Hollywood Finally Has a Single, Central Platform to Report Harassment or Abuse
Brian Welk
Four years ago, the Hollywood Commission, chaired by Anita Hill, launched a survey to entertainment workers on their experience with sexual harassment and power abuses in the industry. The questionnaire also asked about the tools they desired to fix it. The results overwhelmingly showed that workers want to understand how to report abuses — a centralized hotline would be good — as well as have access to technology that could create a timestamped-record of their reporting.
Today, that platform is finally available.
The Hollywood Commission has built and launched MyConnext, an independent reporting tool and online resource for entertainment workers to address harassment, discrimination, bullying, or other forms of abuse. The platform is designed to be secure and offer resources, a reporting infrastructure, and even provide individual advisers to guide victims through the process. It also offers what’s called the Ombuds Office, humans who can address specific questions and concerns through a messaging feature.
Beyond being able to report as yourself or anonymously, MyConnext also gives people the option to submit as a “Hold for Match.” The accuser’s report will be held and listed as “pending” in the system until a second user submits another report about the same person whom the first has identified. Once this “match” is made, your anonymous report will be released automatically and a representative from your company, union, or guild may reach out through the anonymous chat feature.
Starting today, the MyConnext reporting platform is available to participating organizations and guilds: the DGA, WGA, workers on Amazon and Netflix productions in the U.S., and Kennedy/Marshall. IATSE members will be able to access the portal later this year; members of SAG-AFTRA can’t access the reporting portal for now but can access their own Safe Place reporting tool through MyConnext as a collaborating partner. Anyone in any industry can access certain resources on the site at MyConnext.org, just not the reporting platform itself — for now at least.
MyConnext does not replace any reporting options provided by an employer, union, or guild, and it is not a third-party investigatory body nor does it put new guidelines in place or enforce against abuses. But using it more easily empowers people who report abuses to do so through the appropriate channels and avoid potential retaliation. It eliminates some of the problems faced by those working outside of the studio system who don’t have access to the sufficient HR infrastructure, and for those who are being abused by the very person to whom they would report such concerns.
“Workers must believe they will be heard and safe to raise concerns about inappropriate workplace conduct. MyConnext is the online tool they have been asking for,” Hill, chair and president of the Hollywood Commission, said. “It empowers workers who have experienced or witnessed harassment, discrimination, bullying, or abuse by providing them with the resources they need, and reporting options for those who choose to come forward. And it does it in an environment that preserves and protects the rights of all parties with the dignity and sensitivity you would expect of a truly objective, fact-based user experience.”
“The harassment I endured was hands down one of the most challenging times of my life. I felt vulnerable not only due to the abuse of power I was experiencing, but also from the courage required for me to stand up for myself,” one anonymous survivor who tested the platform said in a statement. “MyConnext works as an approachable resource to support workers navigating these intimidating obstacles. It enables you to work through the complexity of these situations without having to be polished or at risk of immediate retaliation. This platform helps workers to keep their voices strong and to be heard, an empowering asset in situations of harassment in which silencing tactics are frequently used by the abuser.”
The website is run independently of the Hollywood Commission. MyConnext LLC is led by its management committee: director of ReFrame Andria Wilson Mirza, Dr. Louise Fitzgerald, Professor Emerita of Psychology in Department of Gender and Women Studies at the University of Illinois, and Wokie Nwabueze, workplace culture expert and Ombuds Officer for Princeton University.
The Hollywood Commission is led by board members Hill, Kathleen Kennedy, and Nina Shaw. The group partners with 26 companies, unions, guilds, and talent agencies across the entertainment industry to address harassment, discrimination, and bullying.
