John W. Cones

Contact: John Cones
310/477-6842
jwc6774@


JOHN CONES BIOGRAPHY

John Cones is a securities/entertainment attorney who practiced in Los Angeles for 23 years advising independent feature film producers and others on matters relating to investor financing of feature film and other entertainment projects. His current legal domicile is Austin, Texas (his home state) but he is traveling throughout the country on a national “film finance” lecture tour for local groups of independent filmmakers.

He has prepared or participated in the preparation of business plans and/or the required securities disclosure documents, along with Blue Sky compliance for more than 275 such securities offerings of all kinds during his 23 year securities law career, including public and private production-money offerings for feature films, television pilots, documentaries, infomercials, live stage plays and Internet companies. His clients have produced or distributed some 57 feature and documentary films with funds raised through such offerings. Other such offerings have been conducted for development, packaging and completion funding. In a broader sense, Mr. Cones also works with entrepreneurs on investor financing of business startups.

Mr. Cones has lectured more than 360 times to an aggregate audience of approximately 5,500 on topics relating to film finance and distribution for the American Film Institute, the UCLA graduate level Independent Producers Program, UCLA Extension, The USC Cinema/TV School, the USC Cinema/TV Alumni Association, IFP/West, American University (Washington, D.C.), the Nashville Bar Association, Cal Western School of Law, The University of Texas Entertainment Law Institute, North Carolina School of the Arts, California Lawyers for the Arts, Columbia College Hollywood and other film industry organizations. In addition to some 30 articles, he has authored eight books on related topics including Introduction to the Film Industry – A Guide for Students, Filmmakers and Scholars, Dictionary of Film Finance and Distribution – A Guide for Independent Filmmakers, Film Industry Contracts, 43 Ways to Finance Your Film, The Feature Film Distribution Deal, Business Plans for Filmmakers, Hollywood Wars and Patterns of Bias in Motion Picture Content. He also hosts a Q&A Internet site about investor financing of entertainment projects at http://www/ and maintains a web site at . About 20 of his articles on film finance or business and legal affairs issues appear online at in their “Research Wrap Blog”. Others appear at his website.

He earned his B.S. degree in Communications at the University of Texas at Austin in 1967 and his Doctor of Jurisprudence degree at the UT Austin School of Law in 1974. He is a member of the California and Texas bar associations.