NO DEAD MERMAIDS.
Beliefs may conflict. People may not be targeted.
WORKING STANDARDS
We expect everyone working on our productions to be treated with dignity and professional respect. These standards apply to cast, crew, freelancers, contractors, volunteers, visitors and production leadership.
Seniority, reputation, creative importance or technical ability provide no exemption.
CONDUCT
Bullying, harassment, sexual harassment, racism, discrimination, intimidation and unwanted physical or sexual conduct are not acceptable.
This includes unwanted touching, discriminatory or sexual comments, threats, humiliation, persistent unwanted contact, retaliation, and harassment through production communications or online.
Professional disagreement is allowed. Direct notes and difficult conversations are allowed. Difficult material is allowed.
Mistreatment of the people making the work is not.
LAWFUL BELIEFS & DISAGREEMENT
People working on our productions may hold different lawful political, religious or philosophical beliefs. Nobody is required to endorse another person's beliefs or participate in political, religious or philosophical discussion unrelated to their work.
Disagreement itself is not misconduct.
Everyone is nevertheless required to behave professionally. A belief does not excuse harassment, discrimination, intimidation, humiliation or targeting another person because of who they are or a characteristic or belief protected by law.
Where discussion becomes disruptive, personal or unwelcome, the production may require it to stop.
PHYSICAL CONTACT & PERFORMANCE
Physical or intimate contact required for a scene will be discussed and agreed in advance.
Performers will not introduce additional intimate or personal physical contact without the agreement of the other performer. Consent may be changed or withdrawn.
Nobody is required to accept unwanted contact in order to protect a performance, schedule or working relationship.
EQUALITY, ACCESS & INCLUSION
Casting, recruitment and production decisions will be based on the legitimate requirements of the role and production.
Nobody will be disadvantaged because of a protected characteristic or because they have raised a concern in good faith.
People will be addressed professionally and respectfully. Genuine mistakes can be corrected and moved past. Deliberate or repeated forms of address intended to humiliate or target somebody are not acceptable.
We will make reasonable efforts to accommodate access requirements and reasonable adjustments. Cast and crew are encouraged to tell us what they need in order to work effectively.
Nobody will be pressured to drink alcohol, use substances or participate in social activity in order to belong to the production.
RAISING A CONCERN
Everyone may raise a concern about behaviour or working conditions.
Concerns may be raised with the Production Contact, the Escalation Contact or another appropriate member of the production team. Reports will be taken seriously, handled as confidentially as reasonably possible and considered fairly.
Nobody raising a concern or participating in an investigation in good faith will be disadvantaged for doing so.
The Escalation Contact may pause work, separate people, change working arrangements or introduce another immediate protective measure where necessary. This authority applies regardless of schedule, cost, creative preference or the wishes of the director.
WHEN A CONCERN IS RAISED
1. IMMEDIATE WELFARE
First establish whether anybody needs work to stop, space from another person, changed working arrangements or other immediate support.
First establish whether anybody needs work to stop, space from another person, changed working arrangements or other immediate support.
2. LISTEN & RECORD
Establish what is being reported, what the person raising it needs at that time and, where there is a choice, how they would prefer the matter to be handled. A factual record will be made and shared only where reasonably necessary.
Establish what is being reported, what the person raising it needs at that time and, where there is a choice, how they would prefer the matter to be handled. A factual record will be made and shared only where reasonably necessary.
3. SEPARATE PROTECTION FROM JUDGEMENT
Temporary changes to casting, blocking, schedules, access or working arrangements may be made while a concern is considered. These measures do not constitute a finding.
Temporary changes to casting, blocking, schedules, access or working arrangements may be made while a concern is considered. These measures do not constitute a finding.
4. CONSIDER IT FAIRLY
Relevant people will normally be spoken to separately and given a reasonable opportunity to explain events. Decisions will be based on the information reasonably available, the seriousness of the behaviour and the production's responsibility to its workforce.
Relevant people will normally be spoken to separately and given a reasonable opportunity to explain events. Decisions will be based on the information reasonably available, the seriousness of the behaviour and the production's responsibility to its workforce.
