The good news is that more workers in Hollywood now know how to identify workplace misconduct, and how to report it.
The bad news is that even fewer believe reporting such misconduct leads to any real results.
These are two of the key takeaways from the 2022-23 Entertainment Industry Survey, the second such report from the Anita Hill-led Hollywood Commission that was assembled in 2017 at the dawn of the MeToo movement. Updating its findings from three years ago, the Commission found that most change was related to awareness – of what constitutes unacceptable workplace behavior (from 76% of respondents to 82%), of how to share concerns (68% to 74%), of company DEI initiatives (66% to 75%), of the internal reporting process (58% to 65%) and of how to identify retaliatory responses and what to do in the event that happens (59% to 69%).
“If you look back at the history of sexual harassment, so many times what you heard initially is people did not know what to report, how to report and what to expect,” Hill tells The Hollywood Reporter of the significance of this change. “What we’ve seen over the past few years is an increase in awareness so that when people decide they are ready to make a complaint, they have an idea of what to expect. That always opens the door for a lot of activity, a lot of people raising complaints and demanding change. That awareness ultimately can lead to change in processes and procedures that are lacking. It’s a series of steps to get there.”
But those steps have not yet moved past the initial stages, according to another finding from the survey, which asked respondents to gauge the amount of progress made in combating workplace abuse of power since the MeToo movement began. In fact, workers in 2023 were more disillusioned than they were three years ago, with the majority (52% in 2020, 56% now) reporting “minimal/no progress” and even a greater proportion of men (from 55% to 62%) now agreeing with women (from 72% to 73%) that powerful people were unlikely to experience accountability. The number of people who said they experienced workplace retaliation after reporting incidents jumped from 21% to 31% – although the report notes that the increase could partly be a function of better awareness of what constitutes retaliatory action.
In fact, most people who chose to report misconduct experienced a decline in workplace responsiveness, with fewer saying their organizations responded in a timely fashion (from 39% in 2020 to 38% now), kept them updated (30% to 27%) and followed up to make sure they were treated fairly (31% to 29%). Further underscoring the idea that awareness but not accountability has improved, when those who shared they did not report a serious incident were polled on the reasons why, there was an increase in those who feared they would be labeled “difficult to work with” (24% to 25%), and did not believe that their confidentiality would be protected (from 19% to 23%) or that anything would be done (from 33% to 41%). But fewer people (50% to 44%) said they refrained from reporting because they didn’t believe the infraction they observed was serious enough.
Slightly more workers in 2023 reported that they shared workplace concerns with a supervisor or boss (from 25% to 32%), but the percentage of respondents who said they reported those experiences to HR (from 10% to 13%) or legal (3.6% to 4%) shows that there is still rampant distrust of those organizational resources.
One of the strengths of the Commission’s survey is that it polled a diverse selection of workers – 5,259 in all – through outreach by its 26 partner organizations and social media, and that illuminated a disparity in responses. White cisgender men were vastly more likely to have the rosiest outlook on the workplace climate, with 80% (compared with 62% of all other respondents) believing the industry had made moderate to a lot of progress toward preventing harassment, confronting abuse of power (57% versus 40%), promoting respect (73% vs. 58%) and welcoming and valuing diversity (79% vs. 58%). Similarly, women, Black and brown respondents, LGBTQ+ respondents and respondents with a disability reported higher incidences of experiencing or observing bias and discrimination than their outgroup counterparts.
“Right now, part of the lack of trust [in reporting processes and accountability] comes from the fact that white cisgender men believe there’s been great progress, and for the most part, the leadership in the industry consists of [people] in that category,” Hill notes. “Bridging that gap between what the vulnerable population feels and what many of the white cisgender men feel is critical. Getting people more informed and more empathetic is part of the cultural change we are working on.”
In terms of actual reports of workplace misconduct, incidence rates have remained fairly flat – 62% of men and 64% of women (the latter down from 67%) in 2023 reported having been sexually harassed, just under 10% of men and under 20% of women reported being sexually coerced and 1% of respondents overall reported having been sexually assaulted in the workplace.
Despite the sustained lack of trust in organizational reporting structures, workers on independent productions reported higher rates of discrimination, harassment and assault than those working on large studio projects, which the Commission attributes to having fewer resources and protections than those on offer by the major Hollywood studios, agencies and guilds. Workers on indies were vastly more likely – 80% compared with 10% of studio project workers – to seek guidance and aid from third-party advocacy organizations (like Women in Film’s help line), while studio workers were more likely to go through the production company or their union.
“When you have specific workplaces where there have been walkouts [to protest misconduct], where they have actually changed the way that work is being done, those things are indicative of the fact that even though people are frustrated, they’re not willing to just give up. I take heart in those kinds of situations,” says Hill of remaining optimistic despite the survey’s dispiriting results. “High-profile cases, workers united behind their colleagues who have been abused in places like the gaming industry, those things would never have happened 10 years ago. Because we’re talking about cultural, systemic change, the mechanism for that takes a while.”
Of course, no one understands both the cost and the long game of combating workplace harassment, discrimination and other forms of misconduct better than Anita Hill. But when the Hollywood Commission president and chair is asked what cautionary lessons can be learned from that other, much flashier organization that launched from MeToo before imploding five years later, she is gracious and thoughtful in her reply. “Without Time’s Up, I’m not sure that we would be able to make the impact at the Hollywood Commission that we have made,” she says. “Many times, organizations that are out at the forefront don’t continue to exist in perpetuity, but I hope that doesn’t reduce anyone’s idea of the contribution that Time’s Up has made. MeToo had an impact, and we’re here to see that impact continue and grow.”