A talent agency agreement defines the relationship between a representation agency and an actor, musician, athlete or other creative professional: the agency performs one or more mandated acts in the talent's name and at the talent's expense. In Georgia this field is not governed by a separate statute — the special talent-agency legislation known in other jurisdictions, such as the California model, does not operate here. The relationship is therefore governed, in substance, by the mandate-contract provisions of the Georgian Civil Code — primarily articles 709, 710, 711 and 720.
The Mandate Contract in the Talent Context
Under article 709 of the Civil Code, under a mandate contract the mandatary is obliged to perform one or several legal acts entrusted to it by the mandator, in the mandator's name and at the mandator's expense. In the talent context the mandatary is the agency and the mandator is the performer or athlete. Because the agent acts in the talent's name and for the talent's benefit, the rights and obligations created by the deals the agent concludes belong directly to the talent: the talent receives the fees and bears the responsibility.
The Agency's Fee and Its Default Rules
Article 710 provides that the mandator must pay the mandatary a fee only in the cases provided for by the contract or by law. The fee is deemed to have been agreed implicitly where, in the circumstances, performance of the act is expected only for a fee. In the talent industry this means that if representation services are customarily paid in the given circumstances, a commission is deemed agreed even if its amount is not expressly stated in the contract. Where the amount of the fee is not determined, the fee corresponding to the earnest money is deemed agreed where such earnest money exists, and otherwise the customary fee applies
Personal Performance and the Restriction on Delegation
Under article 711 the mandatary must perform the mandate personally, except where it has been permitted to delegate it to a third party or is forced to do so by the circumstances that have arisen. The involvement of assistants is allowed. This norm matters greatly in the talent field: a talent addresses a specific agency or agent and entrusts the management of its affairs precisely to that person, not to whoever the agency may later substitute.
Where delegation is permitted, the mandatary is liable only for the fault that is imputable to it in the delegation and in the selection of that person. In the contrary case the agency is responsible for having entrusted the mandate to another person without permission: such a transfer is not effective against the talent, and the damage arising from it falls on the agency to compensate.