Addressingbullyingandharassment

Extensive media reports of sexual harassment and bullying by high profile members of the film and television community has brought together a number of leading industry bodies. Together with Directors UK, these bodies are working to develop an industry-wide response to this epidemic.

Whilst sexual harassment has been dominating the headlines, we recognise that bullying and harassment is an issue that affects everyone regardless of gender, ethnicity, disability, age, class or the stage in their career. Poor treatment and abusive behaviour are fundamentally connected to issues of power and control and the absence of mutual respect, so in the interests of both our members and industry colleagues, Directors UK has been looking at how we can tackle the issue head-on. 

Alongside Equity, WFTV, WGGB, PACT, Bectu, BAFTA and the BFI amongst others, Directors UK is working on practical ways to tackle unacceptable behaviour by addressing a common set of bullying and harassment issues. These include:

• HR policies and practices largely overseen by broadcaster and production companies and not viewed as truly impartial or independent.

• The lack of a universal reporting and arbitration system that freelancers can use with confidence.  

• The view that ‘that’s just the way it is’.

• The creative process and ‘artistic temperament’ as a facilitator of poor behaviour and treatment of others.

• Individual understanding of what is and isn’t appropriate in colleague interactions.

• Fear that reporting issues will label the complainant as a troublemaker and jeopardise future work.

• A lack of faith that reports will be taken seriously and independently handled. 

• That many senior creatives have no idea what to do if an incident is reported to them.

Our talks with other industry organisations are helping us to collectively develop a set of guidance that will be revealed in early 2018.  It’s expected to include a code of conduct, training provisions and guidance on handling complaints.  This will help protect our members from bullying and harassment, and enable them to better manage any reports they receive. 

Alongside that work, we’ll also be looking at our internal policies for managing accusations to make sure that we can respond to them in a fair and appropriate way. Our all-member meeting on bullying and harassment will be rescheduled for the New Year, and we’ll be organising a high-level round table to draw on what other organisations have learned about managing these issues too. 

The dates for these events will be announced shortly.