Episode 11

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Published on:

15th Feb 2022

11. Law & Order: Special Metaverse Unit

Anita Sharma from Sharma Law joins me on the podcast this week! Anita is not only a lawyer for talent and entertainment, but dapples in the creative arts herself through filmmaking. We discuss talent contracts, collaborations, and everyone's favorite Metaverse topic: NFTs.

Transcript
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Welcome to the meta woman podcast we address the

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issues, opportunities and challenges facing women in the

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development of the metaverse the biggest revolution since the

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internet itself. Every week we bring you conversations with top

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female talent and business executives operating in the

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gaming and crypto industries. Here's your host Lindsey, the

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boss pass. The metal woman podcast starts now.

Lindsay Poss:

Hello, and welcome to the metal woman podcast part

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of the holodeck media Podcast Network. I'm your host Lindsay

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the boss pass from struggle to success. We're covering it all.

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To our returning listeners. Thank you so much for supporting

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the show. Leave those five star ratings and reviews you already

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know what to do tell a friend about the pod. For new

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listeners. Welcome. I hope you enjoy. We have a great guest

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this week, if any of you also listen to the business of

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esports. You have heard her before in a wonderful episode

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that I highly recommend checking out as well. We have a Nita

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Sharma, founder of Sharma law, which specializes in

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entertainment, talent, representation, intellectual

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property, digital media production, legal and corporate

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commercial law, which has a whole lot of specialties, which

Lindsay Poss:

is awesome. Anita, welcome to the show. To start, please feel

Lindsay Poss:

free to introduce yourself. Tell us a couple sentences about your

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background. Let the audience get to know you a little.

Unknown:

Sure. Yeah, I mean, I'm excited to be here. So thank you

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so much for inviting me, Lindsay, you did a great job,

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sort of summing up the firm and all those different areas. So

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thank you for that. So, um, like Lindsay said, my name is Anita

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Sharma, I'm an attorney and be set in New York City. I'm an

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entertainment lawyer. And I've been doing this for about 20

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years. So it's been a long time and you know, started out in

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traditional so to speak film and TV and we really turned our

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focus to digital in about 2013. So, you know, excited to speak

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to you about all things digital gaming, the metaverse, entities

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the whole works.

Lindsay Poss:

Yes, they think that's gonna be so much fun. As

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I was sort of lamenting to you before the show, I in covering

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the metaverse, it's been very interesting, because I don't

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really have a set definition for what it is. And I don't think

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anyone else does either. And of course, Facebook changing its

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name has shifted the conversation, but we will get to

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all of that. I'm excited to talk about it with you. I would love

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to start a little bit with your background in representing

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gaming and esports talent, what that looks like for you what

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your motivations were and starting to represent those

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folks. And what it's just generally like to represent that

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type of content creator.

Unknown:

Yeah, so my firm, we primarily represent talents, and

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primarily in digital media, so a lot of influencers, digital

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content creators, and now gamers. And so we really started

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in the influencer space. And like I mentioned before, back in

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2013, we were one of the first firms to really start

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representing influencers. And I also like to call them digital

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content creators, because I feel like influencers just like

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turned into such a dirty word now. And people like think like,

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it's just, you know, flaky people taking photos of

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themselves all day on Instagram, whereas our clients are actually

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creating like, incredibly compelling, you know, content on

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the internet and on their social media platforms and elsewhere.

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And so, am I often use the term digital content creator. So, you

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know, we started back when I think people started to realize,

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I think he was ranted as 13 that, that Social Media and

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Gaming, were actually businesses and you could build businesses

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from them. And it wasn't just all about cat videos was like,

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you could actually create amazing content. And so, you

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know, in starting there, and getting to where we are today,

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you know, it was really last year that we started to turn our

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focus to gamers and esports. And really looking at that and

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saying it's really a logical extension of our practice,

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right? You know, people are talking to us about Twitch all

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the time, we're looking at what's happening there. It's

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talent, you know, games are talent, as well. And, you know,

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the first deal I did was, you know, for gamer who was joining

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FaZe Clan. And so that was kind of starting at the top. So that

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was incredibly interesting to me. And working through that

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contract and seeing what was there and, and so I think, you

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know, gamers are entertainers as well. And we like to represent

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entertainers and creative people. And so again, it was

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just a logical extension of the practice but also just an

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incredibly interesting worlds.

Lindsay Poss:

Yeah, that's a really cool kind of way of

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transitioning into that. And I can't believe that your first

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deal was FaZe Clan member. That's awesome. That is kind of

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that is a very high level very well known place to start, which

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is awesome. Do you mainly in you can let me know if you can't

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speak about this. But do you mainly do like Team contracts

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and deals? Are you looking at content creation or is it a mix

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of both or when specifically with these kind of gaming

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digital creators? What is Is the What's your majority client look

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like? Yeah,

Unknown:

sure, I can definitely speak to it. So we are doing all

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kinds of contracts. So ranging from doing brand and sponsorship

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deals, to merch contracts, and to some team contracts and

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events, you know. So it's really like across the board, whatever

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legal need comes up for the game or the talent. But we also do

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trademark work, for example, and a lot of, you know, gamers

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haven't thought about trademarking handles and things

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like that. So we advise on that, you know, that area of IP. But

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yeah, basically, we're general counsel to our clients, right.

