KMR Talent Exits Association Of Talent Agents

EXCLUSIVE: Talent agency KMR Talent has left the Association of Talent Agents (ATA), the trade organization of talent agencies that negotiates agency franchise agreements with the major entertainment guilds and does legislative lobbying on behalf of its members.

The exact timing of the exit is unclear but it is recent. A source indicates that it may have happened following Deadline’s report on Friday about major delays in client payments by the agency which have triggered rumors that it may fold. KMR owner and President Mark Measures has not responded to an email seeking comment.

In an interview with Deadline Friday, Measures admitted that the agency is grappling with a “talent payment breakdown” as reps who share clients with KMR revealed to Deadline that actors have been waiting for months to get their checks. There are additional testimonies in the comments section of our story about how long this has been going on and how the agency had been handling clients’ payment requests.

Measures blamed the situation on banking issues, the crashing of a database involved with payment, and the loss of KMR’s Head of Talent Payment, stressing that the agency is actively “working [its] way out.”

Pressed about KMR Talent’s future, Measures underlined that the agency is “not under threat of closure” given its “vibrant client list” and host of “dedicated agents,” slamming the Hollywood “rumor mill” for spreading speculation.

Measures’ comments were met with skepticism by KMR employees and clients who have reached out to Deadline following our story.

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 represents a slew of actors working on TV series and has a strong commercial department in New York.