NL- I talked to Lisa Ann on Twitter and she mentioned in some tweets that Lee Network owed her over $20,000 and was not paying her. I asked her for some details about that, and I also wanted to know what she did with her agency. The story below is only the opinion of LIsa Ann. I contacted Derek Hay since he was mentioned in the story. His response is below. I contacted The Lee Network also, but did not yet receive a response from them.
Lisa Ann Writes– The Agency: I have reached a point and time in my career where i did not feel i could be as committed to My Agency, My Talent and My Staff as an owner should be. My life has opened with many new opportunities i am excited to dive into.
ALSO, lets not forget the competition, How can one compete in business when your competition does not play fairly. I did not and would not book "privates".. I don’t illegally cash talent checks, i don’t make talent to do things they don’t want to, and i don’t lie to production companies. So at that point, it gets kinda tough… Leave it at that! I have passed my talent to VangardTalent.com run by darby, who used to be an employee of Direct Models. I have know darby for years and grew to really respect him when he took Derek hay, the Owner of LA Direct Models to court for unfair work conditions.
in 2008 i took on a partnership with The Lee Network to help out Tony Lee after a split with his previous agents. At the last minute it became a partnership with Tony Lee and Derek Hay ( yup its still Boys Town in the business and i don’t think Tony Lee was comfortable having a woman as his sole partner)… BUT Tony Lee and Derek Hay were perfectly fine having me front all the money for the company bills, advertising and employee. In 2009 after a dispute with Derek Hay, i was told i was no longer a partner and the office and books would now be run out of LA Direct Models. At this point i had put in about 25,000. of my own money. During this time The Lee Network was still collecting commission from me when i was Feature Dancing and made me an offer to raise my commission, but allow ME to keep half of the commission to begin to offset my debt. So i am at that point now Dancing off my own loan from them. We finally agreed on also paying me $500 a month to pay off the debt. After 6 month of NO payments i left the Lee Network as a Feature Dancer, and went full time with A LIST Features, who i am VERY happy with.. BUT then i was told by Derek Hay "since you rode off into the sunset with our competitor, you will be getting no more payments of $500, you can just write it off as a bad investment" … that was that. That was April 9th of 2010. That money i loaned The Lee Network also affected ,y financial security at Lisa Ann’s Talent Management, since i borrowed the money from one Agency to another.
NOW we are here, and they are both aware i have my documents in order and am prepared to sue. Oddly on June 18th i received a check dated June 8th for $500. in the note section of the check from LA Direct Models/ The Lee Network the check said Jan 2010 payment. So obviously admitting you are 6 months late on a payment is somewhat acceptable to The Lee Network, not to me, or my lawyer, This should be a pretty easy case, just time consuming and expensive, but out of principal, worth it.
Last weekend i had my last Booking thru the Lee Network, it was booked over 6 months ago, and unlike them, i stick to my commitments, when i went to get paid, the club had a different contract than the one i signed, theirs wasnt signed at all by me, and the commission amount i was charge was more than i agreed on, so again The Lee network took more money from me.
the ad part here is this, The Lee Network put food on my table for years, when they were struggling, the only right thing to do would be to help. i was wrong, the silver lining in this is A LIST FEATURES is getting me better bookings, treating me very well, and i am winning more Awards than ever, so it helps them in booking me.
There is no other choice than to take The Lee Network to court, unless they would come to their senses and just pay. BUT that thought is just comedy!!
thank you
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Derek Hay Responds– Thank you to the editor for the opportunity to respond, – one should always remember there are two sides to every story, It is a shame that Lisa Ann chooses to air ‘dirty laundry’ in public – I do not choose to do the same.
However, for the record Ms Ann was at no time a partner in the Lee Network, nor has LADirect Models accepted any monies from nor repaid any monies to, Ms Ann.