BOUDICA FILMS LAUNCHES ‘NO PREDATORS’ CAMPAIGN AND FREE LEGAL ADVICE SERVICE TO SUPPORT WOMEN IN FILM
Boudica Films, the finance and production company that supports female-centric films, has today launched a series of measures to combat the “overt sexism that is deeply ingrained in the film industry”.
Boudica, which has co-financed several female-led features including Carol Morley’s The Falling, and has upcoming films Kat and the Band and Rosalind Franklin: The Forgotten Woman of DNA in pre-production, has introduced three measures in response to the claims of sexual harassment by thousands of women in the #metoo twitter campaign.
“We wanted to do something positive which may reduce the number of these instances. It’s completely unacceptable that women should be in this position and it’s been deeply disturbing to hear how widespread and common sexual harassment, bullying and sexual assault actually is in the film industry,” said Boudica Director Rebecca Long.
Boudica has launched a “No Predators” badge, a code of conduct and a free initial legal advice service for any film professional who has experienced sexual harassment, abuse or assault.
“The badge and the code of conduct are reminders that predatory behaviour will not be tolerated,” said Boudica Director Ian Davies. “It’s very important that the experiences of women and men in the #metoo campaign are not forgotten.”
Boudica will encourage all crew on its films to wear the No Predators badge as well as to sign the code of conduct, and will be offering this to other productions. Boudica will also use the #NoPredators hashtag on all social media postings.
Boudica’s next film Kat and the Band follows 17-year-old Kat (Ella Hunt) who takes a band (led by McFLy’s Dougie Poynter) on tour despite still being at school. E E Hegarty directs from a script by Michael Mueller (Dummy, The Beat Beneath My Feet) and Jemma Field.
Annemarie Lean-Vercoe (Us Among the Stones, Honeytrap) will shoot the film, with Caroline Steiner (FirstBorn, Svengali) and Rebecca Gore (Adult Life Skills) joining as Production Designer and Costume Designer respectfully. Long and Davies produce with Stella Nwimo (Forever Mine, Human Traffic).
“We aim for at least a 50% female crew and we’re delighted to have already secured so many fantastic women as HoDs for Kat,” said Long.
Boudica has formed a partnership with leading anti-discrimination law firm, Equal Justice solicitors, as part of the No Predators campaign. As a result, the law firm will provide a telephone helpline to dispense free legal advice to actors and related professionals who have suffered sexual harassment at work, auditions or at meetings which are effectively “pre-auditions”.
“One of the key findings from the #metoo campaign is that most women felt that they had no one to turn to and have instead suffered in silence. We hope that the establishment of a specialised independent legal service will go some way to helping women in this situation,” said Davies.
About Boudica Films
- Boudica supports women in the film industry, in front of and behind the camera.
- Boudica is Europe’s only film fund dedicated to supporting “female-centric” films.
- Boudica is run by Rebecca Long and Ian Davies.
- The first three films supported by Boudica resulted in 3 BAFTA nominations for Ruth Negga, Elena Anaya and Elizabeth McGovern, as well as a BAFTA Breaththrough Brit award for Florence Pugh who co-starred in The Falling.
- www.boudicafilms.co.uk
About Equal Justice
- EJS is best known for its high-profile and innovative work in the fields of discrimination law and whistle-blowing such as:
- Whistle-blowing
- It ran the Baby P whistle-blower claim (Nevres Kemal) which forced the Government to establish an independent inquiry.
- It won the school whistle-blower claim (Colin Cook), which forced the Saudi Arabian government to issue new school text books to replace the discriminatory “Jews are monkeys and Christians are pigs” books.
- It won the Metropolitan Police whistle-blower claim (Howard Shaw)
- Discrimination
- Its Director defeated the USA on a sex discrimination claim
- It defeated HSBC and the Sun newspaper on race discrimination claims
- It defeated the Ministry of Defence on a sex discrimination claim
- It secured the highest discrimination award this Century
- Whistle-blowing
- EJS acts for workers (employees, casual workers and the self-employed), trade unions and responsible employers.
- www.equaljustice.co.uk
