About Jeff Ulin
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Jeff Ulin’s background includes being a media executive, attorney, lecturer, entrepreneur and author.
After majoring in anthropology at Harvard, Jeff Ulin became fascinated with other cultures and began traveling the world. His adventures include volunteering on a capture unit in Africa moving endangered rhinos to sanctuary areas— an experience that inspired his first fiction novel, The Lord’s Tusks. He jokes that stint also prepared him for working on Indiana Jones, but it was his training in entertainment law that landed him on Skywalker Ranch working for George Lucas. After managing sales for Star Wars, Jeff co-founded and ran animation studio Wild Brain where he created Disney’s hit Higglytown Heroes. His entertainment background enabled him to author multiple editions of The Business of Media Distribution (and teach the media class at UC Berkeley’s business school) while his continued travels and General Counsel experience– spanning six continents, plus living as an expat in The Netherlands, UK and Spain– helped enrich his spy thriller Provenance of Ashes. Jeff relishes very spicy Chinese food, is a dog lover, and now lives and paddles on a Mediterranean island.
Business and Educational Background
Half of his 25+ years in the media business were spent at Lucasfilm, where he headed worldwide distribution for all markets (theatrical, video, TV, online). He has also served as a senior studio executive, helping manage Paramount and Universal’s overseas video distribution venture; co-founded and ran as CEO animation studio Wild Brain, where he created Disney’s pre-school hit Higglytown Heroes; and navigated the convergence of digital media at Silicon Valley’s most renowned law firm (Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati), where he served as Of Counsel.
Jeff sits on advisory boards of media start-ups and has used the book to teach the class Media & Entertainment: Economics, Policy, and Strategy at the University of California Berkeley’s Haas School of Business.
Jeff is the author of The Business of Media Distribution- Monetizing Film, TV and Video Content in an Online World. The first edition (Elsevier/Focal Press, 2009) was endorsed by Variety magazine and hit #1 on Amazon in the field of Communications as well as Media; the second and third editions (Taylor & Francis/Focal, 2013, 2019) are endorsed by the American Film Market. Jeff has recently retired from working as General Counsel of Irdeto, a global leader in media delivery and security solutions and part of the MultiChoice Group and formerly part of the Naspers group of companies. He is currently living in Europe and consulting on media and legal matters globally.
Jeff is a graduate of Harvard University and The University of Chicago Law School, and a member of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.
Jeff Ulin