Cara Delevingne, Naomie Harris and Keira Knightley are among 25 high-profile names in the screen industry who have signed an open letter calling on companies to make a financial commitment to a new creative standards body.
The Creative Industry Independent Standards Body (CIISA) is set to officially launch next year and is currently raising funds to enable it to run for an initial two years. CIISA was born out of the U.K.’s MeToo movement and supported heavily by Time’s Up U.K. As interim CEO Jen Smith told Variety last year, it aims to be a “single point of accountability for the creative industries…to report behaviours of concern.” These will include bullying, harassment and assault. CIISA will also work with police to hand over cases where appropriate but the main impetus is to cover the gamut of behavior which is not explicitly unlawful but should not be tolerated in a professional setting.
A number of British industry bodies have already lent their support to the project, including BAFTA, the Society of London Theatres and U.K. Theatre and U.K. Music.
Now actors and creatives including Delevingne, Knightley and Harris are calling on U.K. bodies to commit both ideological and financial support. Archie Madekwe, Emerald Fennell, Gemma Chan, Ruth Wilson and Harvey Weinstein’s former assistant Zelda Perkins have also signed the letter.
In a statement, Time’s Up U.K. said: “We are now in the final weeks of raising funds so CIISA can be sustained for the next two years. Time’s Up U.K. started its campaigning with actors sharing the red carpet alongside activists back in February 2018 lending their power to raise the voices of those who are often not heard. Time’s Up U.K. has been a key sponsor of this new independent body being set up to keep our workforce safe, and this letter and the support of these actors is yet again another powerful example of actors bringing their presence to this issue.”
Read the letter below:
Dear Creative Industries,
We are calling on you to make your final commitment to the creation of CIISA, the new independent standards authority designed to keep our creative industries safe and to secure your support to this essential part of the ecosystem that is currently missing. The full financial ask is now out, and so we ask you finally to turn this idea into reality.
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 behaviour or bad practices that sometimes happen on our sets, on our stages, behind the scenes. And we are far from being alone in recognising this need. A recent survey conducted on behalf of CIISA by PA Consulting of creative industry professionals from film, TV, music and theatre revealed that 91% are strongly in favour of CIISA further underlining its importance. This is why a single place of accountability where people can seek help, mediation, dispute resolution advice and other services is essential.
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.
CIISA recognises that not everything can be solved with just one intervention but as bullying and harassment claims in the industry continue abound, we believe it is a very necessary part of a range of interventions driving for much-needed change.
CIISA will not duplicate existing policies and procedures that some of you may already have in place, rather it will address gaps in provision.
We want to thank those organisations that have already taken the bold step to make the final financial commitment, and we urge those that have yet to do so, to join us so that we can turn CIISA into a reality.
Placing your belief in CIISA is testament to your commitment to safeguarding our talented workforce and we look forward to hearing from you.
Signed,
Alexei Kaye Campbell
Alison Oliver
Archie Madekwe
Cara Delevingne
Carey Mulligan
Dominic Cooke
Emerald Fennell
Fenella Woolgar
Gabe Bisset-Smith
Gemma Chan
Guy Remmers
Jessica Knappett
Jonny Sweet
Joshua McGuire
Keira Knightley
Krysty Wilson-Cairns
Kharmel Cochrane
Naomie Harris
Ophelia Lovibond
Rebecca Ferguson
Rob Cawsey
Ruth Wilson
Sule Rimi
Susanna White
Zelda Perkins
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