EXCLUSIVE: UK company Bodhi Expertise has been accused of exploiting the performing desires of kids by charging their dad and mom doubtlessly illegal illustration charges value a whole bunch of kilos.
A Deadline investigation revealed final week how Manchester-based Bodhi had been accused of sending purchasers pretend invites for self-tape auditions and breaking laws by withholding paychecks from actors.
The corporate, which has repped cleaning soap stars together with Emma Rigby, has since confronted a reckoning. A number of purchasers give up 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 Children Casting, which was set as much as characterize kids and claims to have labored with the likes of Nickelodeon and the BBC.
Some dad and mom have reported the company to regulator the Employment Company Requirements Inspectorate, which mentioned it was ready to analyze Luna’s compliance with the Employment Companies 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 kids’s company. Sources mentioned Purnell is “ghosting” their messages after saying he would take “a number of 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 dad and mom have been left shellshocked by their expertise with Luna. The people had been charged as much as £500 ($627) in charges to entry performing roles for his or her kids, however a number of complained that jobs by no means materialized.
The company staged no less than three open audition days final yr as a part of a recruitment drive. Mother and father who attended these auditions estimated that round 20 kids participated in no less than one of many classes.
“Archie led the session, and was very charismatic, [and] spent numerous time getting the children excited concerning the business, build up their hopes. I notably keep in mind him speaking quite a bit concerning the cash they’ll get,” recalled one father or mother who wished to stay nameless.
Those that had been profitable had been despatched a suggestion letter and contract detailing the price of signing, with headshots being the most important charge. Mother and father 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 Entry Studios.
UK legal guidelines do permit brokers to cost for pictures, however the fee must be similar to the value of taking the headshots and reps mustn’t make a revenue from this exercise, in line with a supply who’s an knowledgeable in company laws.
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. Within the X video, Anthony Jr estimated that Purnell pocketed £10,000 from these shoots alone, which might imply round 55 kids had been processed as Luna purchasers on this interval.
Moreover, a Luna contract reviewed by Deadline makes clear that the shopper 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. That is doubtlessly illegal below UK laws as a result of it isn’t an “accepted service for an outlined consequence,” in line with the company regulation knowledgeable.
Luna requested dad and mom for an preliminary charge of £55 (£66 with VAT) for importing their kids’s particulars to a web site, which is doubtlessly allowable below laws. Luna additionally took round £120 from dad and mom to arrange their kids’s profiles on Highlight, which is according to what the European casting listing expenses for an annual membership.
Different stipulations within the Luna contract included charging a ten% fee on chaperone charges and holding purchasers to note durations, each of which fall beneath business requirements as set out by the Brokers of Younger Performers Affiliation (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 express in writing, in line with specialists. Luna’s solely reference to a refund is a clause saying: “All company charges are non-refundable and can’t be carried ahead or paused.”
Not less than three dad and mom mentioned that they had little or no communication from Luna after their kids signed with the company final yr. Six dad and mom instructed Deadline that their kids didn’t e-book work by means of Luna, although two mentioned their kids had been despatched auditions.
“I contacted him [Purnell] simply final month to see why [it was] so quiet. He mentioned it was the writers strike and issues ought to decide up now,” mentioned one father or mother.
Natalie Wright, whose 12-year-old daughter grew to become a Luna shopper final July, mentioned she raised considerations 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 belief” and advised she transfer on. “As a lot as we’d hate to lose her [Wright’s daughter], I don’t need to really feel like we’re going round in circles,” he added.
Wright instructed Deadline: “I simply really feel so indignant. I really feel like we’ve simply been robbed if you look again on what he was saying on the audition, in comparison with what was truly 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 watch business greatest follow in contracts by holding purchasers to note durations. Bodhi is at present prone to being struck off the UK Firms Home 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 accomplice Ricky Cortis.