5. TAKE ACTION
Action may include clarified boundaries, changed working arrangements, a warning, additional supervision, removal from the production or termination of an engagement.
Action may include clarified boundaries, changed working arrangements, a warning, additional supervision, removal from the production or termination of an engagement.
An allegation is not a finding. Equally, the production does not require a criminal, regulatory or public finding before making a reasonable decision about who works on the production or how the workplace operates.
6. FOLLOW UP
The person who raised the concern will be told that it has been addressed, so far as confidentiality allows.
The person who raised the concern will be told that it has been addressed, so far as confidentiality allows.
Retaliation or disadvantage arising from raising or participating in a concern in good faith will not be tolerated.
A SAFER WORKING ENVIRONMENT
No production can guarantee that inappropriate behaviour will never occur.
Our responsibility is to set clear expectations, provide clear ways to raise concerns, respond when they arise and change our working practices where necessary.
If the welfare of the people making the work conflicts with creative, financial or scheduling objectives, the production changes — not the standard.
Temporary protective action is not a finding of wrongdoing.
Concerns will not be treated as established merely because they have been raised.
On our small productions, the Production Contact and Escalation Contact may be drawn from a small number of people. There will always be a route for raising a concern which does not require somebody to report directly to the person they are concerned about.
You will be told who those contacts are before work begins.
WHAT WE WON'T CARRY
These are not separate rules. They make the Working Standards specific, so nobody has to guess what dignity, respect and professional conduct mean in practice.
These examples are illustrative, not exhaustive.
RACE
Racism, racial harassment and discriminatory treatment are not tolerated.
This includes racial slurs, racist intimidation, unwanted touching of hair, racial stereotyping, supremacist advocacy or symbols, and repeated behaviour targeting somebody because of race or ethnicity.
Intent is relevant, but does not by itself determine whether conduct is acceptable.
AGE
Nobody's contribution is worth less because of how long they have been doing this or how recently they started.
Experience matters where experience is relevant. Seniority does not grant permission to humiliate, belittle or intimidate somebody more junior.
DISABILITY, ACCESS & NEURODIVERGENCE
Visible and non-visible disabilities are treated with equal seriousness.
Access requirements are production requirements to plan for, not favours to grant. Tell us what you need before the day where possible; we would rather build it in than improvise badly on set.
Where a colleague identifies a reasonable adjustment that helps them work effectively — clearer instructions, defined breaks, sensory accommodation, quiet space or similar — we will make reasonable efforts to provide it.
BODY SIZE
Nobody working with us will be shamed, mocked or professionally diminished because of their body size or shape.
Casting and costume may have legitimate creative requirements.
Humiliation does not.
GENDER, SEXUALITY & FORMS OF ADDRESS
Sexuality, gender identity and gender expression are not subjects for ridicule, interrogation or hostile commentary.
People will be addressed as they ask to be addressed. Genuine mistakes can be corrected and moved past. Deliberate or repeated misnaming intended to humiliate or target somebody may be treated as harassment.
SEX, MISOGYNY & DOUBLE STANDARDS
Intimidation, sexualised humiliation, hostile behaviour and violations of personal space are conduct breaches regardless of who commits them.
Nobody's dress, manner, relationships or sexual history makes harassment acceptable.
SOBRIETY & SUBSTANCES
Nobody is pressured to drink alcohol, use substances or participate in social activity in order to belong.
Choosing not to drink or use substances requires no explanation.
Outside working hours, lawful personal choices are private unless they affect safety, attendance or the production's ability to operate.
POLITICAL & SOCIAL DISAGREEMENT
Massive Overheads does not require political agreement.
The expression of a lawful political position is not misconduct merely because another person disagrees with it or finds it offensive.
We intervene where discussion becomes targeted, discriminatory, threatening, persistently personal, disruptive to the work or otherwise breaches these Working Standards.
People will not be treated as representatives of a country, religion, ethnicity, political movement or government because of who they are.
WELFARE CONTACT
The Production Contact and Escalation Contact will be identified before work begins.
On a small production, roles may overlap. There must nevertheless always be a route for raising a concern which does not require somebody to report directly to the person they are concerned about.
This list will change as we learn. It does not replace the Working Standards.
It is what those standards mean in practice.