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EXCLUSIVE: UK company Bodhi Talent has been accused of exploiting the appearing desires of kids by charging their mother and father doubtlessly illegal illustration charges price a whole lot of kilos.
A Deadline investigation revealed final week how Manchester-based Bodhi had been accused of sending purchasers faux invites for self-tape auditions and breaking rules by withholding paychecks from actors.
The firm, which has repped cleaning soap stars together with Emma Rigby, has since confronted a reckoning. Several purchasers stop the company and others went public with claims that they’re owed cash, together with actor Luke Anthony Jr, who alleged in an emotional Twitter/X video that he was not paid for a job final yr.
Now Deadline can reveal {that a} group of fogeys are on the warpath after claiming they’ve been “scammed” by Bodhi’s sister company, Luna Kids Casting, which was set as much as symbolize youngsters and claims to have labored with the likes of Nickelodeon and the BBC.
Some mother and father have reported the company to regulator the Employment Agency Standards Inspectorate, which mentioned it was ready to research Luna’s compliance with the Employment Agencies Act. Others mentioned they’re additionally exploring authorized motion.
Archie Purnell, the founding father of Bodhi and Luna, has not responded to requests for remark about his youngsters’s company. Sources mentioned Purnell is “ghosting” their messages after saying he would take “a few days” away from the workplace following Deadline’s exposé. He beforehand denied allegations about his skilled conduct.
Deadline has been aware of a WhatsApp group through which greater than a dozen mother and father have been left shellshocked by their expertise with Luna. The people had been charged as much as £500 ($627) in charges to entry appearing roles for his or her youngsters, however a number of complained that jobs by no means materialized.
The company staged at the least three open audition days final yr as a part of a recruitment drive. Parents who attended these auditions estimated that round 20 youngsters participated in at the least one of many classes.
“Archie led the session, and was very charismatic, [and] spent a lot of time getting the kids excited about the industry, building up their hopes. I particularly remember him talking a lot about the money they’ll get,” recalled one guardian who wished to stay nameless.
Those who had been profitable had been despatched a suggestion letter and contract detailing the price of signing, with headshots being the largest charge. Parents had been requested to surround as much as £180 in money in an envelope and hand it to a receptionist on the day of their baby’s photoshoot at Bodhi-owned Access Studios.
UK legal guidelines do permit brokers to cost for images, however the fee needs to be corresponding to the value of taking the headshots and reps shouldn’t make a revenue from this exercise, in accordance with a supply who’s an professional in company rules.
Anthony Jr, the actor who claims he’s owed cash by Bodhi, mentioned in a video on X that he additionally works as a photographer and did 4 Luna photoshoots as a “favor” to Purnell. In the X video, Anthony Jr estimated that Purnell pocketed £10,000 from these shoots alone, which may imply round 55 youngsters had been processed as Luna purchasers on this interval.
Furthermore, a Luna contract reviewed by Deadline makes clear that the consumer ought to pay a month-to-month £12 (£14.40 together with value-added tax) charge for the price of “promotion and publication” of a kid actor. This is doubtlessly illegal underneath UK laws as a result of it isn’t an “accepted service for a defined outcome,” in accordance with the company regulation professional.
Luna requested mother and father for an preliminary charge of £55 (£66 with VAT) for importing their youngsters’s particulars to a web site, which is doubtlessly allowable underneath rules. Luna additionally took round £120 from mother and father to arrange their youngsters’s profiles on Spotlight, which is in step with what the European casting listing costs for an annual membership.
Other stipulations within the Luna contract included charging a ten% fee on chaperone charges and holding purchasers to note durations, each of which fall under business requirements as set out by the Agents of Young Performers Association (AYPA). Luna will not be a member of the AYPA.
At no level within the contract reviewed by Deadline does it state that Luna purchasers are entitled to a full refund ought to they withdraw from the company inside 30 days. This so-called “cooling off” interval ought to be made specific in writing, in accordance with consultants. Luna’s solely reference to a refund is a clause saying: “All agency fees are non-refundable and cannot be carried forward or paused.”
At least three mother and father mentioned that they had little or no communication from Luna after their youngsters signed with the company final yr. Six mother and father informed Deadline that their youngsters didn’t ebook work by Luna, although two mentioned their youngsters had been despatched auditions.
“I contacted him [Purnell] just last month to see why [it was] so quiet. He said it was the writers strike and things should pick up now,” mentioned one guardian.
Natalie Wright, whose 12-year-old daughter turned a Luna consumer final July, mentioned she raised issues after she “heard nothing” from Purnell, regardless of making common funds to Luna. In an e mail, Purnell accused Wright of getting a “lack of trust” and advised she transfer on. “As much as we would hate to lose her [Wright’s daughter], I don’t want to feel like we’re going around in circles,” he added.
Wright informed Deadline: “I just feel so angry. I feel like we’ve just been robbed when you look back on what he was saying at the audition, compared to what was actually delivered.”
Deadline has uncovered a sequence of allegations about Purnell, together with that he has despatched actors illegitimate briefs for self-tape auditions and failed to look at business greatest observe in contracts by holding purchasers to note durations. Bodhi is at present prone to being struck off the UK Companies House register for submitting its accounts late.
Purnell despatched an e mail to purchasers final week saying he was “heartbroken” on the allegations, which he claimed had been “false” and created by a person who had beforehand tried to “jeopardise my character.” He didn’t establish this particular person within the e mail, which was co-signed by his enterprise companion Ricky Cortis.
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