Months After KMR Talent’s “Payment Breakdown,” Clients Are Still Waiting For Their Money

In March, Deadline broke the news that KMR Talent was grappling with a “talent payment breakdown” that resulted in late payments to clients. While scores of commercial actors reached out to us to report how they were waiting to receive thousands of dollars in back pay, owner and president Mark Measures told Deadline that he was actively working his way out the situation to bring relief to his clients.

As of today, they are still waiting.

Former clients like Joe Gately of New York said the last time he heard from Measures was in mid-March. Owed $6,500 for a print ad, Gately said three checks from KMR bounced while the promise of a direct deposit to his account was never made.

“KMR no longer answers their phones and their outgoing message does not mention KMR’s name,” said Gately. “I learned from someone at SAG-AFTRA who is involved in documenting the money that the money owed to union clients is $3,000,000.”

Measures did not respond to requests for comment. The last time Deadline heard from Measures was in April when he sent this statement: “KMR remains open with the focus on getting our clients paid in full. We are making progress, but still have a way to go. We are working diligently to live up to our obligation. We have tried to respond to all clients who have contacted us and remain in touch with many as we work through our payment issues.”

SAG-AFTRA, which met with KMR clients in late April, released this new statement to Deadline: “SAG-AFTRA remains committed to supporting our members who have been adversely affected by the payment irregularities at KMR. Since reports about KMR first became known, we have provided resources, assistance, and guidance to members as they contemplate possible next steps. The union has been assisting its members on many fronts, and we will continue to do so. We will have no further comment at this time as to how that process will unfold.”

That assistance includes helping actors like Gately file criminal complaints with local police. According to a SAG-AFTRA email sent to Gately, “Pursuant to our discussions with the Midtown Precinct South –the police station closest to where KMR’s offices are in the City, SAG-AFTRA has been informed that aggrieved members do not necessarily file with that precinct but rather the precinct closest to where the injured party resides or where they were when they learned about the theft. Two separate desk sergeants gave SAG-AFTRA the same response, but they were not as forthcoming as we would have liked because SAG-AFTRA employees are not seen as the “victims” of any crime. While there may have been a miscommunication between our affected members and some elements of police enforcement, we nonetheless believe the underlying causes of action we discussed in our meeting have the potential to rise to the level of a crime.”

In the meantime, many former KMR clients are apparently banding together to fight back. In Los Angeles, one former KMR client who says he is owed $20,000 for a car commercial told Deadline that he and a group of about 160 other agency victims have been interviewing attorneys about a potential lawsuit. The client — who, like so many others, is afraid to share his name for fear of retaliation — said he, too, was told by SAG-AFTRA that at least $3 million is owed to former KMR clients in back pay.

“Mark has responded a few times, even during my explicit texts, but now he’s stopped. Silence,” said the actor, who says he has reached out to the LAPD and the FBI. “Where is he? Where is our money?”

Meanwhile, a Reddit thread about KMR reads like a horror movie with no third act. Many people have used the space to either complain about the thousands they are owed or to share tips about contacting the FBI, California’s Attorney General and the Department of Labor. There are also multiple posts about how they were promised a check was in the mail — to no avail.

Also known by the name Kazarian/Measures/Ruskin & Associates, KMR Talent began as The Wormser Agency, which in 1957 became the first voice-over and commercial agency in Los Angeles. It represented a slew of actors working on TV series and had a commercial department in New York.

After Deadline first broke the news about KMR’s talent payment breakdown, the agency left the Association of Talent Agents trade organization and suspended its franchise with SAG-AFTRA.