Krekorian’s Advance Fee Scam Prevention Act
Moves Forward Today in State Legislature 1

While state legislators and our governor still can’t agree on this fiscal year’s budget, and large banks threaten to stop accepting state IOUs, other business moves forward in Sacramento. AB 1319, a bill proposed by Assistant Majority Leader Paul Krekorian that would completely prohibit “advance-fee representation services”, passed out of the Senate Judiciary Committee 4-1 on June 26 and is being heard today in the California Senate’s Labor and Industrial Relations Committee.

I recently encountered one of these scam promoters, referred to as “talent scouts” below, at the Glendale Galleria. I asked so many questions she refused to give me her business card. I later heard through a friend that a similar invitation to an “audition” turned out to be a sales pitch for a $400 acting class.

A staff report to the committee states AB 1319 will prohibit anyone from charging fees in exchange for procuring an agent or manager for an artist, or for referring an artist to such a service. The report provides some background:

In response to concern that unscrupulous individuals were posing as talent agents or talent managers and requesting large payments in exchange for promises of employment that they could never deliver, the Legislature enacted AB 884 (Kuehl), Chapter 626, Statutes of 1999.

This bill would recast and revise these provisions of existing law to prohibit advance-fee talent services, specify distinct types of fee-related talent services, and expand the regulations for other fee-related talent services.

…Proponents note that AB 1319 will address a growing trend of fraud and abuse that has double every year since 2006. Proponents argue that with the unprecedented popularity of “American Idol” and other reality television programming, the false promise of instant stardom has increasingly become a fertile ground for talent peddlers to scam the public, victimizing children and young adults in particular. The proponents argue that this fraud is accomplished through deceptive newspaper, Internet and radio advertisements and by phony “talent scouts,” that invite individuals to an “audition” which turns out to be a “bait and switch” attempt to sell photographs, classes and listing services.

While the Association of Talent Agents is taking a neutral stand on the bill, the Association of Talent and Modeling Agencies is opposed to the bill unless it is amended to allow fees for talent competitions/conventions and to suspend the requirement that agencies remove photos and other information from their websites and promotional materials at the request of artists.

According to the report:

The Association asserts that this would allow an artist to unilaterally breach a negotiated agreement with an acting or modeling school where the school offers to train the artist for a fee and the right to use their name and likeness as someone who has attended the school. Further, the Association is concerned that talent services would not be permitted to advertise artist success stories unless they have a written contract for that artist.