IATSE and Low Budget Film Producers Form Working Group to Prevent Sexual Harassment on Set
The International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees and low budget film producers have teamed up to form a new subcommittee aimed at ensuring workers are free from harassment and discrimination. The group seeks to implement the Hollywood Commission’s Respect on Set program, which offers employers who are signatories of IATSE’s Low Budget Agreement services to create workplaces free from harassment and discrimination.
According to the Hollywood Commission’s recent surveys of entertainment workers, workers on low budget productions experience more sexual coercion and assault, along with great rates of gender and racial bias, compared to their major-studio counterparts. However, these abuses are reported at much lower rates on low budget productions. The survey found that workers have the impression that nothing will be done if they make a formal complaint.
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“We applaud the steps taken by low budget producers who, understandably, want their sets to be free from sexual harassment and abusive conduct. This collaboration will help ensure we meet that goal through our collective effort,” IATSE international president Matthew D. Loeb said in a statement. “We thank the Hollywood Commission for their leadership in this area and welcome the continued input of IATSE members and the entertainment community on how we can all best achieve our shared goals.”
Hollywood Commission executive director Malia Arrington will chair the new subcommittee. It will explore how to best deploy the Respect on Set Program and other similar initiatives, aiming to have the program’s services included as expanded provisions in IATSE’s 2025 LBA. The new subcommittee will also include IATSE VPs Michael Miller and Vanessa Holtgrewe, international representatives Marisa Shipley and Jamie Fry, IATSE west coast associate counsel Jacob J. White and producers Jeanette Volturno, Monica Levinson and Bart Rosenblatt.
“It is very significant that the producers and IATSE have added this plank to their agreement: employers have recognized their obligations toward providing a workplace free of harassment and abuse, and the Hollywood Commission is here to help them with a program that offers a good suite of resources,” chair of the Hollywood Commission Anita Hill said in a statement. “Workers and executives alike routinely tell us that there is a need for an independent reporting system specifically designed for low-budget productions, which have lacked the infrastructure to maintain robust enforcement protocols. Respect on Set fills that void.”
The provisions in the current agreement require employers to establish multiple avenues to report harassment or abusive conduct. Reports to the union or the IATSE’s on-set safety hotline are not considered a report to the employer unless the union tells the employers of the complaint. Both IATSE and employers are encouraged to advise covered crew members of the services from the hotline and The Hollywood Commission.
“As Independent Producers, we want our sets to be free from sexual harassment and abusive conduct. The independent community doesn’t have the HR resources of the studio system, so we are thrilled to collaborate on this endeavor. We thank the Hollywood Commission for their leadership and assistance in this area, welcome input from IATSE workers and the community on how we can all best achieve our shared goal, and we look forward to exploring how Respect on Set can continue to assist in this area,” Levinson, Rosenblatt and Volturno, founding members of INDIE Coalition, said in a statement.
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