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So anything that comes up legal wise, that they need we help

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with, and we work with their teams, if they have a team if

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they have an agent, or a manager, or both, like we work,

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you know, within that team, and it's really about helping, you

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know, gamers, build businesses and elevate their profiles and

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build their brands. And I think, you know, that's happening more

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and more. Now. Gaming has been around for a very long time. But

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I think it's only now I feel like the gaming industry is

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where the influencer industry was in 2013. I feel like it's

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now starting to realize this is a business gamers are starting

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to understand. I need, you know, representation, I need help with

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contracts, and are starting to you know, that structure is

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starting to sort of be introduced to the gaming worlds.

Lindsay Poss:

Oh, I would love to ask you a little bit more

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about that. How, what has changed for the influencing

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industry between 2013 I think is when you said 2012 2013. And now

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and then how do you see that change? Or that those similar

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changes being incorporated into gaming? Yeah, I

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mean, I think it's really all about people

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realizing that social media is a platform on which they can build

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businesses. So they have their social media platforms, just

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like gamers would have Twitch, but they can actually do a whole

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bunch of other stuff, right, built on that platform or built

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from that platform. So they could start to do merch they can

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start to do you know, content creation deals with other

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companies, and obviously, the sponsorships brand deals. But I

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feel like now in the influencer world, even though it's still

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the Wild West, don't get me wrong. But it's definitely

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there's more agencies out there. There's more agents

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representing, you know, influencers, managers, like all

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of the big agencies are obviously involved. CHW mme, UTA

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three everybody at the same was, you know, they also have gaming

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divisions. So it's like these structures, and these, you know,

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people and represented representatives are sort of

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coming on board now, and are saying, Look, let me help you,

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because we see the potential here. And it's sort of, you

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know, becoming more streamlined and sort of more in line with

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like, common business practices.

Lindsay Poss:

Gotcha. That makes sense. In speaking of social

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media, what are the kind of crossovers that you see between

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your gaming influencers? And your social media content

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producers are? There's, there's obviously a link between the

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two, and we all know that at face value, but from your

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perspective, what are the positives and negatives? What

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does it mean for gaming to be moving more into this social

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media type of space? I would love to just get your thoughts

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on on that kind of that the link between those two?

Unknown:

Yeah, I mean, I think that I think it's all the same,

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to be honest, like Twitch is a social media platform. So it

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just happens to be the platform that most gamers are on. Right.

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So but those gamers have followers, people comment

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people, you know, watching the same way that someone would

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watch, you know, an Instagram real or or scroll through

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somebody's Instagram page. So I don't, I don't see like a

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distinction there. I think that, you know, gamers are also social

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media personalities. And they're just the platform is different,

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right? Because their platform is tWitch, mainly. So it's, I don't

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necessarily see, like, a distinction between the two. In

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terms of crossover. It's sort of like, you know, I think a lot of

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gamers don't have a presence on other platforms. But I do see

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that changing now. Right? I think it's, as these gamers

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become more personalities and more sort of brands, no, they

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become brands themselves. It's like they're venturing onto

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different platforms. And I'm definitely seeing that

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happening. I mean, in terms of negatives, it's sort of like,

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it's, you know, the negatives that you see with all the

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platforms and anyone you know, putting themselves out there on

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any of these platforms is just you know, the trolls, you know,

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racism sexism, I mean, that's definitely sadly is not that

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away. And you know, that's a huge negative because obviously,

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we know on the internet, everybody's anonymous, so you

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can be anonymous, I should say, definitely be anonymous. So

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it's, that's that's an issue that sadly, is not going away

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and I know a lot of gamers and especially female gamers and

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gamers of color. LGBTQ gamers have really suffered because of

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that and it's really unfortunate

Lindsay Poss:

Yeah, that's definitely. I mean, there's all

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kinds of policy and legislation being talked about with that.

Lindsay Poss:

Unfortunately, I think it's just, there's no good kind of

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policy solution for that. And I think big companies are trying

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to figure it out. And I would, I would really like to get kind of

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your opinion on what big companies are doing as well,

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because you talk about influencers, moving cross

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platform and doing all of that, there is still and we've seen

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this, I'm mainly thinking about Doctor disrespect here, who was

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banned from twitch. And he then has had definitely a resurgence

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and a big following on other social media platforms. But from

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a legal perspective, when you're thinking about your clients, how

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are you thinking about the power that platforms have? Of course,

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it's a First Amendment right for platforms to be able to keep and

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get rid of whomever they would like. But are you kind of

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thinking about pushing clients to use multiple platforms? In

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case there's some type of violation? It could be even a

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non toxic type of violation? Are you thinking that it's, it's

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good to kind of go all in with certain platforms that have

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better or clear rules and restrictions? What are you

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thinking about the relationship between creators and platforms

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and kind of the power dynamic between the two?

Unknown:

Yeah, I mean, I think a lot of creators stuff, burnout,

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or just creating on one platform, you know, or streaming

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on one platform, I mean, I think it's not really my place to tell

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the client like, oh, you should be three different platforms and

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be creating all this content. I mean, I think it really depends

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on the individual themselves, right, and how much content that

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they want to create. I think that, in a way, we're lucky that

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there are platforms out there, if you do get kicked off, one,

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you can go to another platform. And hopefully, you were kicked

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off for the wrong reasons, and not the right reasons. You know,

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if you're kicking off or making like, terrible, you know,

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remarks, vote people, etc. We don't necessarily want you on

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another platform. But I do think like Facebook, gaming is

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aggressively going after gamers, YouTube Gaming is aggressively

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going after gamers and trying to get them to sign on with them.

