Trio of Netflix Alums Strike Out to Form Firm Focused on Film, TV Business Affairs

As overall deals shrink and overheads increase, a new law firm made up of former Netflix-ers is helping Hollywood navigate this ever-shifting new normal.

Liz Polk, Kate O’Connor, and Andrew Randone, who worked together for years in legal affairs on Netflix’s film team, formed the BALA Firm in the spring of 2024. Its founding followed the content boom of the pandemic years, when readily available capital saw new production outfits spin up as studios and streamers demanded content. Now, with production volume down, paths to screens shaky and studios pre-occupied with mergers and re-orgs, internal business and legal affairs departments are not the foremost priority for many operations.

“I was looking at all of these same companies that [at Netflix] we had financed films for over the years, and how they were trying to navigate the future of what this business looked like,” says Polk. “I was seeing a lot of people turn over their departments, people not really knowing who to hire in their business affairs roles when they can’t necessarily reach for the most senior people.”

Adds O’Connor, “If your volume is a little more variable, do you need to have everybody be in house, full time? Or is it better to be a little bit more flexible?” Enter: BALA (an acronym for business and legal affairs).

In its short time of operation, BALA has worked with mid-size companies (clients include Confluential Films, PictureStart and Fifth Season’s film group) and individual producers. Outside of the usual business and legal affairs goings on, BALA handles everything from negotiating talent deals to production agreements. In addition to film, the firm works across television, podcasting and other media.

Polk, O’Connor and Randone first started working together at Netflix in 2015, back when the streamer’s offices were still in Beverly Hills and its film slate was largely made up of Adam Sandler movies. In a short amount of time, the trio, who came to the streamer with prior experiences at companies like MGM, DreamWorks and IM Global (now AGC), saw the explosion of original productions that spanned the rom-com revival and film festival darlings.

Says Randone, “Because of our experience at Netflix in the very early days, scaling all of these different verticals, we can now help provide clients a path from producing a single project to having a slate to building out your team.” Whether augmenting an existing in-house team or acting as a replacement, he says that BALA works with and across existing departments, like finance, production and creative, to build out workflows and strategy.

In addition to the founding partners, BALA includes Netflix alums Joel Goldberg, Karyn Edwards and Kim Rocque, as well as associate Zach Crane and coordinator Avory Johnson.

As the industry continues to shift at a breakneck pace, BALA is meant to function, says Polk, “as an opportunity for there to be more mid-size, independent production companies that can sustain themselves, make good films, make good series, and not rely so heavily on getting life support from a studio.”