Craig Wagner serves as Executive Vice President, Business Affairs and General Counsel for the Paradigm Talent Agency, a leading Hollywood talent agency. Paradigm represents over 2,000 clients in motion pictures, television, theater, books, film sales and branding. Mr. Wagner joined Paradigm in 2005 and has overseen the motion picture and television business affairs department since that time. During his tenure at Paradigm, Mr. Wagner has negotiated countless agreements for motion pictures and episodic television series for writers, directors, producers, actors and authors, and has been involved as a negotiator on behalf of Paradigm’s clients in numerous film and television projects.
As General Counsel of Paradigm, Mr. Wagner is also responsible for corporate legal matters, employment and labor law. Mr. Wagner represented Paradigm in its year-long negotiation with the WGA and the finalizing of a new franchise agreement between the agency and the Guild that was signed in 2020. He is a key member of Paradigm’s management team and has helped guide the agency’s expansion over the last two decades.
Prior to Paradigm, Mr. Wagner was Senior Vice President, Business Affairs, for Paramount Pictures. At Paramount, Mr. Wagner served in numerous capacities and was most recently Head of Business Affairs for Paramount’s Network Television Division. In this capacity, he was responsible for all above-the-line talent agreements relating to the production of episodic television programs, made-for-television motion pictures and limited series for primetime, and oversaw the negotiation of writer, actor, director and other agreements for numerous television series and made-for-television movies on behalf of the studio. Before joining Paramount, Mr. Wagner was associated with the law firm of Stroock in corporate finance and mergers and acquisitions.
Mr. Wagner is a member of the Board of Directors of the Association of Talent Agents, a trade organization that represents over 100 talent agencies. He recently received a multi-year appointment as Lecturer in Law for the UCLA School of Law where he teaches a semester-long course on the representation of talent in the entertainment industry as an adjunct professor. Mr. Wagner is Co-Chair of the Advisory Committee for the UCLA Entertainment Symposium, an annual entertainment law conference under the auspices of the Ziffren Media Center and UCLA School of Law. He sits on the Advisory Board of the School of Cinema and Television Arts at California State University, Fullerton, and is a member of the Los Angeles Copyright Society.
Mr. Wagner has been recognized on numerous occasions in Variety’s Legal Impact Report as well as its Hollywood Dealmakers edition. As part of his commitment to community service, Mr. Wagner is part of the UCLA One Alumni Network, an organization that matches alumni in various fields and industries with current undergraduate and graduate students at UCLA for mentorship.
A native of Los Angeles, Mr. Wagner earned his undergraduate degree from UCLA in English and obtained his law degree from New York University School of Law where he was Note & Comment Editor of the NYU Law Review. He makes his home in Agoura Hills, California with his wife, their two sons and their two yellow labradors.