In the UK, you do not need a licence to set up a talent agency and there is no watchdog to regulate them.
Talent agencies are legally classed as “employment agencies” and so have to comply with the Employment Agencies Act 2003, which states payments must be made within 10 days of the money being received.
However, Bodhi Talent Agency clients were forced to chase cash owed to them for months.
In January, Thea asked Archie about payment for her work on Netflix’s The Crown and a car advert.
Jack, also 36, claims he is owed £7,079.81 for work on jobs including an advert for a well-known hotel chain and a mystery, Mrs Sidhu Investigates.
With a young family, every penny counts for Jack - who works another job for an events company.
In January, he had to chase Archie for a second instalment for the hotel ad, having received “the mother of all tax bills”.
Archie said in a later WhatsApp message he would send Jack £2,000 of his own funds, to avoid Jack “stressing”.
“I’m more than happy to do that, if it takes the pressure off you at the minute - until it comes in,” Archie said in a voice note.
“That actually made me a bit emotional, because I was like, wow, you're going above and beyond for something that's not your fault… that's how I saw it at the time, naively,” Jack says.
Archie had in fact received payment for the job in October 2023.
“[Now] I feel isolated, alone, left in the lurch, but I’m also angry. He will do it again - because why wouldn’t he?” Jack says.
Other actors affected include: