EXCLUSIVE: A prominent British children’s acting agency, which has helped young performers clinch roles in Harry Potter and Hunger Games, could have broken UK agency law by effectively charging actors training fees for the opportunity to secure representation, according to legal experts.
In emails seen by Deadline, Mark Jermin Management (MJM) encouraged multiple young people to attend paid-for acting classes, provided by sister company the Mark Jermin Stage School (MJSS), if they wished to be represented by the agency.
UK law prohibits entertainment agencies from charging upfront fees for representing their clients. Agencies are only permitted to make money by charging a commission on the fees their clients earn from acting work. Agency law experts said Deadline’s findings raised questions about whether MJM breached these regulations.
A spokesperson for MJM founder Mark Jermin strongly denied that representation has “ever been contingent upon the purchase of training services.” Jermin declined to comment on specific examples, with his lawyer stating that it was “impossible” for him to address the allegations because Deadline had refused to hand over copies of the original emails. Deadline did not disclose the original messages for source protection reasons.
The allegations follow Jermin’s earlier acknowledgment that his company mishandled self-tape auditions, prompted by a Deadline investigation in May. After publication, Jermin described the piece as “deeply unfair,” in part because he said the allegations of audition malpractice were historical and isolated.
Since that investigation, Deadline has obtained further evidence of at least two other instances of self-tape audition issues. This includes an incident in January, when a disabled actor felt misled by MJM after being asked to record a self-tape audition and post about it on social media, even though he had not been called to audition by the casting team.
Through his attorney, Jermin admitted to mistakes in his company’s dealings with the disabled actor. “We recognise that further concerns and allegations have been raised following recent reporting and we take them extremely seriously,” Jermin’s spokesperson added. “However, we deny unequivocally allegations of deliberate wrongdoing, unlawful conduct or systemic misconduct.”
Jermin has engaged an external consultant to review processes at MJM and MJSS with a view to making improvements. Jermin’s lawyer declined to identify the consultancy or its terms of reference.
Acting Lessons Linked To Representation
Jermin is one of the UK’s best-known children’s agents, unearthing talent including Heartstopper star Kit Connor and Wednesday’s Evie Templeton, as well as securing roles for actors like Eire Farrell in the Harry Potter series. He has parlayed his expertise into a significant social media presence, which he uses to promote his management work and market acting lessons, promising to make stars out of young people.
Jermin’s TikTok updates are a legitimate way to sell services and discover new talent, but behind his popular videos, he has used tactics that have raised questions.
Evie Templeton in ‘Wednesday’
Deadline has obtained emails and messages spanning a four-year period from January 2021 to October 2025 in which MJM employees, including Jermin himself, told individuals enquiring about representation that the agency prefers to take on new talent through acting classes.
UK law generally prohibits agencies like MJM from charging upfront fees and prevents them from making the provision of representation conditional upon the use of other services, such as acting classes.
The messages show that MJM repeatedly told students and parents that it “scouts” new clients from lessons. On other occasions, the company was more direct. In one 2023 email, an MJM representative told a parent that the company “only represents” young actors “who regularly train and attend our classes.” Separately, in a 2022 WhatsApp message, Jermin stated that actors “need” to attend a course to be considered for MJM’s new voice work division.
Deadline has also received testimony from a dozen current and former Mark Jermin Stage School students/parents, who said it was their understanding that they needed to pay for lessons to be considered for representation. “If you weren’t in the classes, there was no chance you would be signed,” one person alleged.
Deadline presented the evidence to three lawyers and two industry experts, all of whom have an understanding of the relevant UK agency law. They said the messages were grounds to suspect that MJM could be in breach of Regulation 5 of the Conduct of Employment Agencies and Employment Businesses Regulations 2003, which states that agencies must not make work-finding services conditional upon work-seekers using other services.
The regulations are enforced by the Fair Work Agency, which has the power to inspect agencies. If an agent is found to have flouted the law, they could be fined if they do not put their house in order, though this is rare. The Fair Work Agency declined to comment on MJM, but said it would examine any relevant complaints.
