VERY IMPORTANT POST FOR ACTORS

ACTORS:

If you participate in Casting Director Workshops in the LA area, you'll need to know about the new law that just went into effect, and what it means for you. (I posted a link to the article in an earlier blog entry, here: http://gratitudeandattitude.blogspot.com/2010/05/article-for-actors-crackdown-on-casting.html)

Below is an email that was sent out from The Actor's Key, which is a well-known and respected workshop center in LA. I've highlighted the important change to procedure in bold, because it's something we should all be aware of:

To our valued actors:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As I'm sure most of you have heard, there is a law in
place (it has been since January 2010) called The
Krekorian Talen Scam Prevention Act of 2009 (AKA
Assembly Bill No. 1319), which took effect in January
of 2010 with regard to talent training services, of which
we are one. If you would like to read it in its entirety
(we encourage you to so that you know your rights),
go to
http://leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/calawquery? codesection=lab&codebody=&hits=20 **(If this link doesn't work, go to http://leginfo.ca.gov/calaw.html , and click on LABOR CODE, then on instructions below)
You then click on the CHAPTER 4.5. FEE-RELATED TALENT SERVICES.
You can click on each individual section (1701-1705.6).


**(If this link doesn't work, go to
http://leginfo.ca.gov/calaw.html , and click on LABOR
CODE, then on instructions below)

You then click on the CHAPTER 4.5. FEE-RELATED
TALENT SERVICES.

You can click on each individual section
(1701-1705.6).

We want you to be informed, but we also want you to
know that we are in compliance with all elements of
this new law. We are in the process of being bonded,
and we have personally spoken to attorney Mark
Lambert, who has been extremely helpful with going
over all levels of the law with us to ensure that we are
in compliance. We have spoken with the Labor
Commissioner's Office, as well as the Talent Agency
Licensing Department (while we are obviously not a
talent agency, they handle all fee-related
entertainment businesses, which include acting
schools/acting workshop places, coaching places, OR
talent agency- essentially, anyone who charges ANY
sort of fee for anything entertainment related, including
education), and gained all the information pertinent to
our workshops, and to this new law.

This new law will not affect our workshop format, save
for one aspect, as everything else complies with the
law, and you will continue to be able to be educated
by professionals in the industry on acting technique,
and the entertainment world as a business. We want
to remind you that our workshops are educational, and
our goal is for you to walk away with a little more
knowledge, a little more confidence, and a positive
experience. While we realize that taking workshops,
like taking acting classes, singing lessons, dancing
lessons, dialect lessons, etc., can help you to gain
work eventually because you are a better actor and
have stronger skills, we want to reiterate that there is
never any guarantee of this.

With this said, we can no longer allow the casting
directors to take your headshots with them. This
implies an audition (as would anything like us sending
the CDs your website links). You are certainly allowed
to follow up on your own with a teacher, and send
them anything that you wish to after class, and yes,
you can mention that you met them at our place, as
can any representative of yours that speaks to them in
the future.

If you any questions, concerns or comments on the
law,we would encourage you to make your voice and
opinion heard, so that they are taken into consideration.

To that end, we have been made aware of a group of
actors that has begun to get together to discuss how
this law affects actors, and is setting up a facebook
page in the near future for actors to discuss their rights
and this law. Their email is
actorsrightsnow@gmail.com if you would like
to get involved.

We also wanted to provide the following information:

The Division of Labor Standards:
320 W. Fourth Street, Suite 450
Los Angeles, CA 90013
(213) 620-6330

City Attorney Carmen A. Trutanich
City Attorney Mark Lambert
City Hall East
200 N. Main Street
Room 500
Los Angeles, CA 90012
atty.talent@lacity.org
213-978-8070

The CSA
606 N. Larchmont Blvd.
Suite 4-B
Los Angeles, CA 90004-1309
Tel: 323 463 1925
Email: castingsociety@earthlink.net

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We do not have any affiliation with any of these
groups, but we wanted to give you all the information
we have in order for you to make informed decisions
and get involved if you decide you want to. It's your
career, your money, your life, and we wish you all
success in this business. Please don't hesitate to
contact us if you have questions- we are here to help
you!All the best,

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Actor's Key Family
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I understand the need to protect people from the sort of groups that do prey on actors (and the parents of young performers) who do not know any better, but I do find it frustrating that they've removed the option of allowing a casting director to take our headshots with them from the workshops, especially at businesses that are otherwise compliant with the law. It's just a hassle. Not the end of the world, that's for sure--but it adds another step to the process, and yes, it is expensive, as well as inconvenient (even for the cds, I'd think, as I know a lot of the casting folks I see actually use the headshots to write notes, etc, and keep them for files). I already send thank you cards after each workshop, so this just adds another step (and expense, I suppose). Who knows, maybe it will change?

Anyway, consider this a heads up!