Law Offices of Hal ‘Corky’ Kessler
3150 North Lake Shore Drive Suite 21A
Chicago, IL 60657

Corky Kessler is a “one stop shop” lawyer for the entertainment industry. More than just a legal advisor, he works with clients to help get their films made. In 2017 and 2019, Corky was named top entertainment lawyer in the United States. He has successfully worked with governors and US congressmen in several states to implement new laws and federal tax incentives for investment in qualifying film and television projects, which led to Section 181 and Section 199 of the American Jobs Creation Act of 2004. Corky was instrumental in working to extend Section 181 for filmmakers, set to expire December 31, 2020 to December 31, 2025. He has also been actively involved in the application of Section 168 of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act which was signed into law December 2017 and became active January 2018. Section 168 of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act outlined the new incentives for film, television, and theater for five years. He has authored a reference book covering such federal and state tax incentives.

Corky is active in establishing and advising various film funds and film funding sources in North America and is expanding internationally. In October 2012, Corky signed a Memorandum of Understanding with private investors from China for a $200 million co-production deal with the US.

Corky has represented several authors and negotiated publishing deal with several major publishers, including Random House and Doubleday. He has assembled and built winning teams for more than 30 entertainment and other business ventures. Corky has developed, packaged, and executive produced over 20 feature films including The Sum of Us starring Russell Crowe, which won the Australian Academy Award for Best Film, Human Capital starring Marisa Tomei and Liev Schreiber, and Certifiably Jonathan starring Jonathan Winters, Robin Williams, Howie Mandel, Rob Reiner, Jim Carey, Sarah Silverman, and others. His IMDb is located at https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0004652/

Corky Kessler is admitted to practice in Illinois, US District Court for the Northern District, Member of the Trial Bar of the US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, Member of the American Bar Association and the Chicago Bar Association.

Speaking engagements, panel discussions and seminars throughout North America and China include:

2023 – Working for filmojy.com and ARWO Studios. .

2014 – 2020: Sundance Film Festival, Park City, UT: Speaking engagements; moderated panel discussions on women’s issues in film.

2015 – 2020: Cannes Film Festival, France: Moderated six industry panels livestreamed worldwide.

2013 – 2016: Toronto Film Festival, Canada: Moderated six industry panels livestreamed worldwide.

April 2019: Honored with the Producer Choice Award for Lifetime Achievement as Best Entertainment Attorney and Executive Producer

April 2015: Speaker on panel at China US Summit, Los Angeles, CA.

September 2014: Toronto Film Festival, Canada: Legal Finance; moderated panel discussion filmed and livestreamed worldwide.

April 28, 2014: Featured speaker at the China US Summit at the Los Angeles Biltmore Hotel.

October 13-20, 2012: Professionals Abroad, Beijing, China: Led a small delegation of entertainment industry professionals to meet with members of the Chinese entertainment industry, including funding

sources, production and distribution companies, casting directors, producers, screenwriters, talent agents and members of government film departments.

April 2011: Beijing International Film Festival, China: Invited by the Chinese government to be a participant in multiple film panels throughout the festival.

Theatrical Plays:

The Nerd, Hauptman, Jump for Joy, The Good Times are Killing Me, Driving Miss Daisy, Shirley

Valentine, I’m Not Rappaport, Frankie and Johnny in the Claire de Lune, Steel Magnolias, Don’t Dress for Dinner, Hoops.

Executive Producer and/or Attorney - Feature Films:

Certifiably Jonathan: Jonathan Winters, Robin Williams, Howie Mandel, Sara Silverman, Tim Conway, Rob Reiner; The Sum of Us: Russell Crowe, Jack Thompson; Distributed by Samuel Goldwyn Co.; Australian Academy Award Finding North: Wendy McKenna, John Benjamin Hickey; Screenplay by Kim Powers; Distributed by Cowboy Booking Wild Things: Directed by John McNaughton, written by Stephen Peters; w/ Kevin Bacon, Matt Dillon, Neve Campbell Legend of Bloody Mary: Screenplay by Joseph Domingo; currently in distribution phase.

