nokia, Philips, Cingular Wireless, mmO2 (formerly BT Cellnet), Sprint PCS, Telcel, and Vodacom. Mr. Maier negotiated global licensing arrangements and joint ventures, supervised litigation, managed shareholder relations, negotiated financing arrangements and participated in negotiating key aspects of Telemac’s sale in 2009 to its largest customer.

Mr. Maier has also advised corporate clients based in the United States and Asia on the formation of entities, business transactions and financing agreements.  Following the established tradition of top entertainment industry attorneys, he also has significant expertise in health care and medical research as transactional counsel to large teaching hospitals, a university medical school, physician medical groups, and a large children’s hospital in matters ranging from acquisition of equipment and services, privacy and data security, compliance, clinical trials, pharmacy agreements, and intellectual property.  In addition, Mr Maier is privacy and data security and transactional counsel to a large international travel leisure company.

E-mail: [email protected]