New Anti-Harassment Laws Lead To Questions From UK Film & TV Industry

EXCLUSIVE: Big UK production groups and studios have been busily preparing for new anti-harassment laws that will impact the film and TV industry, but questions remain.

Last Friday, UK-wide legislation came into force that means employers are now liable for harassment of their staff, cast and crew by third parties. Employers must take “all reasonable steps” to prevent harassment, the law now states, and claims can be made up to six months after an incident takes place. The legislation is part of the UK’s much-discussed Employment Rights Act, one of the ruling Labour Paty’s flagship pieces of reform.

The adustment has led many big production houses and studios to update their harassment policies in preparation, we are told. “These changes give victims much stronger legal protections,” said the government when the legislation, which applies to all industries, came into force.

In practice, this change means that if cast or crew are harassed during a production by a third party, be that an agent, someone on location or even someone who has nothing to do with the project, the production company or studio could now be liable for the claim.

“This is a significant change,” said Elizabeth Peyton-Jones, who runs The Talent Trust, which takes real-time reaction data from crew working on productions. “As an employer, you can’t now say, ‘I can’t control what other people do.’ You have to take responsibility. And the duty of care reaches beyond the set.”

Producers we spoke with were mostly aware that the legislation was coming in and have been preparing, but they still have questions over just how far this duty of care reaches.

Peyton-Jones used the example of a wrap party, where people who didn’t work on a project could be invited and incidents could happen. Would the producer then be liable for the actions of that third party? “Wrap parties are an interesting example because they are informal,” she added. “People have been working together for a long time; stress and exhaustion are high. If someone doesn’t speak up until long after production has wrapped, and if nothing was time-stamped and no action was taken, then a production company can’t simply say it didn’t know. It should therefore have a mechanism for people to raise concerns.”

Deadline understands at least one large production outfit considers wrap parties, late-night working and staying in hotels as part of its risk assessments.

“Where does the buck stop?”

Other examples floated to Deadline that require clarity include incidents that take place on the street when crew are doing vox pops, harassment on transport on the way to-and-from a set, or situations where crew have to accompany third parties for filming. The vision behind the legislation, communicated by the government last week, is that “whether a passenger harassing a bus driver, a waiter being intimidated by diners, or a shop worker dealing with abuse from customers, reforms will ensure that unacceptable behaviour is not treated as part of the job.”

Max Rumney, the deputy CEO of producer trade body Pact, which represents hundreds of UK indies, said the question of “where does the buck stop?” is confusing his members, and he doesn’t feel he has all the answers from government. “In many ways this is a law for environments that are slightly different to ours,” he explained.

Pact’s legal chief sent a note to all members last week, which Deadline has seen, urging them to “update their anti-harassment and bullying policies, if you have not already done so, to ensure that you remain compliant with the law.” We are also told that training body ScreenSkills has updated the anti-bullying and harassment module on its training passport in line with the legislation. This all feels necessary. Just a few weeks ago, a survey from UK arbitration service Acas found that two-fifths of employers across all industries were unaware of these changes in law.

Making things more confusing is the fact that the law has technically come into force but detailed guidance will only be available from early 2027. Deadline understands the UK’s Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade, and Digital, Culture, Media and Sport have both been prepping the industry, meeting with trade associations, hosting webinars and pushing employers to update their policies. The departments wouldn’t be drawn on specific examples of when an employer would be liable for harassment or not.

We spoke with big production groups in the UK who said they have been preparing for the change but wouldn’t come on the record to discuss further. One HR executive at a big player said they had updated contractual terms for future productions in order to account for the new third-parties law.

Of course, some indies are much smaller, often one-or-two-person bands, and many don’t have HR departments, which could lead to issues with the new law. Movies are often run by production outfits only created for that particular project before being shut down. If an incident takes place on one such movie but is only reported months afterwards, the responsibility could fall on a company that has just been dissolved.

Pact’s Rumney, however, reckons bigger productions will be more problematic. “Small indies make smaller productions and they know how to do these things,” he added.

In the UK film and TV industry, harassment remains a huge topic, in part due to high-profile instances of allegations in recent years.

The anti-harassment legislation came into force on the day a prosecuting barrister delivered closing arguments at the Russell Brand trial, for which the Forgetting Sarah Marshall star is accused of three counts of rape, three counts of sexual assault and one of attempted indecent assault. Brand denies all allegations and says all relationships were consensual.

Those we have spoken with rejected the idea that the new law will lead to a flood of harassment complaints, with many barriers that prevent the industry’s majority freelance workforce from making claims still in place. “I think there will still be resistance [to complaining],” said Peyton-Jones.

Talent Trust research has previously pointed to a “silence gap” on UK productions. A report recently found 40% did not feel respected or treated with dignity on a production and yet more than three quarters (76%) didn’t feel they could speak up without worrying about unfair repercussions.

Many concerned industry folk are hopeful the “silence gap” will begin to close now that the long-expected CIISA anonymous whistleblowing service has launched.

The new harassment laws could contribute to a further closing of the gap, but this feels a bit of a way off.