Teary Sockets: screenplay by Scott Anderson; currently in distribution phase

Burning Bodhi: Kaley Cuoco, Sandra Pieterse, Virginia Madsen Return to Zero: Minnie Driver, Paul Adelstein, Alfred Molina Natural Selection: screenplay by Robbie Pickering

Osso Bucco: Mike Starr, Illeana Douglas, Christian Stolte

Greater: written by Brian Reindl, life story of Arkansas football player Brandon Burlswoth

Broker Hill: written/directed by Dagen Merrill; distributed by Porchlight Entertainment, starring Luke Arnold, Alexa Vega, and Timothy Hutton

Heart Strings: screenplay by FireFly Film & Video, co-producers Firefly and Jim Pasternak

Abelar: Tales of an Ancient Empire: screenplay by Yancy Butler & Victoria Maurette; produced by Nick Celozzi

The Best of All Worlds: producer Marshall Bear

We Know Not What We Do: producers Aaron Taylor and Elizabeth Baker

Films Currently in Development and Pre-Production:

Stray Hearts: Screenwriter Keri Roebuck Fitzgerald, revisions by Jenny Wingfield, co-producers Dorothea Petrie, William S. Gilmore and Shari Rhodes

Bronzeville: produced by Think Differently Company

A Gringo Walks into a Cantina: Screenwriter/Co-producer Jeff KeheWanted: producer Linda Bridgen

Angels in the Sky: producer Mike Flint, a feature film about Israel’s first Air Force

Miles and Me: biopic on Miles Davis, producer Rudy Langlais

Bob Marley: biopic, producer Rudy Langlais Captain Blood (remake); producer Rudy Langlais Shades of Grace: producer Jennifer Tadlock

MegaBall$: producer Marc Baron (screenplay) and Joe Cirillo

The Allotment: screenwriter Robert Peele Paradise Village: producer Glenn Withrow Collusion: producer Glenn Withrow

Kid Combat: producer Chris Helwink Cubicle: producer Robert Menzies The Thaw: producer Glenm Withrow

Jupiter 2023: producers William Indich and Susan Indich

Crackin’ Greenbridge: producer Alan Jay Spector

Rose Is Not a Flower: producer Patti Price Apart But A Part: screenwriter Jay Cohen Queue: screenwriter Jessica Wilson

Fire Lake: screenwriter Alan Jay Spector

John Marrs is an American actor currently based in Tucson, Arizona. His rugged looks and ability to handle guns and horses have led to many roles in western movies. This multi-talented former lawman and soldier started out in films as a technical advisor and firearms instructor. It wasn't long before he found his way in front of the camera. Besides acting, he enjoys working on other aspect of film making. He has credits as horse wrangler, armorer, writer and assistant director, to name a few.

Ina Naveyah Lanara is a Multidimensional Healing Practitioner, Gridworker, Light Language Channel, and Spiritual Coach who works with Lightworkers, Starseeds, and Creatives who are boots-on-the-ground emissaries for the shift in Consciousness. 

Awakening to her purpose in 2012, Ina has been exploring the relationship between the Human and Cosmic for the last 10 years. 

As a 30 year Educator, Mentor, and Visionary for the collective awakening, her energy fuels others to see themselves as powerful, singular Creators of their own Reality.

Her clients include professionals and service providers who are serving Humanity in the workplace and home, and who are ready to go to the next level as a Spiritual entrepreneur and leader. 

She assists them in retrieving, clearing and healing aspects of the Creator Self so they can fully embody their missions and live with alignment and joy. 

Connect with Ina Lanara on Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, and Patreon, as well as via her website.  

Email: Inanaveyahlanara88@gmail.com 

Website: https://www.inalanara.com 

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@quantumalchemyina 

Patreon: www.patreon.com/sherriina

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100003968650785 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/quantum_alchemy_ina/ 

Michael Laidler is a Professional Speaker and Best-Selling Author focused on improving self-awareness in law enforcement officers. With 18 years of law enforcement experience, he has delivered his compelling message through keynotes, seminars and virtual training.

