Directors have a big role to play in shaping our industry’s working culture. Here’s how. — Paul Evans’ industry blog

Standards relating to TV and film’s workplace culture are now in development. They will affect the work of every Director. Directors UK is organising two online meetings over the next couple of weeks that will give you a chance to shape them.

A significant number of the problems Directors UK members bring to me are related to bullying, harassment or discrimination, in one form or another.

These issues are often exacerbated by the culture of fear I wrote about last year, that goes hand in hand with freelancing. Often, victims feel they need to decide between challenging abuse or face concerns about their ability to find work going forward.

If that weren’t enough, the problem is even harder to deal with where either (or both) parties to the dispute are not permanent employees of either the production company or a programme’s commissioner. Conventional workplace dispute processes often don’t work in cases like these.

I’m mentioning this here now because over the next couple of weeks, Directors UK is hosting meetings on two industry initiatives, both aimed at addressing these issues.

The first is from the Creative Industries Independent Standards Authority (CIISA) on Monday 20 January at 5pm. CIISA will be providing an outline of their forthcoming CIISA Standards that aim to help protect freelancers and staff workers against bullying, harassment and discrimination.  The Standards have been developed in consultation with Directors UK, Bectu, Women in Film and Television, the Mark Milsome Foundation and many others. They are intended to be minimum industry expectations for what safe and responsive working environments should look like, supporting inclusivity in the workplace, and outlining how fair and accountable reporting mechanisms should operate.

At this meeting, Directors UK members will be invited to give feedback and learn how the Standards will integrate into the work done by anyone in key production leadership roles.

The Standards will form part of your ongoing work as a director whether you work in film or TV, because of your key role in leading and managing people. Endorsed by Directors UK, they will be adopted by more than 90 organisations that you work with regularly, including the BBC, BAFTA, BIFA, Pact, Sky, Screen Scotland, TAP, S4C, Paramount, the Production Guild, ITV, The Film & TV Charity, Bectu and the BFI — every director will need to know about, and understand, these Standards.

Attending this meeting is your chance to take a lead on creating a positive working culture in our industry. You can register here.

In addition to this, the BBC are also in the middle of a thorough ‘Workplace Culture Review’. It will have a particular focus on preventing abuse of power and ensuring everyone at the BBC conducts themselves in line with the BBC’s Values.

The review will focus on:

•  Whether there are further practical steps the BBC can take to ensure everyone at the BBC understands and commits to their Values and Code of Conduct
•  How the BBC can ensure the consequences of inappropriate behaviour and abuse of power are understood by everyone and that significant issues are dealt with as soon as they are identified and in a consistent manner
•  Whether there is more the BBC can do to ensure people feel confident to speak up and for managers and leaders to act decisively
•  What the BBC can do, when issues or complaints are raised, to make it clearer how the processes will work and what information will be shared.

I have heard a number of members expressing strong views on some of these issues in the past — in particular, relating to the process of the engagement of directors, and in the relationship that directors have with the BBC on shows that have been commissioned through independent production companies.

The BBC have appointed a consultancy called Change Associates to carry this review out on their behalf and have invited Directors UK members to a briefing and feedback session on Monday 27 January at 7pm. Click here to attend.

When it comes to working culture, it’s high time the industry turned over a new leaf. Directors have a big part to play in this, so please come along to these two meetings and take the lead in building a better industry.

Paul Evans is Head of Industry Relations at Directors UK. In this regular blog Paul shares his thoughts on the industry, as he meets and collaborates with directors across the UK. Read Paul’s previous blog: Imagine a TV industry that didn’t run on freelancers