“Open & Shut” Case
Paul Maynard, a partner in employment law at Gaby Hardwicke Solicitors, said: “On the evidence I have seen, and from Regulation 5, this agency is in breach of the regulations. It seems pretty open and shut, and I can’t see any exemption within the regulations.”
In one 2023 message to a parent, MJM explained that having children in classes promotes high standards and allows MJM and MJSS employees to get to know young people before they are put forward for casting opportunities. MJM added that attending lessons is not an “automatic” route to representation as the agency “can’t take on every student.” Similar language is contained in MJSS’s terms and conditions, which state: “Participation in training does not guarantee representation.”
Maynard explained: “Regarding language around ‘scouting’ or ‘vetting’ in classes, there’s no wriggle room in Regulation 5 that allows them [MJM] to do it. They’re charging for those classes, and that’s an ancillary service to what they then go and do, which is supply clients for hire and reward.”
Seth Roe, a partner at Wiggin, which recently represented casting directory Spotlight in a High Court triumph against Equity in a case relating to agency laws, said: “An agency should not say (or imply) that it will only help a person find work if they also buy an extra service from the agency or from someone connected with the agency.
“The reason for the rule is straightforward: access to work should not be used as leverage to pressure actors, performers, models or other work seekers into paying for add-ons they may not need, may not be able to afford, or may feel they have no real choice but to purchase.”
He added that a court would likely take a literal interpretation of the regulations, which is to protect work seekers from being exploited. “That could therefore lead to a broad, practical and purposive interpretation, focused on whether a work seeker (or their parents, guardians etc) could reasonably have felt pressured to pay for additional services in order to have a better prospect of securing work,” Roe said.
Dugald Johnson, agents’ official at actors’ union Equity, told Deadline: “The law is clear that the only fee an agency may charge a performer is a fee out of earnings from work — commission. Agencies should understand that they cannot make representation conditional upon paying upfront fees, whether for acting classes or any other service.
“If members are asked for such fees, Equity advises them not to pay them and to contact the union. It is incumbent on all agencies to engage with and observe basic rules which apply to them, including on fees, not least given the immense trust which performers place in them.”
Adrian Marlowe, a Lawspeed attorney who contributed to government thinking when the laws were drafted, said Regulation 5 was engaged because MJM and MJSS are connected and the latter is charging a fee. He added that, although MJM’s emails are not explicitly transactional, they “do indicate that this could be a breach of Regulation 5.”
Another industry professional, who has experience in agency laws but did not wish to be named in connection with Jermin, said: “An agency should not require a prospective client to purchase classes, coaching, workshops, photography, or other services as a condition of being considered for representation or for access to employment opportunities.”
In a statement, Jermin’s spokesperson said that MJM denies “unequivocally allegations of deliberate wrongdoing, unlawful conduct or systemic misconduct. In particular, we strongly reject any suggestion that representation by Mark Jermin Management has ever been contingent upon the purchase of training services.”
Jermin declined to engage with the specific examples presented by Deadline. His lawyer said that it was “impossible” for his client to address the allegations because Deadline had declined to hand over unedited copies of the original emails for source protection reasons. The attorney claimed that a document prepared by Deadline detailing the messages had been edited “significantly,” including quoting extracts “entirely out of context.” Deadline does not accept that any messages were edited to change their meaning.
Jermin has also previously “emphatically denied” any unlawful charging. “MJM does not charge, and has never charged, any individual to be managed or represented by it,” his lawyer said in a letter to Deadline in March, adding: “Never has it ever been put to students participating in stage school classes operated by TMJSS that they may be represented by MJM at some point in the future provided that they continue paying to participate in those stage classes.”
Self-Tape Mishandling
After Deadline published its original investigation into self-tape auditions by Jermin and his companies in May, he posted a statement saying that the allegations regarding the mishandling of self-tapes in 2024 were “historical,” while in correspondence to Deadline through a lawyer, he blamed the issues on administrative staff at his stage school.