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So it's a good thing. There's other platforms for sure. But

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again, like I wouldn't tell my clients if you need to be on a

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bunch of platforms. I mean, it's just it really is up to them.

Lindsay Poss:

That makes sense. Yeah, it was ensure, from, from

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your experience, and from the people you've worked with, if it

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was, I don't know better or worse to be on multiple. But the

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the burnout part is definitely real.

Unknown:

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, most of my clients are on more

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than one platform. You know, at least two if not three, but it

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is like, you know, now tick tock, obviously, is huge, and

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the pressure to be there on tick tock So, but it is, I mean, it's

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creating a ton of content constantly, every single day.

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And that's, that's tough. So I think that's, you know,

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something people are keeping in mind as they're thinking about

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all these different platforms.

Lindsay Poss:

When taking a step back to when creators are

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actually getting started. When do you recommend or when do you

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think I don't recommend is the right word, because I don't

Lindsay Poss:

expect you to give free legal advice here. But at what level?

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Do you think creators and influencers should start

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bringing on legal support services? Or are you seeing that

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a lot of people maybe aren't bringing them on and winding up?

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Kind of regretting it or, or taking or moving backwards a

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little bit later? What does that look like for content creators

Lindsay Poss:

out there who may be listening? Yeah,

Unknown:

I mean, this is a question I get asked so

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commonly, and I feel like it's just the most popular question,

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especially for talent. So I mean, it's, sadly, we do often

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come in after the fact right, so we will come in because somebody

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has signed something. And they're like, I signed this, and

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I want to get out of it. What is this? They're telling me, No,

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they own all my content, or whatever. So we do try to do

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some damage control there. I understand. You know, it's

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intimidating, it's intimidating to think about hiring a lawyer,

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people think they're going to be paying 1000s and 1000s of

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dollars in fees. And, and I understand that, but at the same

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time, if you are serious about building a business, about

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elevating your brand and all those, you know, all that other

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great stuff. The second you have a contract in front of you, you

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should have an attorney review that contract because even the

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boilerplate the legal boilerplate within it affects

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your rights and it imposes obligations on you. And because

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you're creating your own content as talent it's so important to

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protect that you know, and to make sure just can't use it any

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way they want for like minimal compensation. So I would say you

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know, when you get those that first piece of paperwork, it

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would be good to like consult with somebody and you know, get

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some help with it and there will be upfront costs, but there's

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upfront possibility business no matter what that businesses. So

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it's just absolutely, you know, consider and hopefully, you

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know, you can find an attorney that can help them be

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affordable. But I do think it's really important.

Lindsay Poss:

I like that you brought up specifically signing

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contracts, because I think that's a very easy marker for a

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lot of people looking to get into the industry. And I'm so

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glad I could ask you the questions that you've been asked

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20 times already?

Unknown:

No, it definitely always finds you know, and it's

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so interesting. I totally get it.

Lindsay Poss:

Well, speaking of things that are on the mind, a

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couple months ago, you wrote an opinion piece on Twitch and DMCA

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takedowns. We'll link to it in the show notes. People can check

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it out, if they want to read the whole thing. But for those of

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you that aren't familiar, I'm going to read a quick scenario

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that I need to actually wrote to describe a DMCA takedown. If you

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don't know the acronym, DMCA, please just Google it. At this

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point, I almost feel like it's part of the vernacular because

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it's been around for a while. But this this scenario is that a

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twitch user plays a third party copyrighted song in the

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background while they stream, the copyright holder of the song

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finds out in sense Twitch DMCA takedown notification,

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generally, without warning to the alleged infringing Twitch

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user. Once the complaint has been verified, Twitch will

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remove the allegedly infringing content and issue a DMCA notice

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to take down the allegedly infringing Twitch user. So

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essentially, is people having their content removed for things

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like playing music in the background when they might not

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realize that's a copyright violation. So in addition to

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this article, you've done more work on how this type of action

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from a platform to a content creator can be really damaging.

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I was wondering if you could speak more about how you handle

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these scenarios with your clients and what creators can do

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to protect themselves from having this happen to

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them? Sure, yeah. I mean, it's, it's tough. It's a

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really tough situation. Because, you know, twitch in particular,

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is a platform I don't think has been helpful to users at all.

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twitches, oh, my Amazon, it's unbelievable to be that Amazon

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has Amazon music. And somehow there is some deal there that

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helps creators use music, you know, where there is a catalog

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of music, they can use it, our current hits, like we're not

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talking about, you know, stock music from decades. We're

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talking

Lindsay Poss:

about such a good point. Yeah, I have the ability.

Lindsay Poss:

Yeah, exactly.

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So I mean, I don't know, I'm just speaking, I don't

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know what's going on behind the scenes there. Like how it works.

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But my point is, from an outsider's perspective, and as a

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lawyer who represents creators and talent and gamers, it's,

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it's frustrating, right? Because they should really be helping

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gamers, use music, be able to use music and the way that they

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do that, as they make a deal with music companies. And

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Facebook has done that already. You know, YouTube has to deal

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with music company. So it's, it's the bottom line is this if

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you cannot use third party copyrighted content in your

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content, and that includes music, and it's, you know, I

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always tell clients that, you know, I explained it this way,

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how would you feel if somebody took some of your IP, something

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you created, whether it's a stream or video or photo, and

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just used it without a credit to you, or any compensation you are

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without reaching out to you, right? You would probably be

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kind of annoyed with that, right? You might not want you

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might not say, Well, you might not go after the legally, but it

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would be annoying, it would be like that's your work, right?

