Gray Coleman

Gray Coleman serves as Board Chair at Film Forum, an independent nonprofit arthouse cinema in downtown Manhattan founded in 1970. Coleman was named to The Hollywood Reporter's 2024 list of New York's 25 Most Powerful Entertainment Lawyers, and has more than 25 years of experience in intellectual property and general business law.

Coleman is primary outside counsel for several prestigious nonprofit theaters including The Public Theater, Manhattan Theater Club, and other institutional theaters across the country. As counsel for several nonprofit theaters, Coleman saw the fruits of his labor this past year as new musicals including 'Hell's Kitchen,' 'Suffs,' and 'Water for Elephants' went on to open on Broadway. He handles entertainment and media transactions including theater, film, and television financing and production, as well as music and publishing matters, and acts as production counsel for independent films, television series, and specials and theatrical productions on Broadway and elsewhere.

Coleman guides clients in trademark selection, registration, licensing, and protection; copyright registration; ownership and licensing issues; manuscript and script review; and contractual arrangements for parties working in entertainment and other intellectual property-based industries. He represents authors and owners of distinguished plays and musicals including Annie, Anything Goes, and Arsenic and Old Lace, and is a longtime member and former Chair of the Theater/Performing Arts Division of the Forum on the Entertainment & Sports Industries of the American Bar Association.

Career history

• Partner, Davis Wright Tremaine LLP, New York (Entertainment and Media Law)
• Production counsel to numerous theatrical productions on Broadway and elsewhere
• Board Chair, Film Forum (since at least 2023)

What Coleman could bring to Film Forum: With over 25 years of entertainment law expertise and deep relationships across the theater, film, and nonprofit arts sectors, Coleman brings sophisticated transactional knowledge and institutional governance experience to Film Forum's leadership. His established connections with Broadway producers, institutional theaters, and content creators across multiple media formats position him to guide strategic partnerships, capital structures, and programming initiatives for the historic arthouse cinema as it navigates the evolving independent film landscape.