Interesting Article: Creative Freedom vs Workplace Protection
Reference Article: ‘Friends’ suit takes on raw tradition
Based on a CNN (AP) article posted on www.cnn.com today (and referenced above), it seems that if you are a writer that works on a writing team, a team which discusses off-color or not-so-politically-correct topics — topics that a character could potentially say, think, or do — that these discussions can be considered workplace harassment….or so this lawsuit contends.
The main issue is understanding how to find or define a “balance between creative freedom and workplace protection”. I tend to agree with the point of view that a creative process, especially one that is called out early on as being potentially explicit, and that as long as the tone and intent is not “hostile”, should be acceptable and shouldn’t be restricted. Even just the fear of restriction or potential lawsuits, I agree, can significantly stifle the creative process. But then again, the assessment of the tone and intent is highly subjective, both on the part of the assessor and the assessee. It will be interesting to see how far this makes it in the court system.
On a somewhat related note, though, if early discussions of themes and character behaviors of some of our beloved hit TV shows are so borderline offensive in their development, it does kind of make you wonder about the people that are controlling (or significantly influencing) the message and innuendos of the prime-time programming that we all simply consider to be light-hearted family-friendly sitcoms.