Deadline has now seen evidence that raises questions about his defense, implicating Jermin in the alleged mishandling of auditions as recently as January. Jermin’s position is that these were isolated mistakes, shorn of context, and were not indicative of “persistent misconduct.”
Theatre Royal Bath
At the start of 2026, MJM sent an actor an audition for a production of The Secret Garden at The Egg, which is part of the Theatre Royal Bath. Casey, a pseudonym we are using to protect the disabled actor’s identity, believed it to be a legitimate audition. Days earlier, Jermin had told Casey he was pitching him for the role, so when the actor received the audition, he assumed the pitch was successful.
Jermin requested that Casey post a social media video thanking MJM for securing him the audition. Casey followed instructions, ending his video by stating: “Thanks so much to the team at Mark Jermin Management for helping to secure me this audition.”
After reading Deadline’s story in May, Casey became suspicious about The Secret Garden self-tape and contacted the Theatre Royal Bath. The theater said Casey had not been called to audition and that the casting team had not received his self-tape from MJM. “To find out that something that I put so much effort into was a fabrication was heartbreaking,” Casey told Deadline. He feels misled and exploited, believing he was encouraged to deceive his social media followers.
Through his lawyer, Jermin said Casey’s experience was the result of miscommunication at MJM. After talking to Casey about pitching him for the role, Jermin believed a colleague had submitted his audition to the Theatre Royal Bath when, in reality, they had only sent Casey’s acting resume. Jermin’s attorney described it as an “unfortunate error” that he “very much regrets,” but said it was not evidence of “persistent and long-standing wrongdoing regarding the handling of self-tape auditions.”
Casey challenged Jermin directly about the self-tape issue over email in May, during which the MJM founder said he had “proof” that the tape was sent. Through his lawyer, he later admitted that this evidence did not exist. Jermin accepted that he should have been more careful in his communication with Casey. Jermin attempted to talk to Casey to explain, but the actor declined.
Jermin’s correspondence with the Theatre Royal Bath team also contained misinformation about Casey. He claimed that Casey “sometimes” presents Blue Peter, the iconic BBC kids’ show. Casey has never hosted Blue Peter.
Jermin’s spokesperson said: “We understand that some individuals may have had experiences that they were unhappy with and, where mistakes have occurred, we regret any distress caused and remain committed to reviewing and improving our processes. To this end, we have retained the services of an independent consultant who will be reviewing all our processes.”
In a second example from January 2023, Jermin emailed an actor we are anonymizing as Max, requesting that he self-tape for a Rice Krispies advert. Jermin copied and pasted a message purporting to be from the casting director. The message contained Max’s full name, suggesting that he was unambiguously the recipient of the audition. When Max requested further information about the role directly from the casting team, he was told that Jermin likely sent the self-tape in “error,” because he had not been called to audition.
Jermin’s attorney said his client did not know the identity of Max and was unable to find any record of the audition for the Rice Krispies advert. The lawyer said MJM needed to be provided with copies of all relevant emails and that without them, it was ‘impossible’ to take instructions or to prepare a meaningful response. Deadline declined to do this for source protection reasons.
‘Bridgerton’ Season 3
Netflix
The cases follow Deadline’s report in May that revealed MJM sent an actress self-tape auditions for roles in Bridgerton and Coronation Street, but she was later told that she was not called to audition for the series, and her tapes were not received by the casting teams. Jermin said the self-tape issues were due to an administrative error that had since been corrected.
In a statement, Jermin’s spokesperson said: “Over more than 30 years, we have supported aspiring performers and their families through an industry that is highly competitive, subjective and often challenging. While individual concerns should always be listened to and considered carefully, we believe it is important that isolated incidents and disputes are viewed fairly and in their proper context.
“We remain committed to operating professionally, transparently and in the best interests of those we support. We will continue to listen, learn and strengthen our processes where appropriate, while remaining focused on helping young performers develop and succeed.”
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