As WME’s COO and head of business affairs, Dan Limerick helped engineer one of the year’s most envious deals: Ryan Coogler’s agreement with Warner Bros. for Sinners, which gave the filmmaker final cut, first-dollar gross participation and ownership of the film’s rights after 25 years.
“It was very strategic, and we spent a lot of time thinking about what was most important [for Coogler],” Limerick says. “A month before we started, we really prepared all of the terms and the way we needed the deal to work. We wanted to be particularly clear when we went to the marketplace about what it was about and why it was important, because this was a very personal story.”
Working alongside Coogler’s attorney Jonathan Gardner, manager Charles D. King and others on the filmmaker’s team, Limerick helped lock in terms that remain almost unheard of in Hollywood: Beginning in 2050, Coogler will control licensing, distribution, remakes, sequels, merchandise and streaming rights to the Oscar-winning film. The groundwork for that started months before anyone officially sat down at the table.
“Ultimately, it worked out really well,” Limerick says. “He found the right partner who saw that vision very clearly and agreed to the terms that were necessary, and then along the way they were really good partners getting it to the screen. The results really speak for themselves.”
Sinners, which received 16 Academy Award nominations and won four Oscars, wasn’t Limerick’s only major move this year. He also brokered NBCUniversal’s acquisition of all rights, excluding publishing, to Robert Ludlum’s Jason Bourne and Treadstone book series, clearing the way for new installments in a franchise whose films have grossed more than $1.64 billion worldwide.
Ryan Coogler winning an Oscar for Sinners.
Stewart Cook/Disney/Getty Images
A UCLA Law School graduate, Limerick knew early that entertainment law was the goal. His first stop was the indie TV company Carsey-Werner, where the advantages of a smaller shop quickly became clear: He got thrown into just about everything, from distribution and merchandising to labor and business affairs.
“It was all hands on deck, so I learned a lot in a very short period of time,” he says. “I just was hungry to learn. If I wasn’t working on license agreements, I grabbed them and read them front to back, and I asked questions of the people that were more senior. It’s really important to understand the way a particular company works, the way a deal works, and really the underpinnings of it.”
That range helped propel him to Warner Bros. Television, where he rose to executive vp and head of business affairs. In 2016, he joined WME as head of television business affairs. Today, as COO, he has become one of the agency’s key behind-the-scenes dealmakers.
His advice to young lawyers: “It’s important to build a really strong foundation. Learn to think like a lawyer, learn to analyze, and [learn] the blocking and tackling before you start becoming more specialized. Over time, as the business changes, you can change with the business. Always try to be dynamic in thinking and learn from the best.”
This story appeared in the April 8 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.
