WHAT ONE MAN CAN DO

John Raatz, Founder and CEO of The Visioneering Group, is a skilled and experienced entrepreneur, communicator and strategist.  A multi-faceted public relations firm, The Visioneering Group designs and fulfills domestic and international communications and marketing campaigns.  The company works with both mainstream and transformational media and is expert at reaching the rapidly expanding alternative market that remains virtually untapped by traditional public relations and distribution firms.  Since its inception in 1988, The Visioneering Group has represented some of the most preeminent figures in visionary business and spirituality, including Deepak Chopra, Fritjof Capra, Peter Russell, Chellis Glendinning, Madonna and Donovan.  Among the films created by its clients are Baraka, Mindwalk, A Brief History of Time and Dead Can Dance.  Prior to founding The Visioneering Group, Raatz was a personal manager in the entertainment industry, representing high-profile actors and musicians, as well as a successful stockbroker, a major executive at a public relations agency, a professional blues/rock guitarist, the publisher of a leading-edge newsletter and the administrator of one of Southern California’s most forward-looking holistic health clinics.

President of Business Strategies (www.moviemoney.com), a consulting firm that specializes in writing business plans for film and other entertainment-related companies.  She is the author of Filmmakers & Financing: Business Plans for Independents (Fifth Edition, December 2006, Focal Press) and publisher/editor of The Film Entrepreneur: A Newsletter for the Independent Filmmaker and Investors.  Levison’s clients have raised money for low budget films such as The Blair Witch Project, the most profitable independent film in history, and for companies raising as much as $300 million.  Other clients’ projects include Toussaint (to be directed by Danny Glover), Crimebusters (in production), The First of May, Michael Winslow Live, Visual Acoustics: The Modernism of Julius Shulman, Moving Midway, High Roller: The Stu Ungar Story, Protecting The King, Extreme Days, Dinner Rush and California Dreaming.  Among her corporate clients are Louverture Films (Trouble The Water, winner of the Documentary Grand Jury Prize at Sundance 2008), Louverture Film Fund I, The Pamplin Film Company, WhiteLight Entertainment, Tokuma International Ltd (Shall We Dance and Princess Mononoke) and Monterrey Pictures Entertainment.  She is also an affiliate of the Berlin-based consulting company Peacefulfish (peacefulfish.com). 

Levison is an Adjunct Professor in the Extension Program at UCLA and has been a Visiting Professor at the Taipei (Taiwan) National University of the Arts and Chapman University (Orange County, CA).  She has presented seminars and/or been on panels for Film Independent (FIND), the Sundance Film Festival, Producer’s Guild of America, Galway (Ireland) Film Fleadh, National Association of Latino Independent Producers, Texas Accountants and Lawyers for the Arts, Austin Film Festival, Florida Motion Picture and Television Association, Cincinnati Film Commission, Arizona Film Commission, Women in Film, California Lawyers for the Arts, Hollywood Film Festival, Hollywood Black Film Festival, The Learning Annex (N.Y. and L.A.) and many others.  Prior to working in the entertainment industry, Levison worked for the Stanford Research Institute, the American Iron and Steel Institute, two for-profit hospital corporations and as a stockbroker.  She a member of Film Independent (L.A.), Women in Film, the International Documentary Association and the U.S. Internet Industry Association.  Her graduate education includes an M.A. in Asian Area Studies from New York University and an M.B.A. in Finance from California State University, Dominguez Hills.  

Graduate of UCLA and Whittier College School of Law, is a Martindale-Hubbell AV-rated attorney at law, admitted to practice in both California (since 1980) and Texas (since 1994) as well as in the Federal Courts of the United States and the United States Tax Court.  Today, Saleman maintains offices in Los Angeles, Austin and Dallas, and is also affiliated with a law office in Albuquerque, New Mexico.  While Saleman’s counsel focuses on business-related intellectual property and deals with all aspects of the relevant law including corporate, contract, transactional and litigation, his practice maintains a special emphasis on film, music, multimedia and software.

In 27-plus years of practice in the area of film, Saleman has worked on more than 70 completed and distributed independent films and has represented individuals in almost all sectors of the entertainment industry, including independent filmmakers, actors, writers, TV producers, and former studio heads of network programming.  These films include Tilt (Brooke Shields’ first film), Das Boot, All the Pretty Horses, Dancer, Texas Pop.81, Going Overboard (Adam Sandler’s first feature film as a lead) and many others.  His website, www.movielaw.net, has been acclaimed as a valuable tool for independent film producers seeking legal information in connection with their films.  Saleman’s practice covers the full gamut of filmmaking:  the creation of production companies, financing documents, distribution negotiation and agreements, and all related production contracts.  He has prepared offerings, L.L.C.s, limited partnerships and other financing vehicles for independent film projects which have gained worldwide distribution. 
 

Organizations to which Saleman belongs include the Austin Intellectual Property Lawyers Association, National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences (NARAS), Dallas Communication Council, Video Association of Dallas, Texas Association of Film/Tape Professionals, Artist’s Legal and Account Assistance, National Association of Latino Independent Producers (NALIP), Women in Film (Austin and Dallas), Film Independent (formerly IFP/West), Film Alliance of Austin, Austin Film Society and is a Charter Member of Phi Alpha Delta Legal Fraternity.  Saleman has lectured at UCLA, Loyola Law School, Whittier College School of Law, Chapman College Film School and the University of Texas at Austin, among others.  Currently, Saleman acts as advisor to the Texas Film Commission, sits on the board of the Film Texas Fund and was one of the drafters of the Texas Film Development Act in conjunction with Terry Lipman.