Judd Funk

Judd Funk has worked in the entertainment industry for nearly 30 years beginning at Columbia Pictures as Production Counsel on such projects as 1941 directed by Steven Spielberg and Kramer vs. Kramer starring Dustin Hoffman. He was soon recruited by Twentieth Century Fox to serve as Senior Counsel during production of the first two Star Wars sequels on which he worked along with twenty-eight other films for the next seven years. Thereafter, the Satellite Network of America, a fledgling satellite company based in Park City, Utah, engaged him as Vice President of Programming and Legal Affairs to negotiate rights and programming agreements for events broadcast over its national network of satellite operators.

Funk returned to Hollywood four years later to head up the legal department at Universal Pictures, where he functioned as Universal’s legal overseer for all its film projects including those produced and/or directed by Steven Spielberg, Ron Howard and Brian Grazer. After working in that position for another seven years, he was engaged by New Line Cinema to become its Executive Vice President supervising over 50 business affairs executives, lawyers and other legal personnel responsible for all business and legal operations on 160 motion pictures over the next 15 years.

Throughout the course of his entertainment career, Funk has worked as either an attorney, business affairs executive or departmental head for over 300 films that have earned a total of nearly $12.3 billion in box office revenues, the more notable of which include: The Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi, Field of Dreams, Back to the Future II & III, Born on the 4th of July, Kindergarten Cop, Backdraft, Scent of a Woman, Jurassic Park, Schindler’s List, Seven, Shine, Austin Powers I, II & III, Wag the Dog, Rush Hour I & II, The Lord of the Rings I, II & III, I Am Sam, Elf, The Notebook, Wedding Crashers and Sex and the City. He also served as co-executive producer of The Nativity Story and is a member of the Executives Branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Funk serves on the faculty at Chapman University School of Law and Dodge College of Film and media art where he teaches courses in entertainment law.