SAG-AFTRA has announced a new digital platform that will make it easier for members, as well as anyone who has worked on a SAG-AFTRA project, to securely report incidents of sexual harassment.
The guild’s new digital platform, Safe Place, launched Thursday and offers three reporting options. Users can either submit an anonymous report; submit with contact information and request that the guild take action; or include contact information but request that the guild stand down unless and until the user is ready to pursue the claim further. The latter option will, hopefully, prove useful to those for whom reporting in and of itself is part of the healing journey.
In creating this platform, SAG-AFTRA President Gabrielle Carteris told reporters Thursday, “Our goal is to protect and empower the individual, to give them voice.”
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SAG-AFTRA’s Equity and Inclusion team, who are trained in trauma awareness, will handle the initiative. In addition to the reporting tool, Safe Place includes resources to educate members on different forms of sexual harassment, guidance for reporting options at both the state and federal level, and referrals for legal assistance and social services.
Perhaps the most promising feature, however, is Safe Place’s potential to identify names that appear in multiple reports. In the future, SAG-AFTRA hopes to share that data with industry partners, and the group is already working with industry allies, including the Hollywood Commission and others, to explore that possibility.
“We are all focused on the goal of eliminating sexual harassment within the industry, these tools should be able to bridge and work with one another,” SAG-AFTRA National Executive Director David White told reporters.
Users can access Safe Place either through SAG-AFTRA’s mobile app or at sagaftrasafeplace.org.
In the years after #MeToo first exploded in 2017 with revelations about Harvey Weinstein’s sexual misconduct, focus has remained on how to make sure the movement amounts to more than a hashtag. In addition to the high-powered Hollywood coalition Time’s Up, intimacy coordinators have become an increasingly common presence on sets, hired to choreograph and oversee erotic scenes to ensure performers’ safety and comfort.
In addition to Safe Place, SAG-AFTRA has also developed the first industry-wide accreditation for intimacy coordinator programs, and will launch a registry of qualified professionals in the field. To develop this effort, the guild collaborated with both Alicia Rodis, who has worked as an intimacy coordinator on The Deuce, Crashing, and others, and Amanda Blumenthal, who has worked on titles including Euphoria and The Affair.
In addition to the registry, which will launch later this year, a pre-registry list will allow employers to identify candidates who might not have all of the required work experience, but have expressed an interest and commitment to the field.
“Our industry has changed exponentially in the last five to seven years,” Carteris said. “So we made a commitment as an institution to our members as they started to share their stories that we would help to expand and standardize a role that was growing... allowing it to flourish and ultimately be embraced.”
