It's now or never
ri...@marathonent.com
Again and again, hundreds of you have offered financial, labor and
emotional support as my company has fought this marathon, pun intended,
legal battle for change in how the Talent Agencies Act is applied
against us.
And as we reach the final turns in this effort, it is time for one last
charge.
As you know, the Court of Appeal agreed to hear both:
1) our argument that during the creation of the Act the legislature
specifically exempted personal managers from TAA regulation and...
2) my ex-client Rosa Blasi's argument that our Appellate Court
victory should be reversed.
On October 30, each party handed in the "Brief on the Merits"
supporting our respective positions.
On November 29, each party submitted the "Reply" Briefs, explaining
to the Court the fallibilities of the other's position. Anyone
interested in reading any of these briefs can contact me and I will
forward them.
The briefing schedule ends on December 19, when the parties submit
their 'Answer' Briefs, which is where the parties get one last
chance to support their positions.
I am quite confident we have eviscerated each of Blasi's argument for
reversal. Every piece of legislative and case law evidence available
points to the Court of Appeal's opinion that severance --
invalidating the specific acts found to be unlicensed but allowing the
overall contract between the manager and client to remain valid -
should be incorporated in Talent Agencies Act disputes.
Conversely, we believe that Blasi did nothing to in any way compromise
our contention that that personal managers are not part of the Talent
Agencies Act, that the profession has been exempted from the Act's
rules and regulations, and finally, that courts and the Labor
Commission should be instructed never to again insinuate a personal
manager into a TAA controversy.
I believe the only real obstacle we still have to conquer: the worry of
the Justices being swayed by sentiment against 'unlicensed
managers' running amuck.
After the Appellate decision, the DGA, WGA, SAG and AFTRA and ATA
(Association of Talent Agents) all petitioned the Supreme Court asking
for the depublication of our Appellate opinion. That way, if you found
yourself in the same place I was, you could not use our case as a
precedent.
They are probably considering now presenting the court with amicus
curiae Briefs, telling the Court that they fear for their lives if the
Court rules in our favor.
And that's where you come in.
Every time you talk to your agents, ask them to speak to Sandy Bresler,
Harry Gold, and the rest of the ATA Board. Do everything you can to
find out 1) when we work in concert with them, that we bring them
clients and help make them money, why they would do anything
that would potentially compromise our futures; and 2) demand that if
they are hellbent on writing a brief, that they read our materials
first and only if they find clear law against our positions, that they
choose not to submit anything. Otherwise, as is my contention, they
will simply be working to rob us of our basic natural and
constitutional rights: to be paid for our labors. (All three TAA
controversy-clients had agents, the agents all got paid for their
efforts; don't we deserve the same right?)
It's the same with your guild clients. They should either call or
email their Guild leaders and demand the same - unless they can find
clear law which controverts our positions (and in four years they
haven't) -- any effort against us is complete hypocrisy. They cannot
fight for fair wages and conditions while trying to rob those who work
for them the same privileges.
Remember, if we need to get agency licenses, we will have to compete
and not share clients with your agents. Not only will that ruling have
a deleterious affect on the agents, but your clients will lose the
current benefit of having dual representatives looking out for them.
To reiterate, the law is on our side. The legislative history, which
is what one looks to figure out what the legislators' intended, is on
our side. Every thought of equity is on our side. Paraphrasing Victor
Laslow in Casablanca, "Welcome to the fight. And this time, I know
our side will win."
Let's get to work. Call me if you need me. Amazingly, I've gotten
more calls from compromised managers whose clients have stopped paying
in the last month than I ever have. If we don't stop this, it will
happen to you.
Best,
Rick