Created by UK film and TV producers, the app aims to ‘open up conversations, empower workers, and facilitate improved working conditions at all levels’
In 2017, an article published by The New York Times reported on decades of abuse by former American film producer and now convicted sex offender, Harvey Weinstein. Beyond opening the door for over 80 women to voice allegations against Weinstein, the article encouraged women all around the world to share their own stories of sexual harassment and abuse in solidarity with each other as part of the #MeToo movement.
Meanwhile, the report prompted long-overdue conversations about the oppressive culture of silence in the film and television industry. In the UK, 84 per cent of film and TV workers have reportedly experienced or witnessed bullying or harassment at work, says Film and TV Charity.
Aiming to call out everyday harassment and bullying that may otherwise go overlooked in the industry, TV director Delyth Thomas, TV producer Jules Hussey, and film producer Kate Wilson are gearing up to launch the Call it! app.
The app – born one week before the UK’s first lockdown – allows film and TV workers to report incidents of harassment, bullying, abuse, or discrimination by prompting users to answer the question, “How were you treated at work today?” Anonymised answers from workers will be sent to high level staff and senior producers on set, while users will be directed to help and resources outside the app, such as emergency services and anti-harassment organisations.
“It’s in everyone’s best interest to have a fair and equitable process for handling allegations of mistreatment, bullying, harassment, or discrimination” - Kate Wilson
“It’s in everyone’s best interest to have a fair and equitable process for handling allegations of mistreatment, bullying, harassment, or discrimination – including the perpetrator, the person experiencing the mistreatment, the employers, and everyone in the working environment,” explains co-founder Kate Wilson, who went through her own experience of sexual hassment while working on set 21 years ago. “It forces the employer to have policies in place… (and) it makes those policies available for everyone whenever they’re needed.”
Besides reminding staff to log daily check-ins so that management teams can track employees’ well-being, the app hopes to build trust by requiring account holders to provide a link to their Dignity at work policies and to provide a contact in case users want to make non-anonymous complaints.
“I think we need a better understanding of what behaviours constitute bullying, harassment, and discrimination,” says Wilson. “We need people who experience bullying and harassment to begin to trust their employers and coworkers to handle allegations with integrity, and it may well take a while to earn that trust.”
“We need people who experience bullying and harassment to begin to trust their employers and coworkers to handle allegations with integrity, and it may well take a while to earn that trust” - Kate Wilson
She continued: “We need to take collective responsibility for workplace culture, and we need positive models of best practice workplace culture, too.”
All data collected from the app will be anonymously sent to the Sir Lenny Henry Centre for Media Diversity at Birmingham City University, where it will be used to create targeted interventions to improve film and TV conditions, Wilson told The Guardian. However, she added that the app will not replace the suffocating culture of harassment in the industry – it can only help to facilitate change.
After the launch, the founders hope to see Call it! expand across the industry through sets, suppliers, cinema, and more. “We want it to open up conversations, empower workers, and facilitate improved working conditions at all levels,” said Wilson. “Film and TV can and should be the best and safest place to work, and we look forward to being part of that change.”
Find out more about the app here.