UPDATE, 2:53 PM: United Talent Agency and Donald Faison have settled their dispute over $73,000 in unpaid commissions. The former Scrubs actor supposedly had no idea that he owed his former agency the funds until UTA filed suit against him in LA Superior Court on May 9, sources tell me. The money was from part of Faison’s run on the NBC and later ABC comedy plus the $60,000 fee he received from The Law pilot back in 2010. After being informed about the case, Faison contacted UTA yesterday and paid up the full amount immediately. Unsurprisingly, the actor also fired his business manager over the matter. UTA will withdraw its seven claim complaint against Faison next week, I’m told.
PREVIOUSLY; THURSDAY PM: UTA wants ex-client Donald Faison to pay up. Seeking $73,000 in damages, the agency today filed a seven claim complaint (read it here) in LA Superior Court against the former Scrubs actor for unpaid commissions. “UTA represented Donald Faison as an actor for nearly a decade during which time UTA negotiated a lucrative deal for Faison to perform on the hit series Scrubs, which he has appeared on since 2001. Faison paid commissions due to UTA through part of Scrubs season 9, and then, for no reason whatsoever, suddenly stopped making payments. Faison has not only turned his back on the people that helped slingshot his career, but on his contractual obligations to those people,” said the 10-page suit. The agency is also looking to get its 10% of the $60,000 the actor was paid for pilot called The Law that he was in a couple of years ago.UTA is seeking a jury trial against Faison, who is now represented by APA and will be seen in the upcoming Kick-Ass 2. The agency has a pretty good track record in these cases. Last summer a federal judge ruled that director Barry Sonnenfeld had to pay $325,000 in fees to his former agency for Men In Black 3 and more if there are more sequels in the franchise. UTA is represented by Bryan Freedman and Jonathan Genish of LA firm Freedman & Taitelman.
