When we started Night Terrace in 2014, we crowdfunded it in large part because it was important to us that those working in the arts – performers, yes, but also writers, engineers and producers – get paid for the hard work they do. It’s also why we have stuck to our paywalled model: we can spend more money on making the show, including paying our cast upfront, while hoping to pay ourselves later through sales.

It should come as no surprise, then, that we support workers’ rights, including their right to unionise. We believe that a well-run union is one of the best protections workers can have. So while planning our season three campaign, we were concerned to learn that Kickstarter management was actively working against the formation of a union among their staff. This included firing a couple of employees involved in the unionisation effort and making public statements declaring unions as “inherently adversarial”. This is particularly disappointing given Kickstarter’s status as a Public-benefits Corporation, meant to be an official way of declaring that they have values other than shareholder profit.

Kickstarter staff are still trying to establish a union: Kickstarter United.
Splendid Chaps Productions is in full support of this effort.

We’ve decided to keep our campaign on Kickstarter, and stick with our planned launch timetable, for a few reasons. Many of them are practical – we are aiming for a bigger amount than in our previous campaigns, and we want to maximise our chances of success. It’s also our understanding that boycotting before a union has been formed can be detrimental to the cause. But most importantly, Kickstarter United have asked creators and supporters not to boycott. Instead, they’ve made a list of alternate actions we can take to support the union effort.

We’ll be looking at other ways we can support them, and we hope you will too.