I once stood up to a Producer on a low-budget short because she made a 17yo runner cry. I told her it was unacceptable behaviour. My agent called me in and scolded me saying "Would you speak to a Producer like that on a bigger set?".

"Yes", I said, so my agent sacked me.

I honestly think that's hindered my career by 3/4 years, I've been agent-less since, but I'd do it again.

I'm not saying this for praise - I'm just trying to highlight why people stay quiet. We work really hard to build careers, and the fear of ruining that is very real.

It takes so much guts to come forward with these accusations against people above you, and the people doing so have nothing to gain and everything to lose.

Believe them when they do.