Staff

BAI is exceptionally lucky in the bright and personable legal and administrative staff working with the company. Unfailingly polite and helpful, they walk it like they talk it, following through promptly on client requests and attempting always to expedite our clients’ business.

Maggie Megaw, Executive VP of Business Affairs, Inc., has been with the company since its inception in 1999. Under her supervision, BAI’s team of legal assistants review and make delivery of over 40 titles per year to Lions Gate Entertainment, Sony, Paramount, Fox and others. Ms. Megaw has worked both sides of motion picture distribution, negotiating agreements for the acquisition of North American rights for Grindstone Entertainment Group, and negotiating agreements for the sale of foreign distribution rights for Franchise Pictures, Inferno Distribution, Signature Pictures International, and The Little Film Company, among others.

Ms. Megaw holds advanced degrees in French literature from the University of Texas at Austin and Columbia University, is a translator and a former Contributing Editor to a major national magazine. For the avoidance of any doubt, Ms. Megaw is not an attorney, and her services are performed under the supervision of BAI’s senior attorneys.
Rachaelle McCorkle, Bridget Briley and Ryan Chaffee are BAI’s ace Delivery Team and Production Counsel Coordinators. Among the hundreds of tasks they perform for any delivery, Miss McCorkle, Miss Briley, and Mr. Chaffee track down missing documents and missing signatures, review Chain of Title, music, and talent agreements for compliance with contractual language required by distributors, prepare credit, name and likeness, and third party restriction memos, and generally help one side work productively with the other in an effort to get delivery completed and accepted as swiftly as possible. They are results-oriented problem-solvers, and they have delivered pictures to such distributors as Paramount Vantage, the Weinstein Company, Sony, and Lions Gate. In their capacity as Production Counsel Coordinators, Bridget and Rachaelle work with BAI’s attorneys and the producers to track the progress of all agreements (and get them signed!), register screenplays and finished pictures for copyright, review pictures for clearances, assist with location agreements, and get all legal documentation in order for as smooth a delivery as possible.

Miss McCorkle joined Business Affairs Inc. in December of 2006. In addition to her other roles in the company, as head of BAI’s Corporate Department Miss McCorkle has formed scores of limited liability companies and corporations in California and elsewhere, handling all related filings and creating all related documentation. Miss McCorkle enjoys spending evenings at record resale shops, adding to her collection of LPs. She is an amateur oil painter and avid concert-goer. Rachaelle received a Bachelor of Science in Biology with a minor in French Literature from UC San Diego in 2006.

Miss Briley joined Business Affairs in May 2008. Miss Briley is fast becoming BAI’s resident Guild Signatory specialist, helping the company’s clients out with the often daunting and confusing task of signing productions up with the Guilds, assisting with Guild Signatory applications, and translating what the Guilds want into language our clients can understand and comply with. In her spare time, Bridget volunteers with School on Wheels, an organization focused on tutoring and mentoring homeless children in Los Angeles, as well as with LA Derby Dolls. She enjoys watching classic and independent film and attending as many sporting events as possible. Bridget graduated from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor in 2005 with degrees in Film & Video Studies, Sport Management & Communication, and Psychology.
Ryan Chaffee, BAI’s Administrative and Legal Assistant, joined the company in September of 2008. In his capacity as Legal Assistant, Ryan reviews delivery for Grindstone Entertainment Group, records documents and files registrations with the US Copyright Office, handles UCC filings, reviews and summarizes distribution agreements, and keeps tab on the dozens of projects in negotiation in any given week. We count on Ryan to know what’s happening with any deal at any time.

Ryan is a 2008 graduate of the Marshall School of Business at the University of Southern California where he studied international business and the business of film and entertainment. Prior to joining BAI, Ryan worked as an assistant to the Executive Director of Development at the non-profit USC Shoah Foundation Institute. There, he helped to maintain a large donor database and organize major mailing campaigns. He also provided support to the other development directors and grant writers in their fundraising activities. Ryan is a cartoonist, a cook and a baker, and most recently a motorcycle enthusiast.