Charles M. Barsamian, Esq.
Charles “Chaz” Barsamian, Esq. is the Managing Partner of Charles M. Barsamian Law Firm of New York, PLLC. Since its founding in 2014, both the firm and Mr. Barsamian have established respected positions in the music, motion picture, and digital business environments.
In addition to providing counsel on intellectual property and internet issues to prominent figures and companies in the entertainment world, Mr. Barsamian has successfully negotiated and overseen the management, administration, and deployment of over $250+ million in capital toward the film financing and music rights acquisition across 300+ motion pictures and television series, including 3-time Academy Award Winner Whiplash, Academy Award Winner The King's Speech, and Academy Award Nominee Sicario.
Following his love of storytelling, and outside of his practice of the law, Mr. Barsamian dove into feature film production via his media consultancy and production company Exit Strategy, serving as an Associate Producer on a number of motion pictures between 2012 and 2017 before producing his debut feature film, Cage Dive, and achieving worldwide distribution including a North American theatrical release via Lionsgate (as Open Water 3: Cage Dive). Chaz has since completed production on the Martin Scorsese executive-produced A Ciambra, which debuted at Cannes in the Directors’ Fortnight where it won the Europa Cinema Labels Award, and which was selected as the Italian entry for the Best Foreign language Film at the 90th Academy Awards; Taran Killam’s directorial debut, Killing Gunther, released in North America by Saban Films; Deadtectives, released in 2019 via AMC’s SVOD platform Shudder in North America (and select territories) and via Max in the rest of the world; the $30MM action picture, Outside the Wire (Netflix) released globally by Netflix in 2021; Hicham Hajji’s action thriller, The Moderator (released in 2022 by Paramount+ and Saban Films); documentary Women of the White Buffalo, directed by Deborah Anderson; and in 2022, the forthcoming feature films Howdy, Neighbor! (Dir. Allisyn Snyder) and Rumination (Dir. Dylan Snyder).
Chaz has also overseen strategic music planning and buying transactions including the audio rebranding of such companies as Avon Products, Inc., Coca Cola, JPMorgan Chase Bank, the Colgate / Palmolive group, Oxygen Network, Al Jazeera, and DraftKings. Growing up in New Jersey, Mr. Barsamian attended The Pingry School. He received his Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and History from Rice University (2005) before earning his Juris Doctorate from New York Law School (2009). He was admitted to the New York Bar in 2010 and remains in good standing. Chaz is also an active member of the American Bar Association, New York State Bar Association, and Producer’s Guild of America.