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That they've just they're using in their brain fitting

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commercially. So I advise my clients not to use third party

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music and their content and to be aware of that, or any kind of

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third party IP. And, you know, that's just the way it is, I

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think, people think, for some reason that the internet or you

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know, the blockchain and these different things that IP laws

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don't apply. And, you know, for better or worse they do, they do

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still apply. And so, you know, for me, the solution is for

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Twitch to make a deal with the labels and music companies like

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other platforms have and help their users, you know, access

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legally.

Lindsay Poss:

Are there any kind of those systemic changes that

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you think would help creators in the future avoid this kind of

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infringement and also give give credit to the people that

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they're using IP from as well.

Unknown:

So by systemic changes, DB changes within the platform

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themselves?

Lindsay Poss:

Yeah. changes within the platforms. Yeah. Or

Lindsay Poss:

within rules of use, or? Yeah, it's hard for me to Yeah, but

Lindsay Poss:

let's stick with those within the platforms. Yeah.

Unknown:

I mean, it's like a set. I mean, the only way that

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you could use somebody else's IP is if you have a license to use

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that Right, or like they've given you permission in some

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way, or they decide rights to you or something like that. So

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it's, there's really nothing like a platform do in terms of

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its Terms of Use except for, you know, obtain those licenses to

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allow users use third party IP, like music, and they're in a

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position to do that. And they make billions of dollars. And

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there, they can do it. So I don't know what's preventing it

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from happening. Like I said, I'm not privy to any of those

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conversations or anything, but I'm very curious as to why it's

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not happening. And it's, again, coming from the talent side,

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it's infuriating, because without the talent, there would

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be no channel, you know? So that's kind of it's frustrating,

Unknown:

for sure. Yeah, well, in

Lindsay Poss:

you, you've spoken quite a bit about the talent

Lindsay Poss:

side and about the creative process and how you're really

Lindsay Poss:

looking to support artists. And you yourself have a pretty

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illustrious background in creative pursuits, including

Lindsay Poss:

producing films that have premiered at festivals and were

Lindsay Poss:

picked up for distribution, How has being in the creative

Lindsay Poss:

process and your background in that helped you understand not

Lindsay Poss:

only the games clients that you might bring on, but some of the

Lindsay Poss:

other digital creators that you're working with?

Unknown:

Well, you're very kind. First of all, it's called

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illustrious, I don't know if that but the thing, how many

Lindsay Poss:

people can say with that they've done anything

Lindsay Poss:

in film production, give yourself some credit,

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shape that that's very kind of you. So we so I've been

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practicing law for a while for within about eight or nine

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years, and I was sort of disillusioned a little bit, and

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I, you know, done the big firms thing, and was just like, not

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loving the law or being a lawyer. And so I was always

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interested in, you know, the creative process and working

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with creative people and producing. And so I went back to

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film school in Canada, where I'm from, and, you know, did this

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program called the producers Lab, which was just amazing, and

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life changing, you know, and all of a sudden, I was sitting on

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the other side of the table in the sense that I was the talent,

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you know, I was the creative person working with other

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creative people in order to produce film and film had always

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been my first love. So it was just such a dream come true. You

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know, and that was an amazing experience. And I think, you

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know, I graduated from that program. And I did, you know,

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the first short, I produced, you know, premiered at the Toronto

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Film Festival, which was exciting and made its way around

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the worlds different festivals, and produced an indie feature

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that got picked up by each one. And that was all exciting and

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amazing. And I realized, at the end of the day, that I didn't

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love being a hands on producer on a daily basis, and I but I

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really loved business and legal aspects of creating things. And

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that was where my strength was, and my passion was, and so, you

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know, I went back to law, I would, I would love to produce,

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if I just had the bandwidth, it's so hard to sort of do

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everything I'm hoping to get back to it, because I, I would

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love to executive produce, you know, it's not him not producing

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every day, but putting projects together and stuff, I would love

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to get back to that. But you know, it's, it's helpful,

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because, first of all, you know, I understood what it felt to be

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vulnerable, you know, it's near the lawyer, you're not

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vulnerable, like, you have all the answers, people are slightly

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intimidated by you. But in this case, I was putting myself on

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the other side of the table, and really, you know, my ideas were

Unknown:

under scrutiny, you know, I was getting feedback, it was when

Unknown:

you're a creative, this is what happens, you know, people tell

Unknown:

you about new give you feedback on your content and your ideas.

Unknown:

And, and I feel like that really gives me a great understanding

Unknown:

of my clients and the passion to really advocate for them,

Unknown:

because I understood what it feels like, and also how hard it

Unknown:

is to create content. I mean, they all make it look so easy,

Unknown:

but it's hard, it's difficult. It's especially good content,

Unknown:

and and it should be rewarded. So you know, having that

Unknown:

experience just made me even more passionate for advocating

Unknown:

for creative people and talent. And, you know, I love what I do.

Unknown:

I'm lucky that I'm somebody that comes to work, and I love what I

Unknown:

do every day. But that that to me was really besides learning

Unknown:

the technical skills of how to create something. Just being

Unknown:

able to experience something in a different way, in the

Unknown:

entertainment business in a different way, was just

Unknown:

unbelievably rewarding and helpful to me in my legal

Unknown:

career.

