Attorney finds satisfaction honoring Capote's legacy.THE past few years have been very good for entertainment lawyer Alan U. Schwartz of Greenberg Traurig Greenberg Traurig LLP is an international law firm with approximately 1,700 attorneys and governmental professionals in 29 locations in the United States, Europe and Asia. Its presence in Europe is supplemented by strategic alliances with Olswang (offices in London, United Kingdom LLP LLP - Lower Layer Protocol , and he's sharing the wealth. He's one of Hollywood's most well known attorneys, credited with pioneering split right film deals, in which a film's various backers divide distribution rights and revenues. Schwartz also represents Truman Capote's estate, and has been sole trustee of the Truman Capote Literary Trust since the early 1990s. The trust was worth $2 million when Capote died in 1984 and is worth about $9 million today. Last year's release of the Academy Award-winning film "In Cold Blood," based on the author's book, provided a boost for the fund, as did the posthumous release of Capote's "Summer Crossing." For the past few years, Schwartz has made major contributions--ranging from $300,000 to $400,000--to universities across the country through the trust. The trust additionally funds an award for literary criticism at the University of Iowa Not to be confused with Iowa State University. The first faculty offered instruction at the University in March 1855 to students in the Old Mechanics Building, situated where Seashore Hall is now. In September 1855, the student body numbered 124, of which, 41 were women. in honor of Capote's friend, literary critic Noun 1. literary critic - a critic of literature critic - a person who is professionally engaged in the analysis and interpretation of works of art Newton Arvin Frederick Newton Arvin (b. 1900 in Valparaiso, Indiana, d. 1963) was a literary critic, historian, and academic. Life and work Frederick Newton Arvin studied English Literature at Harvard and was inspired by Van Wyck Brooks. . The award is $25,000 annually. Schwartz was Capote's lawyer and a personal friend, so oversight of the trust--and awarding the funds--has been professionally and personally rewarding. "It means a great deal to me because Truman was somebody who not only was a great prose writer, but loved young writers," he said. "For us to be able to continue this in his name for the foreseeable future means a great deal to me." The donations have gone to a range of institutions: Stanford University Stanford University, at Stanford, Calif.; coeducational; chartered 1885, opened 1891 as Leland Stanford Junior Univ. (still the legal name). The original campus was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted. David Starr Jordan was its first president. , University of Iowa, Xavier University--which is an historically black college in New Orleans--and Appalachian State University History Appalachian State University began in the summer of 1899 when a group of citizens of Watauga County, NC, under the leadership of D.D. Dougherty and B.B. Dougherty, began a movement to establish a good school in Boone, NC. Land was donated by D.B. . Schwartz, who works on the trust with his wife, Louise, knows the theater as well as publishing and film. He worked with Mel Brooks and helped him take "The Producers" from movie to Broadway and back to the big screen. Staff reporter Emily Bryson York can be reached at (323) 549-5225, ext. 235, or at eyork@labusinessjournal.com. |
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