Actors Access Latest Target In Class Action Lawsuit Over Its Pay-To-Play Service

Lynette Rice
·5 min read

UPDATED with latest: Actors Access is the latest target of a potential class action lawsuit for its pay-to-play model.

A week ago, the California-based public interest firm Clarkson Law filed suit against Casting Networks. Now it has set its sights on the Gary Marsh-owned service that allows actors to submit directly to casting breakdowns posted by casting directors.

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Plaintiffs in the suit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court on Wednesday are Kate Bond and Christian Jenkins — both of whom are local L.A. SAG board members — along with Robert Fisher, Amber Coyle and Donald Smith. Read the lawsuit here.

Breakdown Services owns and operates Actors Access and is believed to have a database of more than 1 million actors.

“Following the daily outpour of support from actors, industry insiders, and the public, after our filing against Casting Networks, we realized exactly how widespread this problem is throughout the online audition industry,” said Ryan Clarkson, managing partner at Clarkson. “Actors Access, a massive Hollywood institution that even predates the internet, is guilty of the same deception — scamming actors and taking advantage of their career dreams. It is time they are held accountable.”

“Similar to the deceptive bit and switch model used by Casting Networks, Actors Access’ fraud of choice is hidden fees, revealing myriad up-charges only after enticing actors to pay a smaller upfront cost,” added Christina Le, a partner at Clarkson. “Both platforms leverage illegal fraud tactics to unlawfully line their pockets and chisel a financially vulnerable community of performers who are already providing their labor for free throughout the audition process.”

The lawsuit seeks immediate injunctive relief that requires Actors Access to stop their “unfair business practices to permanently protect actors from exploitation in the future.” It also seeks compensation for three times what actors overpaid for subscriptions, in accordance with the state labor code.

Deadline has reached out to Marsh for comment. If and when we receive a response, we will update this post.

PREVIOUSLY: Four months after SAG-AFTRA warned casting websites that it was illegal to collect fees from actors who want to submit themselves for commercial casting, a California-based public interest firm has filed a potential class action lawsuit against Casting Networks for its controversial pay-to-play model.

The lawsuit, filed on behalf of actors Nicole Kreuzer, Marco Martinez and Brandy Waller, alleges CN is in violation of California Labor Code 450 by charging actors for the chance to audition for a role. The company’s “bait and switch” tiered subscription-based service violates the state’s unfair business practice and false advertising laws, according to the lawsuit filed Tuesday in Los Angeles Superior Court.

Read the lawsuit in full here.

California Labor Code 450 says “no employer, or agent or officer thereof, or other person, may compel or coerce any employee, or applicant for employment, to patronize his or her employer, or any other person, in the purchase of any thing of value.” A similar law exists in New York.

In January, SAG-AFTRA told members that “it has come to our attention that there are a number of casting websites and apps charging a fee for performers to submit for roles. As a reminder for union jobs, performers must have a no-cost method to submit themselves for a commercial casting.” Now that self-tapes are the industry standard, actors are having to purchase more bandwidth to upload their submissions — a trend that audition coaches like the one who runs the Instagram account Put Me On Self Tape have railed against online.

“We think this is a super important issue for members of the acting community and employees across the state and across the country,” said Ryan Clarkson, managing partner of Clarkson Law in Malibu. “Here you have a situation in which people’s career dreams are being exploited and taken advantage of with the promise of an employment opportunity. We’ve got really a two-pronged situation here. One is the unlawful pay-to-play scheme in which actors’ statutory rights are being violated by platforms who are charging a fee for an employment opportunity to audition and gain employment, followed by a classic consumer fraud bait and switch, where an actor is promised one thing, which is unlimited opportunities to audition, but then learns the reality of the limitations of the opportunity, which is they basically get to submit one reel and then they run out of bandwidth and they’re forced to purchase more if they actually want to engage in further opportunities.”

Clarkson added that CN was targeted “because it is the platform of choice with the most subscribers,” but he has not ruled out going after other platforms that have violated laws. As for additional plaintiffs, Clarkson said they “put out feelers for potential class representatives for this case and within a matter of hours we had almost a hundred actors reach out to us wanting to be part of this suit.”

Deadline contacted Casting Networks for comment on today’s lawsuit. If and when we get a response, this post will be updated.

“Casting Networks and other people in the industry have received warnings that they are violating these laws,” added Christina Le, a partner at Clarkson. “These companies still continued to keep with their unfair practices. They know exactly what they’re doing. They’re taking advantage of the hardworking people in our state. This is the exact type of conduct that the legislature has created these sort of damages for, to penalize people for these actions. They can’t say, ‘no, I didn’t see the SAG letter. I didn’t receive warning of this.’ They received warnings. They’ve received warnings for quite a while and they’re still continuing with these practices.”

The lawsuit asks for immediate injunctive relief, requiring CN to stop their unfair business practices to permanently protect actors. Second, it seeks financial compensation for three times the purchase price of subscriptions, in accordance with the labor code.

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