Of Counsel, Greenberg Traurig, LLP

 

 

California's Talent Agency Act requires those who procure employment for artists to become licensed talent agents under the Act. Many personal managers representing artists nonetheless obtain work for their clients without becoming licensed. Managers who do so proceed at their peril, because the Labor Commissioner can void management contracts in such circumstances and order disgorgement of all commissions the manager earned. This presentation will address the history of the FAA, former strict liability approaches to liability under the Act, and more recent cases in which more discretion was given to the Labor Commissioner to sever commissions earned from procuring employment versus money earned from activity not in violation of the Act. We will also cover the so-called "safe-harbor" under the Act for collaborating with licensed agents, as well as how proceedings before the Labor Commissioner seeking this type of relief are conducted.