Lindsay Poss:

I think the point that you make about people who

Lindsay Poss:

are actually the digital creators to being subjected to

Lindsay Poss:

the most criticism and being in the most vulnerable position is

Lindsay Poss:

one that I had not thought about before either. That's a really

Lindsay Poss:

astute point to me, because we often see an end product and we

Lindsay Poss:

don't see the work that goes in to it, and we don't think about

Lindsay Poss:

what kind of criticisms we're giving, when we don't

Lindsay Poss:

necessarily appreciate that work in the way that the creator

Lindsay Poss:

intended. So I can, I can really appreciate that. And I will look

Lindsay Poss:

at digital media a little bit differently as a result. So

Lindsay Poss:

thank you for that. And for sharing that experience, I do

Lindsay Poss:

want to pivot a little bit in our, in our last phone call, you

Lindsay Poss:

talked about how you wanted to represent more women in the

Lindsay Poss:

industry, and how you set yourself, you have also already

Lindsay Poss:

set yourself apart and that you're a creator, or that you've

Lindsay Poss:

experienced both sides, that the underground experience of

Lindsay Poss:

actually being a creator, and a lot of the clients who represent

Lindsay Poss:

our Creator, so you can see it from both angles. What are the

Lindsay Poss:

differences you saw, both as a creator and now as

Lindsay Poss:

representation for women in the industry?

Unknown:

Yeah, I mean, you know, one of the reasons I was very

Unknown:

interested in getting into gaming was because I was reading

Unknown:

about all these female gamers that were being abused online,

Unknown:

were not getting the recognition that they deserved. And that,

Unknown:

you know, really made me angry. And I think as women, we have

Unknown:

sadly experienced this a lot in no matter what industry you're

Unknown:

in is, you know, always having to sort of work harder than your

Unknown:

male counterparts or being under, you know, an increased

Unknown:

amount of scrutiny and, you know, being expected to sort of,

Unknown:

not self promote, and not shout from the rooftops, because

Unknown:

that's that, you know, something that women should do. And so

Unknown:

that, you know, I think it's improved slightly, I think, the

Unknown:

same problems that female creators face. If women just

Unknown:

face in general around whether you recreate or you're somebody

Unknown:

in business, or you're an attorney, I think it's, you

Unknown:

know, there's the same problems that I just talked about. So I'm

Unknown:

not seeing a big difference there. To be honest, I think we,

Unknown:

we, as women, we continue to try to elevate each other's voices,

Unknown:

you know, I can elevate female creative voices, and female, you

Unknown:

know, whenever talent signs on to me, like I always sided with

Unknown:

me, I always say to them, your success is our success, right?

Unknown:

Everybody know, meeting each other. And that's, you know,

Unknown:

that's definitely the case. And I'm really proud of my firm's

Unknown:

roster, we're really diverse, we represent a an incredible number

Unknown:

of women who are doing amazing things just really proud of, and

Unknown:

I will say this, you know, and I'll date myself a little bit

Unknown:

here, but this whole Gen Z, sort of Gen Z situation, or, you

Unknown:

know, the Gen Z generation, so to speak, I will say that I

Unknown:

think a lot of these young women are not only amazing, but

Unknown:

actually, you know, mean, what they say when they say they want

Unknown:

to work with other women, they actually do. And I think that's

Unknown:

incredibly helpful. And I think that's something that has

Unknown:

changed. I don't think, no, not this my own generation. But I

Unknown:

don't think there was that commitment there. And I see it

Unknown:

with younger people. And I think it's amazing, I see a lot of

Unknown:

young women that are like, I want to work with other women.

Unknown:

And they do. And I think that's bringing, that's going to be

Unknown:

helpful to address some issues that sadly, are still there

Unknown:

today, whether you're a creator, businessperson or attorney,

Unknown:

wherever you are as a woman.

Lindsay Poss:

I wonder if that's because there has been an AI,

Lindsay Poss:

this is a phrase that I've used quite a bit on this podcast, but

Lindsay Poss:

it certainly feels like there has been a shift from

Lindsay Poss:

competition to collaboration. It's to me, it feels like when I

Lindsay Poss:

was growing up, a lot of the women, industry leaders and

Lindsay Poss:

business people I had to look up to almost had to put other women

Lindsay Poss:

down to secure their own spot in an industry. You know, I'm not

Lindsay Poss:

like other women, I'm one of the guys kind of kind of thing to

Lindsay Poss:

fit in. Right. And it feels as if that's going by the wayside.

Lindsay Poss:

And it feels as if women are getting into positions of power

Lindsay Poss:

and are saying, hey, you know, I want to hire more women and give

Lindsay Poss:

them the opportunity that I didn't have, rather than

Lindsay Poss:

ferociously hanging on to the opportunity for themselves. I

Lindsay Poss:

don't know if that's the phenomenon you're describing.

Lindsay Poss:

That's definitely my take on it. But it certainly feels we've

Lindsay Poss:

become much more collaborative, which is something I really

Lindsay Poss:

appreciate.

Unknown:

I mean, I 100% agree with that. And I think that a

Unknown:

large part of it is the internet, right? Because we're

Unknown:

able cooperate with each other very easily. You're able to

Unknown:

connect with people easily there aren't all these gatekeepers to

Unknown:

go through where it's like, Oh, I wish I could contact somebody

Unknown:

at this company. This woman that seems really interesting, and

Unknown:

I'm interested in what she's doing. You can DM people now you

Unknown:

can reach that, you know, it's the gatekeepers are gone. And I

Unknown:

think the spirit of collaboration is definitely it's

Unknown:

a great way to put it. I love that you put it that way. I

Unknown:

think it's definitely moved from competition to collaboration.

