GableGotwals’ Sports, Media & Entertainment Team Advises on Another Feature Film

June 18, 2024 | Trent Shores and Christopher Shrock advised Prairie Surf Studios on a new documentary film, “The Accelerator,” which was recently featured at the deadCENTER Film Festival. The film covers the life and career of Dr. Robert Wilson, a Manhattan Project scientist who helped the U.S. develop the first atomic weapons and would later go on to found Fermilab and develop the concept for proton therapy, an advanced form of cancer treatment. “The Accelerator” was created by filmmakers at Prairie Surf Studios in Oklahoma City.

Film director Wendy Garrett said this project was a way to dig into Wilson’s life before and after his work on the atomic bomb. “If the story is the same at the beginning as it is at the end, you weren’t listening along the way,” Garrett said. “We really had an opportunity to learn about who this man was and his contribution not only to the physics world, but also to the medical world.” Prairie Surf CEO, Matt Payne, said Wilson’s work in the medical world is what led to their inspiration to create “The Accelerator.”

GableGotwals acted as outside legal counsel to the project and provided an opinion letter under the fair use doctrine. “With the rise of film production in the state of Oklahoma, we are seeing more opportunities to provide legal advice on film projects to provide strategic guidance, protect assets, and mitigate risk,” said Trent Shores.

Trent also recently acted as the legal technician on the film Killers of the Flower Moon.

GableGotwals is poised to provide advice, negotiate agreements, and protect and enforce rights and claims for those who need or desire to capitalize on and protect their intellectual property, their ideas, their creations, or their name, image, and likeness, and for those who help make that possible by marketing, providing capital, digital or other platforms at venues.

About the Sports, Media, and Entertainment Practice
For more than 35 years, GableGotwals attorneys have been advising clients in the sports, media, and entertainment sectors. The team’s broad experience provides unique market insights to advise digital, media, and production companies, entertainment venues, professional and collegiate athletes, musicians, actors, filmmakers, celebrities, licensors/rights holders, investors, and financiers. Click here to read more about GableGotwals’ Sports, Media, and Entertainment Practice.