Terms of service
I’ve had the privilege of working in a diverse range of productions, locations and situations that deal with topics that are sometimes difficult to engage with as a professional or as the viewer/listener. In the early part of my career, I worked mainly with not-for-profit groups who delivered medical aid or other compassionate care around the world. I’ve been in the room with people dying of AIDS in the D.R. Congo, survivors of the blast at Hiroshima and women and children who have been trafficked for sexual exploitation in Thailand. I realise the importance of telling these stories in a frank and sometimes explicit way so that people can understand and emphasise; these are the things that we as media professionals have the ability to use our craft for in the betterment of society.
In the same sense, for dramatic productions, I’m not averse to portraying similar themes in projects I’m working on—as long as the narrative is advanced in a way that that doesn’t glorify or gratuitously exploit the characters involved. Basically, my reference is that I need to be able to explain to my daughter what I’m working on (or point back to when she is older) without hedging or shame.
Obviously these types of questions are usually discussed and resolved in the initial conversations before a job even begins; however, I have been in situations where I have either had to step back from a production or walk off a set because something was not made clear at the outset. That is, of course, an unfortunate outcome for both the client and myself as a professional so I’m making this brief list of topics where it is better to look elsewhere for someone to collaborate with on your project as I will not work on a production that advocates for or positively depicts:
Pornography or sexual exploitation
Alcohol, tobacco or illicit drugs
Weapons or the arms trade
Coercive religious activity
Or any form of production that implicitly denies sound scientific or historical fact with the intent of deceiving the audience