Defines and prohibits deceptive acts and practices, and false advertising by talent services

BILL NUMBER:S1852A

Title of bill

An act to amend the general business law, in relation to deceptive acts and practices, and false advertising by talent services

Purpose

To define and prohibit deceptive acts and practices, and false advertising by talent services.

Summary of provisions

Section 1 amends the general business law creating a new section 350-f-2 defining talent service and prohibited acts which include any talent service making an oral or written representation that the talent service will procure for an artist an employment opportunity or audition.

Section 2 contains the effective date.

Justification

New York State is home to thousands of performers seeking a legitimate opportunity to work in the entertainment industry. Unfortunately, the number of candidates looking for employment far exceeds the available opportunities for work, creating a highly competitive labor market and one wrought with unscrupulous players who prey upon a class of uninformed workers/performers.

Throughout New York, talent services place advertisements in neighborhood newspapers, and attach advertisements to walls and telephone poles whereby they offer aspiring artists services such as acting seminars, career counseling, and resume assistance. However, these advertisements can take an insidious turn once they couple these offered services with false and deceptive representations of securing employment. Such a representation is intended to lure in the aspiring artist and is the equivalent of stealing hundreds, or sometimes even thousands of dollars, from a trusting and unsuspecting aspiring performer.

Relevant examples of such practices in New York include the young performer whose parents are told that their child will secure work once they provide a fee to the talent service, in order to expose the child to a particular casting director, agent, producer or manager. Another recent trend is the talent service that claims it will secure an actor an audition for a reality television show for a fee and that should the actor make it past the first cut, their fee will be returned.

Pursuant to existing law, talent agencies, which are licensed employment agencies, cannot charge or accept an advance fee as part of their job-seeking services. In other cases, casting agencies have charged actors fees to post headshots and resumes online, claiming that they will have access to various film projects by doing so. Aspiring performers are tricked into believing that the talent service is well connected within the industry, and believe through false

assertions that they will secure work from such access by paying them fees.

Currently, these "talent services companies" are often outside the grasp of the civil and criminal law because they are not characterized or registered as "employment agencies" which are subject to significant regulatory requirements and oversight. This bill would ensure that job-seeking assistance cloaked as talent service activities are subject to enforcement and penalties for deceptive acts and practices and false advertising.

Legislative history

2014: S.7829/A.8209 Referred to Consumer Protection

Fiscal implications

None

Effective date

This act shall take effect immediately.