Over the past month, Bectu has collated more than 50 anonymous testimonies of workplace bullying and harassment in its #unseenonscreen campaign.
Organised by the union's Unscripted TV: Development, Editorial and Production branch and co-ordinated by freelance producer and Bectu rep Meriel Beale, the responses make for shocking reading about toxic environments, negative effects on mental health, sexual assault and dangerous responses to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The responses span early-career challenges as put-upon runners to power-plays at the top level.
The Talent Manager presents edited extracts of some of the more damning accounts of current and past experiences.
"We have been banned from downloading the Track & Trace app"
Senior producer on a primetime show
"The vast majority of the team has not been allowed to work from home which makes social distancing and Covid-safe working very difficult. We are discouraged against isolating if we display Covid symptoms and have been told we will not be paid if we isolate for any reason (these are all roles which could be undertaken from home while isolating if necessary).
"We were told at the start of the contract that we would be fired immediately should we need to quarantine following any foreign travel and have also been banned from downloading the Track & Trace app. Unfortunately, we have nobody within the company at large we can report this behaviour to, as we know the behaviour would only get worse if the exec was called out on their actions. This has therefore led to a significant talent-drain as, bit by bit, key team members leave, whilst the exec's behaviour continues to remain unchallenged."
"The creative director would regularly physically intimidate me"
Series producer on a reality show
"I was the lead edit producer on season one but when the creative producer had asked me to be series producer on season two, I refused because during my time working with him I found him to be quite frankly a crass, rude, bully.
"When he asked me again to act as series producer for season 4 he assured me that was just the stress of making a first series and that everything had changed. I had landed my first series producer role on a show I had previously worked on. It was perfect – or so I thought.
"Just a few of the things that I endured before I handed my notice in 2 weeks into the shoot:
- He introduced me to the team by saying, “This is Jim" [name changed]. You have to be a c**t to do this job and that is why I hired Jim. He’s a c**t and he gets things done”.
- He insisted on quizzing me about my veganism whilst devouring a KFC. He then made a point of working out how many meals per day per year I would have eaten as a meat eater, so he could let me know how many dead animals I would have consumed before going vegan.
- He berated me because a contributor had dropped out over the weekend (I was off that weekend) and said as soon as I heard I should have dropped everything to come in and sort it out.
- He screamed at me for sitting in the wrong chair in the gallery in the middle of a live recording.
- He is quite a large man and would regularly take up space and physically intimidate me and the entire team if he was having a bad day.
- I live on the coast and made it clear that I needed to leave by half 6 most days to get home at a sensible hour but that I would continue to work on the commute. Every day without fail, he would point out to the entire team when I was leaving and make jokes, calling me a part-timer.
"I have never been so upset by someone in my entire life. I would call my partner on location every night in floods of tears until ultimately I had enough and quit. Since then I have taken one series producer role for a small indie nearer home, but after that experience I have decided to stick mainly to edit producing.
"I still don't feel comfortable working there now"
Production manager
"I am working for an indie at the minute who have just merged with another. Due to the nature of my series, I have inherited a new executive ... [who] constantly questioned my decisions as a production manager, even though I had worked on the series for a full year before their arrival and had ten years’ experience under my belt.
"At times I thought I was being too sensitive and that I should 'Woman Up'. I started to think I was just very hormonal and actually questioned if I was starting to experience menopause. I finally lost it and called my head of production who was amazing and totally backed me up. It took a couple of days before I had a call from the executive who actually apologised for "being a total bitch". Something I didn't really want to hear but it was good to know I wasn’t going mad.
"I still don’t feel comfortable working there now but I have a few more weeks to go and with a family to feed and no further work lined up, I am powering through. I personally haven't worked with someone who made me feel this inadequate for quite some time.
"TV has got better over the years but, with no HR in place at some indies, there are still a lot of people getting away with abuse."
"The presenter was obstructive in every way and it was relentless"
Producer/director
"I was warned at my interview that this presenter could be difficult. Everyone I spoke to about working with her said the same. In preparation, I spoke to a director who had worked with her. They said on location, she had refused to do pickups, causing a costly re-shoot; and that she always had a public disagreement with someone, and it was likely to be the director, and that I should not respond but take it, or it would escalate.
"She refused to take direction from me and jeopardised the shoot editorially. She confronted me at every opportunity. I politely spoke to her 3 times about her behaviour. Each time she said she would try, which she did for a few hours. She was obstructive in every way and it was relentless.
"Throughout my career, I’ve got used to working with bullies and being humiliated, but what I have never done, is allowed someone to jeopardise a film editorially, it is unacceptable when everyone else is working so hard.
"I politely told her that if we couldn’t find a way of working together successfully, I would have to leave. She did not change and so eventually I left, walking off the shoot mid-way. I was not reprimanded for leaving mid shoot because there was ample proof of her bullying and obstructive behaviour, but I received no support from seniors, instead they wanted me to go away quietly, which I did."