The Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, The Rt Hon Lucy Frazer MP, British talent, including Barbara Broccoli, Rebecca Ferguson, Stephen Graham, Keira Knightley, Lord Puttnam, Sule Rimi, Varada Sethu and Ruth Wilson, together with all UK broadcasters, have now joined the music and theatre sectors committing to the creation of the Creative Industries Independent Standards Authority, CIISA, to help prevent and tackle bullying and harassment, ready to take cases in 2024.
TIME’S UP UK, which has campaigned to improve standards of behaviour across film and TV over these last five years, called for the creation of an independent standards authority back in 2021. Since then TIME’S UP UK has spearheaded this initiative supported by the creative industries round table set up by Creative UK and the then Secretary of State, in the wake of yet further media stories about abuse in the industry. The proposed CIISA will initially cover film, television, music and theatre. To date all of the key stakeholders within these sectors have and are continuing to support this crucial intervention.
Ruth Wilson says, “I can’t tell you how many times in the last 20 years of my career in this industry that I would have loved to have an objective outside body that I could go to for advice, that I could go to for mediation and I could go to, in the very extreme circumstances, that you might need some outside body to hold people accountable for the bad behaviour or bad practices that sometimes happen on our sets. I think it’s the next step. Please support it. We need it and it will be invaluable, and I know it will become the blueprint across the globe for creative industries throughout the world, because there is no such thing at the moment like CIISA.”
The Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, The Rt Hon Lucy Frazer MP, says, “We want to maximise the potential of our creative industries to create growth and jobs across the country. Everyone should have the opportunity to enjoy a creative career, while feeling safe and working in a professional environment. It’s important that industry comes together to tackle bullying, harassment and discrimination, so Britain’s creative sectors remain some of the best in the world to be a part of.”
Jen Smith, interim CEO, CIISA, says, “CIISA has one clear purpose, to make the creative industries a safer working environment for our talented colleagues who make the film, TV, music and theatre that we all love and enjoy. Leading organisations and industry figures are demonstrating their visible commitment to a safer working environment too, by supporting CIISA and championing us by name. There is overwhelming evidence for the need for CIISA and bringing collective accountability to our sector, and the more quickly others join us, the more quickly we will have an independent body in place to support the whole ecosystem of the creative industries. We look forward to this final phase of development being ably supported by PA Consulting, who are the leading global experts in establishing new organisations of this nature.”
CIISA SHORT FILM WITH BRITISH TALENT
CIISA QUOTES FILM WITH BRITISH TALENT
The two short CIISA films have been made with thanks to Ridley Scott Associates Editor Steph McAuley.
