Collaborator Code of Conduct

This policy is a living document and is subject to refinement and updates in the future. Last updated in January 2024.

Hightail Entertainment brings together friendly collaborations where everyone should feel welcome and safe to share ideas and engage in open creativity. It’s really important for us to provide a harassment-free experience for everyone inclusive of gender, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, race, age, nationality or religion.

All collaborators are required to abide by our code of conduct at all times while on-set and and online. Any violations will be dealt with seriously and may include being removed from a production and banned from future productions and events. This is to protect the safety of our community.

Definitions

What do we mean by “harassment”? Harassment includes but isn’t limited to:

  • Offensive comments related to gender, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, disability, mental illness, neurotype, physical appearance, body size, race, age, nationality, religion or belief, marital and civil partnership status, pregnancy or carer or parental status, familial status, veteran status, citizenship

  • Unwelcome comments regarding a person’s lifestyle choices and practices, including those related to food, health, parenting, drugs, and employment

  • Homophobic, biphobic, transphobic, racist, or misogynist slurs or comments

  • Deliberate misgendering

  • Physical contact without consent or after a request to cease

  • Threats or acts of violence or intimidation

  • Unwelcome sexual attention

  • Sharing/displaying sexual or sexualised images

  • Deliberate “outing” of any aspect of a person’s identity without their consent

  • Harassing photography or recording, including logging online activity for harassment purposes

  • Sustained disruption of discussion

  • Advocating for or encouraging any of the above behaviours

  • Repeated unsolicited sales and promotional messages

We prioritise the safety of marginalised people’s safety over privileged people’s comfort. This means we reserve the right not to act on complaints regarding:

  • Reverse-isms, including ‘reverse racism’, ‘reverse sexism’, and ‘cisphobia’

  • Reasonable communication of boundaries, such as “leave me alone”, “go away”, “I’m not discussing this with you”

  • Criticising racist, sexist, cissexist, or otherwise oppressive behaviour

Consequences

Collaborators asked to stop any harassing behaviour are expected to stop immediately.

Collaborators engaging in harassing behaviour may be asked to leave a production or online space and may be banned temporarily or indefinitely.

If harassment occurs outside an event or online space organised by Hightail Entertainment that may impact the safety of our community, we reserve the right to investigate and take appropriate action, up to and including removal from a production and banning from future productions.

Reporting

If you are being harassed or made to feel unsafe or unwelcome, please report it as soon as possible. You can help us by reporting any behaviour you think might go against the Code of Conduct.

  • Email: hello@hightailentertainment.com

  • While on-set, speak directly to a producer

Thanks

Our updated Code of Conduct was based on resources from LeadDev, Geek Feminism and the XOXO Community Code of Conduct.