Guilds Lining Up Behind Blasi
ri...@marathonent.com
January 29, 2007
By Leslie Simmons
Four of the entertainment industry's largest labor unions have filed a
joint friend-of-the-court brief in a closely watched management
commission case currently pending in the California Supreme Court.
The brief, filed Friday by the Screen Actors Guild, the American
Federation of Television and Radio Artists, the Directors Guild of
America and the Writers Guild of America West, asks the state's high
court to reverse a lower court's opinion in Marathon Entertainment v.
Blasi, S145428.
In June, the 2nd District Court of Appeal ordered the case back to the
state labor commission to decide whether the alleged unlicensed
procurement of employment for actress Rosa Blasi by former manager
Rick Siegel should be severed from the rest of her contract.
Siegel and his company, Marathon Entertainment, sued Blasi over unpaid
commissions. The "Strong Medicine" actress countered by alleging
Marathon violated the Talent Agencies Act by procuring employment for
her without a license, which would void the contract altogether under
recent labor commission precedent.
The state Supreme Court is considering two questions posed by both
sides in the case. First, does the doctrine of severability of
contracts apply to violations of the TAA, or does any unlicensed
procurement of employment for an actor by an unlicensed manager void
the personal management contract in its entirety? Second, does the TAA
apply to personal managers or does it only govern talent agents?
In their 31-page amicus brief, the labor guilds argue the appellate
court's decision contradicts the weight of authority interpreting the
TAA and contends the precedent set by the court could be detrimental
to the law's enforcement.
"Given the power dynamic between artists and those who hold the keys
to their employment, the state, exercising its police power to protect
artists, determined that one must be regulated to hold those keys,"
the brief states. Absent reversal of the appellate court, "The labor
commissioner would be expected to sever commissions from unlawfully
procured employment while still allowing unlicensed individuals to
collect commission from other work performed by the artist. Under that
scenario, the manager has lost only a small commission from his
illegal conduct and has little incentive to cease his unlicensed
activities on behalf of that client or any others."
The brief was filed despite Siegel's campaign encouraging other
managers to write to the guilds asking them not to file an amicus
brief on behalf of Blasi.
In an e-mail to SAG's general counsel Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, Siegel
wrote, "The guild is built upon a foundation that everyone demands to
be fairly compensated. ... If one does not accept the need for your
members to pay those they employ in a fair and legal manner, then you
are without credibility when asking for similar fairness for
yourselves."
But the guilds' brief does not address Marathon's contention that the
TAA has been misused by actors who wish to stop paying their managers
once they become successful. Rather, the brief focuses on the legal
ramifications of the appellate court's decision.
"The 2nd District's decision contradicts the weight of published
administrative and judicial authority and opens a potential loophole
in the Talent Agencies Act that could prove disastrous to its
enforcement and to the enforcement of the guilds' franchising system
-- even to the point of potentially unraveling the entire regulatory
scheme," the brief contends.
The deadline for amicus briefs in the case is today. According to the
court's docket, applications to file briefs were submitted last
Thursday and Friday by the Association of Talent Agents and the state
labor commissioner in support of Blasi and the Talent Managers Assn.
in support of Marathon.
Representing Marathon is Los Angeles attorney Donald Smiley. Michael
Plonsker of Dreier Stein & Kahan in Santa Monica is representing
Blasi.
Along with Crabtree-Ireland, Laura Beedy Ritchie and Danielle Van Lier
authored the brief on behalf of SAG. Also signing the petition were
Hirsch Adell and Laurence Zakson of Reich Adell Crost & Cvitan in Los
Angeles on behalf of AFTRA; Robert Giolito for the DGA; and Anthony
Segall of Rothner Segall & Greenstone in Pasadena for the WGA.