Norman Beil has been the head of business and legal affairs for David Geffen's various entertainment companies since 1986: Geffen Records (owned by MCA/Matsushita since 1990), Geffen Pictures (a Geffen/Time Warner joint venture) and Geffen Theatre (wholly owned by Geffen). He was named to the newly-created position of head of new media in November 1993, but Beil's involvement with new technology has been a lifelong pursuit.
Born in Brooklyn, New York and raised on Long Island, Beil graduated Phi Beta Kappa from New York University's Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences in 1972. Throughout college he worked as a computer systems analyst and programmer, even while attending Boalt Hall, the University of California at Berkeley School of Law. There, he wrote a computer program licensed to banks throughout the world that could track foreign currency inventories. Upon earning his law degree in 1975, he attended Harvard Business School and received his MBA in 1977.
Then, after practicing corporate law for entertainment clients at a Los Angeles firm, he joined the William Morris Agency; first as an attorney and administrator, then two years as a talent agent. While at William Morris, he represented Richard Gere and Mel Gibson, and was extensively involved in packaging movies such as Beetlejuice, An Officer And A Gentleman and National Lampoon's Vacation. In Addition, he co-wrote two books: The Actor's Manual: A Practical Guide To Your Career and The Writer's Legal and Business Guide. In 1983, he served as president of the Beverly Hills Bar Association (Barristers) and co-founded its Committee for The Arts of Los Angeles.
Beil has been a computer game enthusiast since grade school. Though his creation of an electronic version of a handheld adult trivia game is yet to be released, its non-electronic counterpart, call "Name Burst," reached store shelves Christmas 1992 and sold more than 150,000 units its debut season.
His newest game, Vid Grid, is a CD ROM puzzle game that features rock videos. One of Beil's proudest achievements was his recent victory over his two sons in "Rebel Assault."