Scott Clark is the co-founder of Club Joyful, a family club and cafe in Venice, CA. He is also co-founder of the bands Grand Rising, and The Keep Going.

After growing up in NY and attending Colgate University, Scott moved to San Francisco to join the burgeoning dot com scene, holding sales positions at HotJobs.com and Yahoo. He cashed out and co-founded a golf production studio called Lostball, pursuing his passion for golf, music and the creative arts. Through that venture, Scott met his wife, moved to LA and fell back into digital media, soon joining a startup called Innovid for a 7 yr career culminating as the North American VP of Sales.

Then Covid, stay-at-home Dadding, and co-founded a crypto startup called Immuse.xyz, the demise of which led to deep soul searching, a spiritual awakening, and a life reinvented – manifested into what is now Club Joyful and Grand Rising.

Scott lives in Mar Vista, CA with his wife Erika, daughter Sonoma Joy, and pup Iggy.

Find, Follow, and Feel Into Scott Clark’s Work at: www.clubjoyful.com

Adam Weil, CEO of Global Schoolwear, was a former senior director in charge of the school uniforms unit at Lands’ End. “The interesting thing about this business model is that if there are 100 kids in a school, and we go 99 out of 100 in outfitting them, we still don’t win if just one kid is out of uniform. That’s one of our biggest challenges—to have enough of the right inventory available in real time for customers to order.”

But it’s a challenge that Global Schoolwear has learned to control with a customized digital commerce platform, Weil and Kohls say. Earlier this year, they put together a new technology framework designed to match thousands of buyers from hundreds of schools with the just the right mix of Tommy Hilfiger garments according to the style, color and school logos each educational institution requires its students to wear.

Global Schoolwear, which has an exclusive license from designer apparel brand Tommy Hilfiger to produce and sell school uniforms, has contracts with more than 450 schools to provide uniforms according to the specifications set by Tommy Hilfiger and by each school. Global Schoolwear takes Tommy Hilfiger’s garment specifications, then works with textile mills to produce the right garment materials in cotton and other fabrics, and works with apparel manufacturers to produce the garments.

It stocks enough goods in its warehouse-fulfillment center—about 1 million pieces at any one time during peak periods, with about 9,000 SKUs—to meet the expected overall back-to-school demand. As customers place orders on each school’s customized electronic product catalog that runs on Global Schoolwear’s ecommerce platform, each order is coded to indicate the garment type, style and color, plus the logo specifications.

My guest Shelley Young is the owner of Trinity Esoterics where she has worked as a hypnotherapist, teacher, writer, spiritual advisor, speaker, and internationally recognized channel of Archangel Gabriel for the past 19 years. Originally from Canada she is now based in Southwest Florida where she remains dedicated to raising spiritual awareness and helping people embrace and navigate the unfoldment of their own enlightenment journeys. Shelley’s book is Healing Balm for the Enlightening Soul, and one of her program’s featuring the most important of Gabriel's teachings, is The Divine Combination. 

Tom Bentey is a Filmmaker and SAG-AFTRA Actor. His first narrative feature film, which he wrote, directed and starred in, "At the Jersey Shore'' is currently streaming on Paramount+, Amazon Prime, and Tubi. Tom's recent acting credits include co-star roles on "The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel" and CBS's "The Equalizer." Tom is currently filming "The Cafone," a comedic television pilot about an uncouth character scamming his way into redemption. Tom owns and operates Suburbanite Productions, a full service corporate video production company and is also an adjunct professor at Montclair State University. Tom Bentey hails from the great state of New Jersey and enjoys surfing, snowboarding, cycling, tennis and golf. Please review www.TomBentey.com and www.SuburbaniteProductions.com for more information. 

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1382296/?ref_=ext_shr_lnk