Unknown:

But there's also more room for women now, right? There's more

Unknown:

room for many different industries. And, you know,

Unknown:

hopefully we continue to make these strides in this progress

Unknown:

where it's like it is, you know, half the female, you know, half

Unknown:

the directors nominated for an Oscar are women like, I hope we

Unknown:

can get in or we're not there. Right. But I hope we can get

Unknown:

there. So it's, and I do think it's moving in the right

Unknown:

direction. But I do have a lot of faith in, you know, all of

Unknown:

these young women who are doing amazing things coming out of

Unknown:

college, working with other women uplifting their voices.

Unknown:

And I'm seeing it for sure. And it's definitely a shift.

Lindsay Poss:

That's so one of the things that we've been

Lindsay Poss:

talking about on this podcast, in addition to that has been the

Lindsay Poss:

building of the metaverse and how one of my big things is, I

Lindsay Poss:

do not want the crypto bros to be the ones that are fully in

Lindsay Poss:

charge of it. But I would love to get some of your thoughts on

Lindsay Poss:

the metaverse how your clients are exploring this idea. As

Lindsay Poss:

we've talked about, I do think personally as well, that Gen Z

Lindsay Poss:

is a totally different take on it. You know Millennials were

Lindsay Poss:

the were considered the digital natives. But even for us, we

Lindsay Poss:

haven't fully integrated our lives online in the way some of

Lindsay Poss:

Gen Z has, particularly now that they are even having to do so

Lindsay Poss:

much school online. But what what kind of things are your

Lindsay Poss:

clients exploring within the metaverse arena? And what has

Lindsay Poss:

that been like for you representing digital artists and

Lindsay Poss:

digital content creators?

Unknown:

Yeah, so I think everybody sort of, it's

Unknown:

interesting, the beginning of 2022, everyone started to talk

Unknown:

about the metaverse, right. So this is like I feel like in the

Unknown:

last few weeks, yep. Right now is that people are sitting back

Unknown:

and observing and waiting. You know, they know that somehow

Unknown:

they're going to have some presence in the metaverse. You

Unknown:

know, these social media platforms. Like you talked

Unknown:

earlier, you and I for the show about, you know, Facebook,

Unknown:

changing the meta. So everyone's kind of I think, right now

Unknown:

sitting back and sort of waiting to see what happens. Because to

Unknown:

be honest, like, I feel like the metaverse is already here. And

Unknown:

in the form of things like fortnight, right like that in

Unknown:

Yeah. I'm not sure why everybody's like, Oh, this is

Unknown:

this crazy, new thing, but I think it's in within the gaming

Unknown:

industry. And this is where the gaming industry is particularly

Unknown:

interesting to me. They're already there. And they're

Unknown:

already doing it. And you know, coordinated ticular is having

Unknown:

concerts within the game, you know, live monsters. And that,

Unknown:

to me is really fascinating. And being somebody who loves

Unknown:

entertainment and loves the business. I just I saw gaming

Unknown:

being having this incredible foresight and already doing

Unknown:

things that nobody else was doing in that world. That that

Unknown:

was another reason I wanted to be involved in it. But I do

Unknown:

think right now my clients are sort of waiting to see like,

Unknown:

what is this about? And so that they're ready when it's time to

Unknown:

be part of that Metaverse of whatever form that's going to

Unknown:

take. I just don't think people know right now what the form is,

Unknown:

but I can tell you viewing contracts now. You know if if

Unknown:

we're talking about different platforms or exclusivity on

Unknown:

different social media platforms, we are carving out

Unknown:

the metaverse meaning we're saying this does not include the

Unknown:

metaverse not even knowing what that is yet. We might have

Unknown:

reserving the right to figure it out. When we get there instead

Unknown:

of sort of handing rights over to something we don't even know

Unknown:

what it is.

Lindsay Poss:

Right. That's such an interesting way of including

Lindsay Poss:

it without needing to define it because you're you're absolutely

Lindsay Poss:

right in that it's so undefined. And I would like to point out,

Lindsay Poss:

as I have before that this podcast was named before the

Lindsay Poss:

announcement of Facebook changing its name. So either

Lindsay Poss:

they copied us, or it was some really, really wild timing for

Lindsay Poss:

us.

Unknown:

company out there called meta that I think they're

Unknown:

fighting trademarks or something. But yeah, I mean,

Unknown:

that's a tough one to trade by. I can tell you right now.

Lindsay Poss:

I know. We'll see what happens with that. As as

Lindsay Poss:

someone who's also interested in digital art one of the few kind

Lindsay Poss:

of Metaverse II things that has that really exploded in 2021. I

Lindsay Poss:

guess when we were all bored at home was NF Ts. Do you represent

Lindsay Poss:

any clients getting into this space? How do you think about

Lindsay Poss:

this as someone who wants to see art rewarded? What are your

Lindsay Poss:

what's your take on the NFT marketplace and landscape?

Unknown:

Yeah, I love it. Yeah, great. Yeah, I think it's great.

Unknown:

I think that we do have clients that are getting into it, who

Unknown:

want them in tennis, or you know, we're helping we're

Unknown:

educating them on that process and platforms like open see and

Unknown:

other platforms you can use and helping them do deals and hiring

Unknown:

graphic designers etc. To help them you know, create the

Unknown:

artwork and that they want to miss And so yeah, I mean, look

Unknown:

at NFT is really just a certificate. It's a digital

Unknown:

certificate of ownership, you know, and it's created on the

Unknown:

blockchain and that tech, that piece is not going away. Right.

