AN OPEN LETTER
TO: ACTRA
FROM: GALAXY TALENT MANAGEMENT
Galaxy Talent Management has been wrongly accused of SCAM by some talents on our roster who are also members of ACTRA. ACTRA (Alliance of Canadian Cinema Television and Radio Artists) in an effort to protect their members has placed Galaxy Talent Management on a list where they will not send any cheques to our office. This list is being circulated on the world wide web by ACTRA and is a defamation of the agency's excellent reputation.
FACT: Galaxy Talent Management, a principal booking and management agency, did book several talents in feature films, voice overs, commercials, music videos, print, etc. Each actor or talent did sign a contract and agreed to be represented by Galaxy Talent Management. Under the terms of the contract, each actor or talent agrees to pay $20.00 each month for marketing (i.e. courier service, photocopying, etc.) according to ACTRA guidelines plus 15% commission of their gross earnings from bookings. They also agreed to pay Galaxy Talent Management fifty percent (50%) of the marketing fee upfront ($120.00). Unfortunately, some are unable to pay the marketing fees. Therefore, based on our one-on-one interview and their past experience, we may temporarily forego the marketing fees and agree to represent them anyway.
Each actor or talent is required to bring 50 headshots at the time of signing. It is also written in the contract, but some never do. Galaxy Talent Management, at our expense, has created digital or hardcopy headshots for actors or talents in order to place them in a position to get an audition, which would eventually lead to a booking. Galaxy Talent Management has paid actor's commercial and film permit fees, percentage fees and membership fees in order for these actors to work. ACTRA will not let their actors work without permits, etc. and most don't have the money to purchase the permits or upkeep their membership dues. In short, we have made every effort to garner jobs or bookings for all talents on our roster.
Galaxy Talent Management has approximately 100 actors and talents, with signed contracts, on their roster. Over the past 5 years, ninety-nine (99%) percent of these actors or talents are in default on their marketing fees. Galaxy Talent Management cannot collect these monies, because these actors or talents are consistently complaining of not having any money. It also costs more (time, court costs, etc) to sue them in Small Claims Court and still unable to collect. Yet, once a talent has been booked by Galaxy Talent Management, and our accountant deduct some or all debts owed by them from cheques received, their response is that we are scams.
Most of these actors or talents should not be in the business because they cannot afford the cost associated with being an actor (headshots, audition after audition without a booking, courses, etc.) and should just do background work. Consequently, because some of these actors or talents are unable to maintain the expense of being an actor or talent, they have developed a scheme whereby in order to avoid paying their commissions or debts, have reported Galaxy Talent Management to ACTRA about being scammed. ACTRA in an effort to protect their members, re-route all cheques to another agency or to the actors directly. The actor gets the entire cheque and the booking agency gets nothing for their hard work.
Others have placed Galaxy Talent Management's name on commercial and film engagement contracts, of which we know nothing, in order to avoid paying another agency their commissions. While other actors or talents have used their home addresses and telephone numbers instead of the Booking Agency so that the cheques are sent directly to them, same outcome.
Although there are some bad talent agencies in the industry, the same can be said about actors or talents. Based on our experience there is a group of actors or talents that continually defraud talent agencies. It is time to put the blame squarely on these professional con actors.
We at Galaxy Talent Management feel that these actor or talent's names should be published on the internet in like-manner as ACTRA did the agencies. However, an actor's career is very fragile and short-lived and we do not want to be responsible for destroying anyone's career. They are already in the process of doing that themselves. Therefore, we are encouraging these dishonest actors to firstly, speak the truth and canvass ACTRA to remove Galaxy Talent Management's name from their "No Check List". Secondly, to pay the commissions owed to the Agency.
We did our "search" on the internet and found our Agency's name being tarnished by liars.
Respectfully,
P.S. Are there any 1st or 2nd year law students who need to write a thesis on Small Claims Court, please contact me.