Magician Cosentino escapes commission payments to former manager Ralph Carr
COSENTINO is a world-renowned magician, but the one thing he can’t make disappear is his former manager.
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COSENTINO is a world-renowned magician, but the one thing he can’t make disappear is his former manager.
But the illusionist has escaped the chains of commission payments to Ralph Carr until mid-2018.
The County Court has heard that after being runner-up on Australia’s Got Talent in 2011, Paul Cameron Cosentino approached Ralph Carr Management.
Mr Carr has been in the entertainment management business for 24 years and at one time was married to his most prominent client — Tina Arena — but he had never before handled an illusionist.
Over the following two years Cosentino rode a wave of success touring nationally, appearing on TV specials here and overseas and winning Dancing With The Stars in 2013.
But behind the scenes all was not well.
Cosentino grew concerned at the direction Mr Carr was taking his career, while Mr Carr believed his young star was not committed to continuing their relationship.
County Court Judge Michael McNamara said is seems Cosentino was “somewhat aggrieved” when Mr Carr failed to attend the Dancing With The Stars final where he competed against Tina Arena.
“Mr Grant Rule, a Seven Network executive, requested that Mr Carr not attend the filming of the final episode, it would seem because of a concern to avoid ‘any distractions for the three finalists’, presumably, in particular, Ms Arena,” Judge McNamara found.
Cosentino also raised concerns with Mr Carr’s costs, including a return business class flight from Melbourne to Sydney and a limousine transfer to Wollongong to attend a Cosentino show.
Mr Carr’s expenses, which included having the limo sit for five hours until he returned to the airport was $1800.
Cosentino’s meteoric rise “came to a standstill” in early 2014 and the relationship with his manager finally disintegrated in a series of emails in April as Mr Carr pushed for a three-year extension of his current management agreement.
Cosentino moved to take over negotiations with production companies after Mr Carr allegedly postponed planned meetings.
Shortly after the management contract was terminated and lawyers stepped in to sort out the mess.
Mr Carr’s management company launched legal action claiming Cosentino had breached the management agreement by employing his brother Adam as a manager and agent from April 2014 and by failing to pay to RCM its share of his earnings, including trailing commissions which were to be paid at a decreasing rate for four years after the management deal ended.
Cosentino counter claimed that Mr Carr was in breach and had not acted in his best interests in negotiating contracts and had acted unprofessionally, producing a series highly abusive and obscenity laden texts in support of this claim.
Judge MacNamara ruled a new management company set up by Cosentino’s brothers — Gumball Enterprises — was not subject to the training commissions clause of Cosentino’s agreement with Mr Carr.