Porn Valley- I spoke to Harry Weiss Friday afternoon and Weiss had a few comments to make about Ric Williams who seems to be in a lecturing mode these days on talent agency protocol. Williams got the ball rolling Thursday morning with a post on XPT. And since then Weiss and someone identifying himself as “undercover agent” have been critical of Williams’ views. Weiss made his comments known on KSEX Thursday night and Williams later said Weiss didn’t know what he was talking about. Weiss says the same goes for Williams.
“Ric Williams says I don’t know what I’m talking about- let’s address that first,” says Weiss.
“According to Ric Williams’ site he attended law school at Western State University College of Law. Why is it that over and over I find myself having to explain the law and ethics to someone like that? Because, obviously, Ric Williams doesn’t know what the fuck he’s talking about. You got a very intelligent response from Undercover Agent. Undercover Agent knows what he’s talking about. ‘A licensed agent cannot and should not collect from the talent they represent and the producer who’s hiring them.’ That’s an absolute conflict of interest. Also according to the American Talent Agency Association if that’s what they’re called, ‘no agent can book an actor or an actress into a non-union job.’ Porn is not union, so congratulations, Ric Williams you’ve successfully prevented anyone you represent from working in porn.”I bring up the fact that Williams represents Randy Spears on the mainstream side which means Spears could not be booked for porn by Williams.
“And as stated by Undercover Agent,” Weiss continues, “he cannot run an agency housed under the same roof as any other business that would have an interest, i.e., production, distribution, etc. Does Mr. Williams have a separate office for his talent agency vs. his distribution company? I wonder. Basically what’s going on is, every licensed agency in our business is in some kind of violation of the Association of Talent Agencies. Every single one of them in more than one instance.
For instance, if you’re a director for a production company who owned an agency and you hire your own people for jobs and, obviously as a director for somebody, you’re getting a director’s fee, you’re supposed to represent- as a director and producer- the interests of the company you’re directing and producing for. However if you hired the talent from your own agency and take commission from them and take booking companies from the company you’re supposed to be directing and producing for, how unethical and perverse is that?
“Now concerning Ric Williams,” Weiss goes on to say, “he asked me some direct questions like do I know what AFTRA is? Does he mean the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists? Do I know what SAG is as in Screen Actors’ Guild? And especially do I know what Breakdown Services, www.breakdownservices.com is? Is he talking about the company owned by Gary Marsh? Yes, Ric, I do know what all those things are. And, another correction: I have never, ever claimed to be an agent. I’ve always stated that I’m a manager. I’ve always stated that and Ric talks about competing on a level playing field if I got an agent’s license. Actually that would put me out of business but the only way for Ric Williams to compete with me on a level playing field is if he got more intelligent. And if he continues to pursue this with the labor commission, etc., he’s actually going to put himself and other licensed agency out of business.”