Unknown:

So I think when people talk about like, oh, like you bought

Unknown:

a JPEG for $3,000, like, Are you an idiot? Like, I don't, that's

Unknown:

not what it's about to be, right. Like whether that person

Unknown:

donated or not, is neither here nor there is lots of NF T, the

Unknown:

token is not going anywhere. And so right now we're seeing it

Unknown:

used in connection with digital art. And the mainstream media is

Unknown:

picking up the people story with everybody knows $69 million, you

Unknown:

know, or the 40 Yacht Club, people know all about those

Unknown:

celebrities buying those NF T's. But it's, it's so much more than

Unknown:

that. Like, I think you have to sort of look beyond all of what

Unknown:

the mainstream media hypes up and look at it simply as a

Unknown:

token, I mean, it's a tokenized asset. And so if you just boil

Unknown:

it down to that, and attack, I think it's really interesting. I

Unknown:

think it's a way for artists to, you know, control their, their

Unknown:

artwork, and who gets to buy it, and the different uses that

Unknown:

they're granting to that artwork, and also build

Unknown:

communities around their artwork, and be compensated for

Unknown:

that. That's really interesting and exciting to me, like I'm

Unknown:

not, you know, caught up in this NFT bubble and this and that,

Unknown:

like, I have no idea whether somebody, you know, the selling

Unknown:

things for hundreds of millions of dollars in the last and

Unknown:

that's not really my concern. I think, like I said, it's the

Unknown:

tech that's more interesting to me and this idea of these

Unknown:

tokenized assets.

Lindsay Poss:

That's a very well rounded take that I don't think

Lindsay Poss:

I've heard before. It seems like we either have people who are

Lindsay Poss:

complete diehards, or people who are, this is BS. And and you're

Lindsay Poss:

right, in that there hasn't been a lot of people who are looking

Lindsay Poss:

at the actual process behind it. And what it what that could

Lindsay Poss:

mean, everyone is totally caught up in the surface level stuff. I

Lindsay Poss:

love that you pointed out community building as well,

Lindsay Poss:

because that is a very powerful tool. And it's one that

Lindsay Poss:

definitely has, has taken off in conjunction with some of these

Lindsay Poss:

sales, but that nobody's talked about how many communities have

Lindsay Poss:

sprung

Unknown:

up like this successful NFT campaigns that you're not

Unknown:

seeing on the news are the ones that have built up these

Unknown:

communities, right. And within those communities, people want

Unknown:

to trade NSCs, they want to collect a certain artist or an

Unknown:

artist that like on a much smaller sort of micro scale.

Unknown:

That's what I'm interested in, because I think that's going to

Unknown:

get bigger, and that's going to be more artists are going to get

Unknown:

into that. I will say this, though, there's definitely

Unknown:

scammers out there. So the people that are like, this is

Unknown:

BS, I understand the skepticism, because there are scammers out

Unknown:

there. And a lot of people say and I do think there's some

Unknown:

truth to this, you do have a few big players involved, who, for

Unknown:

them, it's about raising the value of their crypto that they

Unknown:

earned that they own right, and how to put value onto that

Unknown:

crypto by buying these assets, and then selling them for higher

Unknown:

prices and keeping that you know, keeping the price of

Unknown:

crypto high, whatever that whatever version, the Kryptos

Unknown:

in, I do think that that's happening. But I do think

Unknown:

there's this whole other world underneath that, that where it's

Unknown:

actually going to be really useful to like the little people

Unknown:

like, you know, you and I like the average person, right, who

Unknown:

just is interested in digital art and tokenized assets. So,

Unknown:

you know, there's, there's cameras everywhere, but no, I,

Unknown:

what can you do?

Lindsay Poss:

But I think well, I like that. Yeah, I like that

Lindsay Poss:

nuanced take, though. And you're right. There's problems with in

Lindsay Poss:

any industry. It's not. It's not new to have issues in an

Lindsay Poss:

industry and especially a tech industry, if we're being real.

Lindsay Poss:

Yeah, that's completely understandable

Unknown:

government. I do think because of the money laundering

Unknown:

issues and stuff like that. I do think the government will get

Unknown:

involved in and that'll be another, you know, interesting

Unknown:

development, and we'll have to navigate that. And as attorneys

Unknown:

will have to know about it and help our clients navigate it, it

Unknown:

will happen. It hasn't happened yet. But you know, it's it's an

Unknown:

amazing world. It's evolving every day, but I would not write

Unknown:

off and MCs at all. That's a good

Lindsay Poss:

Yeah, I think that's a really good way of

Lindsay Poss:

putting it. I want to before we move on to our last segment, I

Lindsay Poss:

want to quickly summarize some of the things that we've talked

Lindsay Poss:

about. It's I can't believe we've already been talking for

Lindsay Poss:

almost 40 minutes now. It's gone by so quickly. We started with

Lindsay Poss:

digital creators and how they have a wide array of skills,

Lindsay Poss:

gaming influencers. It's looking a lot Like where social media

Lindsay Poss:

was in 2013, as in its social media and gaming platforms can

Lindsay Poss:

be a place to start and build a business. Social Media and

Lindsay Poss:

Gaming are really the same industry. And there's way too

Lindsay Poss:

much overlap to draw a distinction. People on all

Lindsay Poss:

platforms should be aware of how they're using third party IP.

