Lisa Callif

As a founding partner of Donaldson Callif Perez, Lisa Callif is the go-to attorney for Hollywood's most acclaimed independent producers of film, television and web-based content. Lisa supports clients in all aspects of project creation, including financing, production and distribution. Her extensive experience in clearance, fair use and copyright issues, along with her reputation for obtaining Errors & Omissions insurance for seemingly impossible projects, has earned the trust and loyalty of the industry's top talent. She uses every legal tool at her disposal to cut through red tape for her clients, working tirelessly to preserve artists' voices and allowing some of the decade's most poignant, controversial and important stories to be told. For this work, Lisa has been consistently recognized in the Hollywood Reporter's Power Lawyers list, Daily Journal's Top Entertainment Lawyers list, and Variety's Dealmakers Impact Report and Women's Impact Report.

In addition to representing filmmakers, Lisa serves as counsel to nonprofit 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, including the Ahmanson Theatre, Mark Taper Forum, Geffen Playhouse and Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts, among others.

Along with Partner Michael Donaldson, Lisa has co-written two books: Clearance and Copyright, 4th Edition, and The American Bar Association's Legal Guide to Independent Filmmaking - revered as the guiding principles for the film industry. 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 graduated summa cum laude from New York University with a B.S. in communications and worked in the music industry in New York and Los Angeles before obtaining her J.D. 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 and UCLA, where she also teaches legal basics at the UCLA Summer Producer's Workshop.

Lisa lives in Los Angeles with her husband, Dustin, and her two children, Diggy and Liam.

Notable Projects

• 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

• 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)