Resources
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To ensure our members and those they work with remain safe and respected in the workplace, we worked together as a union to create the Safe Stages guidelines. We gathered resource from ScreenSafe’s Professional Respect Training Workshop, and still hold regular workshops to ensure our members are aware of both their rights and responsibilities in the workplace.

These various resources are both for those in the industry to educate themselves, and to be used as a template in projects both community and professional, stage and screen.

Get in touch if you’d like assistance to format the templates for use or participate in a Safe Stages workshop.

The guides include:

• A Quick Guide to Receiving Disclosures
  • When someone discloses to you that they have been harassed or abused, use this guide to ensure you respond appropriately.
• Responding to Sexual Harassment Flowchart
  • This chart gives a general idea of what occurs when someone makes a disclosure to their business (PCBU), through to outcomes, for those unsure.
• Sexual Harassment Health Safety Briefing
  • A guideline of what should be actioned before beginning work.
• Sexual Harassment Prevention Checklist
  • A quick list of actions to take when seeking to prevent sexual harassment in your workplace.
• Sexual Harassment Prevention Policy
  • A template and guideline to help create a safe and healthy environment.
• Sexual Harassment Reporting Form
  • A form to assist with reporting a harassment by highlighting all of the information to include.
• Tips for assisting a disclosure
  • If you notice something isn’t right, or that someone is being harassed/abused, these are some tips to better handle the situation.
• What is Bystander Intervention
• • Defining the action that is taken to stop a harassment in its tracks; to ignore the problem is to be part of the problem.
• What does bystander Intervention look like
  • A quick-tip guide of how to interfere when you are a bystander to inappropriate words.
• What Does Sexual Harassment Look Like
  • A reminder of the various forms that sexual harassment can take.

Part of being a union means that we are constantly working alongside other guilds and industry entities to build a collective minimum standard for our members in all areas of the industry.

Theatre

In recent years we have been able to work alongside both Auckland Theatre Company and The Court Theatre to create mutually beneficial Collective Agreements, that set minimums and expectations for all parties. These agreements mean that all actors will be treated with dignity and equity.

The Auckland Theatre Company agreement was signed on Monday 11th December 2023 by Equity President Jennifer Ward-Lealand CNZM and ATC chair Vivien Bridgwater MNZM. The signing of this agreement felt momentous and, fittingly, was done with a flourish at the second annual Equity & ATC Board to Board meeting.

We are thrilled to have negotiated our third agreement with The Court Theatre, Aotearoa’s biggest producing theatre. The current iteration was signed on 12th July 2024 by Executive Director Gretchen La Roche and our Director/Tumuaki Denise Roche. The agreement has a 2-year term, allowing the new Court to be opened before we renegotiate.

Working in co-operative/profit share theatre can be a wonderful experience, especially working alongside friends. To keep professional lines, we recommend that you have a written contract, so that personal and professional expectations are not blurred. We created an extensive kit to help ensure that everyone enters and exits the project with respect and understanding.

Commercials

The TVC industry has many varied companies and budgets, and good communication with your agent is your best bet to ensure that you are being treated and paid fairly. Although we are always able to advise on contracts for you, below are some examples that may help you understand what your expectations should be.

A key element to reading TVC contracts is to look for “Usage”. Some contracts are for an agreed amount of time, some are what is called a “Buy-out”. A buy-out means that the media can be used in perpetuity, and we advise caution in signing contracts as you are more likely to lose control of how your image is used.

To understand your rights and responsibilities in regards to TVC, see our three resources below.

• • General Terms and Conditions for Advertising Performance
  • TV commercial pre-casting brief
  • Standard contract for TV commercials

• SPADA Backend Agreement
• SPADA Individual Performance Agreement

• Equity Performers’ Charter 2012
• Guidelines for Child Actors in New Zealand
• Guidelines for LONO Application
• International Federation of Actors health and safety guidelines for performers in live shows
• AAANZ Agents List 2024
• NZ Casting Director Guidelines October 2022