In Part 1 of this series, I discussed how studios and production companies can protect themselves by not hiring and/or terminating the services of someone who is abusive. The easiest way not to have problems on set is not to hire anyone that will cause problems on set. However, there are other means which studios and production companies, including content creators can protect themselves.
I often recommend to my clients the use of cameras and/or consent directors.
Consent directors are people who are hired to work with talent so that any abuse on set can be eliminated or prevented before it becomes an issue. Having a consent director on set will cause your overall costs to increase, but often you can use someone like your production assistant or make-up artist to work as a consent director while filming is taking place.
The job of a consent director is to watch the scene closely, and as filming is happening to understand the needs and limitations of the performers so if there appears to be a boundary violation – the consent director can call “cut” and stop the scene. The consent director can then check with talent to determine if there is anything happening that they feel is a violation of their consent boundaries.
This will require the consent director to be completely familiar with the limitations of each performer and be able to devote themselves fully to watch the scene being shot and to notice any violations. It is imperative that the consent director to have lengthy conversations with the talent prior to the shoot to confirm such limits and boundaries.
Also, during breaks, the consent director should also speak with the talent and ask how they may be doing, how they feel the scene is going and if they have any complaints. The performers need to fully trust in and believe that the consent director is there to assist them.
Through the use of a consent director employers can hopefully prevent any issues from arising or prevent an abuses on set from rising to the level of being actionable in court.
While protecting performers on set is necessary, sometimes it is also necessary to protect the employers from false allegations. And that is when I recommend the use of cameras. Many of my studio and production company clients set up stationary cameras around the set to capture everything that occurs on set for two purposes. The first reason is to ensure that anyone that has been hired will not be the victim of abuse, however, this doesn’t prevent abuse as it occurs. Rather, the provides the studio or production company with the ability to determine if anyone they hired has complied with their on-set regulations so they can make a determination whether to hire that person on a continuing basis.
The second reason is to be able to defend against any false claims of abuse. Obviously, as much as a studio or production company wants to be able to protect their employees from abuse, they also want to be able to protect themselves from reputational damage and lawsuits.
There have certainly been false claims of abuse made in the industry. The motiving factor why someone would claim abuse is not important but with the use of cameras, a studio or production company or content creator can defend themselves in the court of public opinion as well as with any law enforcement agency if in case an employee or performer files a false police report.
Ultimately, a safe and professional set can be created by not hiring those who would cause other harm, through hiring consent directors to assist talent on set and by using cameras to determine if any abuse as occurred so certain employees can be terminated or not rehired in the future.
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