Lindsay Poss:

One of the best things we talked about was how collaboration has

Lindsay Poss:

become much more at the forefront of getting different

Lindsay Poss:

people into the industry, particularly women. I'm hoping

Lindsay Poss:

that maybe that collaboration, not competition, also applies to

Lindsay Poss:

some different minority and other stakeholders. So we'll see

Lindsay Poss:

where that goes. But at least being able to widely reach

Lindsay Poss:

people and not having gatekeepers. Being able to DM

Lindsay Poss:

those people on LinkedIn and ask questions, has helped women

Lindsay Poss:

tremendously. I loved your take on the metaverse that it's

Lindsay Poss:

already here. That gaming has had incredible foresight on

Lindsay Poss:

building the metaverse and what people they have a lot of games

Lindsay Poss:

have done with people haven't been doing. I also like that you

Lindsay Poss:

said that you feel that there's a lot of observation going on.

Lindsay Poss:

And people are thinking about next steps and kind of seeing

Lindsay Poss:

what's going on and learning the industry. We rounded out a

Lindsay Poss:

discussion with NF T's which had to be the the buzzword of 2021.

Lindsay Poss:

But you had a very balanced and nuanced take, which is that the

Lindsay Poss:

press kind of overhyped, the artistic side and huge sales,

Lindsay Poss:

but that there's a lot of opportunity for tokenized act

Lindsay Poss:

assets and for everyone to use them. And I think that that's a

Lindsay Poss:

great point. So the very last segment I like to do I like to

Lindsay Poss:

do with every guest on the show, it's kind of a moment for you to

Lindsay Poss:

reflect on your career. And think about how your career has

Lindsay Poss:

changed over the years. So I would love to ask you what is

Lindsay Poss:

one thing you would like to tell your younger self about getting

Lindsay Poss:

into the gaming industry? Or in your case, kind of the gaming

Lindsay Poss:

and influencing industry and being successful?

Unknown:

Yeah, it's, you know, I think my younger self was pretty

Unknown:

confident, maybe border like cocky a little bit of what I

Unknown:

could accomplish in a short amount of time, I think, you

Unknown:

know, the biggest thing is that it takes time, and I recognize

Unknown:

that also with the gaming industry. You know, my firm, we

Unknown:

do represent some amazing gamers, but you know, we're

Unknown:

just, it's a new space for us. And it will take time. And you

Unknown:

know, it's important to develop relationships, and, you know,

Unknown:

talk to everybody and network. And, you know, I think it's

Unknown:

really I would tell my younger self, you know, don't think that

Unknown:

you're going to be the preeminent gaming attorney. You

Unknown:

know, in June of 2022, I would love if that would happen. But

Unknown:

these things take time. And it takes time to build a roster.

Unknown:

And so, you know, I'm confident it can happen and we will

Unknown:

continue to build our gaming practice, but you know, just

Unknown:

sound like a broken record, all of these things take time and

Unknown:

just slow down and really think about what we're doing and in

Unknown:

handle, you know, all of our matters of care which we do so.

Unknown:

Yeah, that's I think the biggest thing I would tell my younger

Unknown:

self.

Lindsay Poss:

I like that. Yeah. To to be patient. Easier said

Lindsay Poss:

than done. Thank you so much for coming on lead. I really

Lindsay Poss:

appreciate it. If for our listeners out there who haven't

Lindsay Poss:

checked out her interview on business of esports. I highly

Lindsay Poss:

recommend that as well. So great episode, where can people find

Lindsay Poss:

you? If you want to be found? Well,

Unknown:

sadly, I'm going to be the boring lawyer and just tell

Unknown:

you on LinkedIn, because that is really the only platform that

Unknown:

I've activated i i tell my clients you know, they're like,

Unknown:

Well, you don't really you know, you don't post on Instagram

Unknown:

stuff like you know, you probably want your attorneys to

Unknown:

maintain an error a little bit.

Lindsay Poss:

Totally agree with that.

Unknown:

To see all my personal life and every second of the

Unknown:

day, what kind of sandwich I ate earlier, but I Yeah, it's

Unknown:

LinkedIn is definitely the best place.

Lindsay Poss:

Got it? Well send send your law questions to Anita

Lindsay Poss:

on LinkedIn, if you still have them. For all of our listeners

Lindsay Poss:

out there, make sure you leave those five star ratings and

Lindsay Poss:

reviews. Be sure to also check out other holodeck media

Lindsay Poss:

podcasts, including meta business for all the metaverse,

Lindsay Poss:

finance stories you could ever want, and the aforementioned

Lindsay Poss:

business of esports for interviews with industry

Lindsay Poss:

leaders, you can catch me Wednesday nights on the business

Lindsay Poss:

of esports live after show so you can come in and ask me

Lindsay Poss:

questions. And you can catch this podcast on your feed every

Lindsay Poss:

Tuesday. We'll see you next week.

Unknown:

Thank you.

Unknown:

Thanks for joining us here on meta woman. Make sure to

Unknown:

subscribe to this podcast everywhere you get your

Unknown:

podcasts, leave a five star review and tell your friends,

Unknown:

family and colleagues all about us. Also, make sure to follow

Unknown:

metta TV on all socials to get more of the best Metaverse

Unknown:

content anywhere. Tune in every week for another episode of

Show artwork for META Woman

About the Podcast

META Woman
Weekly metaverse content - for women, by women
Meta Woman will focus on addressing the issues, opportunities, and challenges facing women in the development of the Metaverse. Top female executives and business people operating within the gaming and crypto industries bring a wide range of perspectives through regular guest appearances.