U.K. TV giant ITV’s CEO Carolyn McCall said on Thursday that “strong leaders” must ensure talent is managed properly to avoid “appalling” behavior in the TV industry.
Speaking in a keynote at the Royal Television Society (RTS) Cambridge Convention days after allegations against Russell Brand were reported, she was asked about reports on complaints about industry talent in general, with Brand’s name not being specifically mentioned. “It’s a really serious issue,” the ITV boss said. “It’s appalling, some of the things that have emerged.”
She emphasized that “how talent is managed” is a “very big area that we’ve spent an awful lot of time on,” adding: “You have to have strong leaders, managers, who will say, ‘That’s not appropriate,’ or, ‘We’ve had a complaint and this is what we’re going to do about it.’ And I think perhaps that has not happened enough.”
Brand has been accused of rape, sexual assault and emotional abuse during a seven-year period at the height of his fame. Four women have alleged that Brand sexually assaulted them between 2006 and 2013, while he was a BBC presenter and acting in Hollywood films, a joint investigation among The Sunday Times, The Times and Channel 4 Dispatches found. Other accusations include Brand’s controlling, abusive and predatory behavior. Brand has vehemently denied all accusations.
Addressing how to deal with complaints against talent, McCall highlighted some of the complexities involved and emphasized that issues go beyond the TV industry. “Some [issues] are historic, and some are current. And then there will be more emerging, no question. It won’t be just our industry, it will be much larger than that, societal,” the ITV CEO said. “Every single broadcaster will take it very, very…we’ll take it very seriously. I mean, no one wants this to happen.” So, no one in government or beyond should think or even imagine that the TV industry doesn’t take this “incredibly seriously, and we will act on it, we will learn from it,” she emphasized. “It is not right.”
The ITV boss argued that there has been some progress. “Duty of care has improved significantly…since social media went exponential, because of trolling, because of information coming out really quickly, because of misinformation coming out very quickly,” McCall explained.
But more needs to be done. “We don’t want this to continue,” the ITV CEO emphasized before outlining next steps. “The next thing is not just duty of care. It’s also how do you ensure that people speak up. How do you ensure that they don’t feel intimidated? How do you ensure that your culture is not just inclusive and welcoming, but it’s also one where you can really be yourself and you can talk to somebody…where you can say, ‘This is happening, or that is happening.’ That’s difficult to manage because it is about [what] each and all of us have.” She said ITV was looking at how to ensure it also protects freelancers who come and go on productions.
Concluded McCall about the state of the TV industry’s battle against behavior leading to complaints: “We’re all looking at it. We’re all working on it. We’re all trying to avoid this happening in the future. And we’re also trying to set up processes and systems that can deal with this when it emerges from the past.”
