Joey Arnel Montemayor Sayson

Joey Arnel Sayson is the founder of the Law Offices of Sayson & Associates.  With over 20 years of experience in the entertainment industry, first as an administrative assistant in the Business and Legal Affairs Department of MGM and later as an attorney at several Hollywood studios, Joey has been involved in entertainment law transactions since arriving in Los Angeles in 1989 from Lebanon, Pennsylvania. He has been practicing entertainment law as in-house counsel or in private practice since 1995 while working for and with major studios, independent production companies, small businesses and individual artists in film, television, radio, interactive games, evolving new media, website development and music.

Prior to forming his own law firm in 2002, Joey worked as an in-house business & legal affairs attorney for over 7 years at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Universal Studios Consumer Products Group and Universal Interactive. His experience includes negotiating and drafting agreements regarding the acquisition, development, production, financing and distribution of motion pictures, television programming, radio programming, interactive games and evolving new media content. 

Presently, Joey negotiates and drafts agreements for major studios, producers, writers, directors and talent, handling rights acquisitions, distribution agreements, licensing deals and production agreements across the wide spectrum of traditional and evolving new media. Additionally, Joey routinely advises clients regarding intellectual property rights issues.

Joey is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and received his Juris Doctor degree from Whittier Law School in Costa Mesa, CA. He is a member of the State Bar of California, Beverly Hills Bar Association, Los Angeles County Bar Association and International Licensing Industry Merchandisers’ Association.

During football season he can heard supporting his sons’ football teams on Saturdays or cheering for the Dallas Cowboys on Sundays. Year round he is passionate about his wife, his family and making music with his guitars (generally, in that order). Joey’s favorite musical artists, in no particular order, are Stevie Ray Vaughan, Joe Pass, The Allman Brothers Band, The Rolling Stones, U2, Sting, The Derek Trucks Band, Stevie Wonder and Prince. He listens to rock, blues, R&B and jazz and plays all those styles of music on his Ribbecke Halfling archtop guitar, Taylor 414 acoustic guitar and vintage Epiphone Genesis electric guitar. He also thinks it’s weird to write about himself in the third person and would rather have a personal conversation with you. Please contact me!