On one fateful day in 1997, when Dan Scharff was a young lawyer working as a public defense attorney in Northern California, he found a list of jobs that he thought might change his life. SAG in LA was looking for a lawyer. He entered his resume, stuffed it into his mailbox and crossed his fingers.
And if he didn’t write the wrong address on the envelope, he might have got a response.
“I remember thinking, ‘This won’t happen,'” he recalls when he saw the letter “return to sender.” “But then I decided, “screw in.” I corrected my address and returned it to the email. ”
It was a disadvantage start to what would ultimately become a good legal career in Hollywood. Almost 35 years later, Schaaf is now one of the town’s most successful in-house lawyers, not only SAG, but ultimately got his resume and hired him on the same day – from Fox to Disney to Amazon, for the past 11 years, he is currently serving as the head of global business operations.
“11 years is not a small feat,” he says, saying that “98.7%” of people who currently work at Amazon Studios are “hired after me.”
Early on, Schaaf discovered training as a public defender. The only difference was that instead of persuading the ju judge in a criminal case, he had to speak out creative executives from bad decisions and tell the agents why they should accept the deal. “I think I enjoy it,” he says. “There’s joy in discussing and persuading someone in your perspective.”
After a year at SAG, Scharf moved to Fox TV and in 2002 to Disney. Two of his first deals were for high school musicals and Hannah Montana. He vividly recalls the day Miley Cyrus came to the office and sang to a group of executives in suits. “We’re all ‘Who is this girl?'” he says. “She was very brave.”
In 2006 he jumped to Jim Henson, where he worked as a general counsel, dealing with everything from filmmaking to negotiating a toy licence. It was there that he first came across Jeff Bezos’ fledgling Amazon Studios.
“It was never made, but it put me on Amazon’s radar,” says Schaaf. “I got a job, so I think I clicked on the right box.”
When he joined Amazon Studios, he was just one of 40 employees working in the Sherman Oaks Galleria office. Scharf knew this job was dangerous as almost all technology and ecommerce retailers were trying to jump into the content creation business at the time (even Overstock.com announced their own streamer). Still, Schaaf was willing to seize the opportunity. “I just decided I wanted a change, took a shot and did it,” he says.
Today, he shares many Tonier offices with over 2,200 staff at Amazon Studios. He recently closed his contract with Mrbeast’s team for Beast Games and Scott Stuber.
“Every time you learn something and get the chance to grab it with your arms,” he says, summarizing his career philosophy. “You just don’t know what’s coming in your way.” – Cr
The story was featured in the April 2nd issue of the Hollywood Reporter Magazine. Click here to subscribe.
