British stars Keira Knightley, Cara Delevingne, Carey Mulligan, Rebecca Ferguson, Naomie Harris and Emerald Fennell have penned an open letter demanding a crackdown on bullying and sexual harassment in the U.K.’s entertainment industry.
The group are just six of 25 names who called on creative organizations to help fund a new watchdog, the Creative Industry Independent Standards Authority (Ciisa), to investigate complaints in industries spanning music, film, TV and theater.
The letter reads: “So many of us in this industry would have loved to have an objective outside body that we could go to for advice, for mediation and in the very extreme circumstances, that we might need some outside body to hold people accountable for the bad behavior or bad practices that sometimes happen on our sets, on our stages, behind the scenes. And we are far from being alone in recognizing this need.”
It adds that the signatories “believe [the watchdog to be] a very necessary part of a range of interventions driving for much-needed change.”
Time’s Up U.K. has been calling for the creation of an independent standards authority since 2021, and since then spearheaded this initiative with support from the U.K’s media secretary Lucy Frazer. But funding for the watchdog has been slow. British broadcasters such as ITV, the BBC and Sky have all contributed, but Ciisa has said the launch can only move forward at the end of the year — its target date — if they receive more from top industry bodies.
“Please support CIISA. This issue needs to be tackled by everyone working together. We need and it will become the blueprint across the globe for keeping our creative industries safe,” the letter says.
Actress Ruth Wilson (The Affair, Luther) said the watchdog would be “invaluable.” She explained: “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.”
BBC boss Tim Davie said: “CIISA will be a force for good across the entire industry. We all need to do everything we can to create an industry where everyone feels totally safe to do their best work. That’s why the BBC is actively working with others to support its development.”
Only last week, a report by Bectu was released in which a survey of over 200 industry professionals revealed that 92 percent had personally witnessed or experienced bullying or harassment on grounds of their sex or gender in the workplace. The research concluded that high-profile claims such as the ones made against Russell Brand have done “little to shift the dial” in the entertainment business when it comes to harassment and support systems.