L.A. City Attorney’s Probe Of “Pay For Play” Casting Workshops Nets Three More No-Contest Pleas
City of Los Angeles
Three more casting professionals who were caught up in the Los Angeles City Attorney’s crackdown on local casting workshops have pleaded “no contest” to charges that they charged actors for auditions in violation of California’s Talent Scam Prevention Act.
As part of his plea agreement, casting director Ty Michael Harman was placed on formal diversion for one year and was ordered to perform 90 hours of community service and may not own, operate, manage or be employed at any talent training service in the state. Harman had been associated with the Actors Alley workshop, which also was charged and has since gone out of business.
Casting associates Eddie Jaszek and Chandra Reed, who were associated with the Casting Network – which is still in business under new management – also pleaded “no contest” to charging actors for auditions but will not spend any time in jail.
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Actors Alley owner Bradley Sachs and casting directors David Scott and Rikki Maslar have previously entered “no contest” pleas to similar charges, and more than a dozen others are awaiting trial.
Many of those who have accepted plea agreements, however, continue to protest their innocence, and in August more than 90 members of the Casting Society of America signed an open letter saying the City Attorney Mike Feuer’s prosecution of their colleagues is “misguided”; that “these casting professionals are honest, hard-working people who do not deserve to be treated as criminals”; and that his office “does not understand the workshop or actor training industry.”
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