To write this post I went back to the classical world to find the origin of a word that defines a huge part of my work: agent.

Agere (Latin) — to do, to drive, to act. The root of both agent and acting.
In loco parentis (Latin) — in the place of a parent.

Put together, they say a lot. An agent acts on behalf of someone else, moving them forward. When that someone is a child, the responsibility carries the weight of standing in for a parent: protecting, safeguarding, guiding.

Think of awards season: “I want to thank my Mum, God, my agent.” Agents aren’t just job-seekers. They’re advocates and protectors. And for children, that responsibility should be greater, not smaller. In loco parentis. Agere.

A Party Conversation

At a party not long ago, I was chatting with a casting director friend when a producer asked how we knew each other. She answered: “She’s an Academy Director and an agent to children.”

The conversation quickly shifted. What came up was the ick many casting directors, producers and directors feel around so-called child agencies. Not agents of child actors — but businesses built on the commodification of children: catalogues of faces, sold en masse, with little separation between acting, modelling, and background work.

One point landed hard: adult actors would never tolerate that kind of relationship with their agents. They expect transparency, advocacy, and respect. Why do we accept less for children — the very people who need the most protection?

Faginism

And so, from the classical world to a great British literary classic: Dickens’ Oliver Twist.

Here lies the opposite of ethical agenting: Faginism.

Fagin didn’t nurture children, he profited from them. He sent them out in large numbers to “work” while the benefits flowed back to him. The modern echo is hard to miss: agencies boasting 500 children on their books, pushing them into background or modelling jobs dressed up as acting experience.

But the industry knows the truth: background work is not acting, it is never credited to support future opportunities, and modelling has no links to acting. Entirely separate professions, sold to families as stepping stones.

Why? Because at 37.5% commission, it pays. Agencies can fill whole easy-ups (on set language for a big gazebo) or large vacant holding areas on film and TV sets with their “child actors,” but the only one gaining is the business model itself.

And parents are often squeezed out. One agent recently bragged online that she never spoke to parents — and then set up a separate company charging them for “guidance.” But the support of parents is not an extra commodity. It is part of the job. The mind boggles.

That is Faginism: numbers over nurture, commission over care, profit over protection.

What Ethical Agenting Is

Ethical agenting means:
– No catalogue mentality. Children aren’t numbers in a book, or names to fill an easy-up or holding area.
– Clear boundaries. Acting is acting. Background work and modelling are separate industries, not stepping stones.
– Parents included. Guidance and support aren’t “extras” to be monetised — they are the job.
– Protection first. Decisions are made with the safeguarding, advocacy and dignity of the child at the centre.
– Honesty and respect. No false promises, no smoke and mirrors. Just representation rooted in craft and care.

Ethical agenting doesn’t guarantee success — no one can. But it does guarantee integrity in the process.

Closing

The roots of the word remind us: agere — to act, to move forward. It is also where we get the word actor. And that is what these children are. Mine certainly are. They work hard, they dedicate themselves, and they deserve to be looked after properly — in loco parentis.

And the warning sits in Dickens: the industry doesn’t need more Fagins, sending children out in numbers to serve a system. It needs agents willing to hold the line, to protect, and to advocate.

We, as an industry, need to stand up to exploitation masquerading as opportunity. Because only when selling children is made hard — not easy — can we all sleep easy.

That is ethical agenting.