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Dixon Q. Dern, nan longtime intermezo lawyer who worked astatine CBS, Desilu and United Artists TV; who represented clients specified arsenic Desi Arnaz and nan Television Academy; who often served arsenic an arbitrator for labour disputes; who helped incorporated CAA and who was a pioneer successful syndicated income and pre-financing for TV, died connected July 19. That, according to an obituary posted by Forest Lawn, Hollywood Hills. He was 97.
Dern began his profession arsenic an in-house counsel for United Artists Television, Desilu and CBS earlier founding his ain patient wherever he represented Desi Arnaz, nan Television Academy, Village Roadshow, nan Bob Hope Estate and galore others.
Dern was often astatine nan nexus of powerfulness successful Hollywood.
One time successful nan mid-seventies, Michael Ovitz showed up, closed Dern’s agency doorway and told him he and his associates would beryllium backmost for a gathering nan adjacent day. The taxable of nan projected gathering was not disclosed.
“The adjacent time 5 guys showed up,” said Dern. “It was nan 5 founders of CAA. They were fundamentally nan apical 5 guys successful William Morris’ tv section and they told maine they were leaving William Morris and wanted to group up a caller agency. So I formed a corporation. They rented a small agency pinch fold-up desks fold-up tables. We did their ineligible activity for them for astir six months.”
Dern often served arsenic an arbitrator nether various manufacture corporate bargaining agreements, specifically nan DGA and WGA.
Dern represented nan Television Academy for decades. He played a cardinal domiciled successful settling a long-simmering feud betwixt its Los Angeles and New York contingents.
From nan Academy’s official history:
By 1976, nan business had exacerbated to nan constituent where, astatine nan semiannual charismatic nationalist committee gathering astatine nan Beverly Wilshire Hotel, each section designated five-man speech teams to meet separately from nan remainder of nan attendees for a two-day acme convened to agent a detente.
The Los Angeles contingent consisted of Michael Baugh, Dixon Dern, Hank Rieger, nan precocious Bob Sweeney and past Los Angeles section president Larry Stewart, who was president of nan negotiating committee.
Reaching a colony took acold longer than 2 days.
Again, from nan Academy’s charismatic history:
After overmuch ineligible wrangling, nan 2 groups agreed to sever successful 1977. According to nan position of nan dissolution, some would clasp their nationalist status, pinch nan group successful Los Angeles retaining its original name, nan Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, and nan New York assemblage retaining nan sanction of National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.
Each group would besides power circumstantial grant shows: nan Los Angeles-based Television Academy kept nan Primetime Emmys, and jurisdiction complete nan Los Angeles chapter; nan New York entity retained nan Daytime, News, Documentary and Sports Emmys, arsenic good arsenic jurisdiction complete nan 19 chapters passim nan U.S. that produced their ain section Emmy events.
Dern besides learned a batch astir nan business while successful nan ineligible section astatine CBS.
“When I sewage location it was pre Fin-Syn, nan financial liking syndication norm which later barred nan networks from owning distribution rights,” he said successful a 2021 interview pinch nan Beverly Hills Bar Association, of which he was a erstwhile president. “But astatine nan time…CBS could ain its ain shows. In fact, successful astir cases, it did and we did each nan accumulation activity connected them.”
Among those shows were classics for illustration Gunsmoke, Have Gun Will Travel and Perry Mason.
Dern later moved to Desilu erstwhile Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball were still progressive there.
“One point we did location that was, I think, instrumental to nan industry: We decided to group up a syndicated income organization. We group up Desilu Sales which became nan forerunner of Paramount Television today.”
He near Desilu aft Paramount acquired nan company.
When Dern group up his ain practice, Desi became 1 of his first clients and stayed pinch him until nan time nan actor/producer died. Even aft Desi’s death, Dern maintained a moving narration pinch nan family. In fact, Dern represented Lucy and Desi Arnaz Jr. successful negotiating authorities for Amazon’s Being nan Ricardos.
Through nan years, Dern besides became progressive successful back-end tv financing and pre-sales to overseas distributors.
“I had a number of clients who were producing shows and they would get nan costs from nan web but they wouldn’t person capable money to to decorativeness production,” he recalled. “So you’d spell retired and get distributors. They were guaranteed to put up nan money connected delivery. Then I would spell to a slope — aliases really I went to Lew Horowitz. He would group up nan financing pinch a slope and past arsenic soon arsenic nan image was delivered nan supplier would salary nan slope and everybody would beryllium happy. It’s very akin to nan building that was done successful nan independent movie market.”
Services will beryllium held astatine Forest Lawn, Hollywood Hills from 9:30 a.m. – 10 a.m. connected July 31.
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