FRESH FEED

As we move into the summer stretch, many creative teams start to feel the emotional undercurrent of the season. Whether it’s patchy motivation, burnout after big launches, or the quiet juggle of holiday cover and home life, this time of year brings a different kind of pressure. One that can’t be solved with a cold drink and a team lunch. At Fresh Seed, we don’t just help teams stay productive, we help them stay human. We believe in regulating energy, not just managing output. That’s the heart of emotionally intelligent culture design: building environments where people can work well and feel well, even during demanding times. What does that look like in practice? This summer, we’ll be helping creative teams to: Spot emotional fatigue before it turns into burnout (or a quiet quit) Build emotional intelligence into how they plan, meet, manage, and recover Train managers to lead with compassion and clarity—especially when people are juggling care duties, leave guilt, post-launch flatness, or simply feeling fried Because right now, more than ever, your people need more than performance check-ins, they need emotional check-ins. Our EQ-led support includes: Emotionally Intelligent Culture Check-ins Quick, meaningful insights to see where energy is dipping and where support is needed Emotional Intelligence Workshops for Managers and Leaders Giving people managers the tools to respond, not just react Wellbeing Strategy Support Practical, tailored actions that align with the real rhythms of creative work Inclusive Culture Tools Designed to support working parents, neurodivergent team members, and freelancers navigating seasonal challenges We believe summer should be a time to reset emotional energy, not just maintain appearances. If your team’s feeling a little stretched—or if you just want to do things differently this year, we’re here to help. Get in touch with the Fresh Seed team to explore training and support options for your people this summer.

Why Your Studio’s Slump Might Be a Planning Problem in Disguise

Navigating Challenging HR Situations with Confidence and Care

In this piece, we explore why psychological safety is the often-overlooked key to effective workplace wellbeing. As organisations double down on mental health strategies, many still miss the cultural foundation needed to make them work. This article challenges leaders to look beyond surface-level perks and ask the deeper questions: Do your people feel safe to speak up? Can your culture handle honesty, challenge, and vulnerability? Because without psychological safety, mental health initiatives are just window dressing.

In a moment when the world is watching how leaders respond to hard questions about identity, equity, and belonging, the recent Supreme Court ruling feels like a step backwards. It is seen by many as a narrow and binary definition of gender at a time when so many are courageously living beyond it. Inclusive leadership has never just been about checking boxes or issuing carefully worded statements. It’s about who we see, who we hear, and who feels safe being themselves. At its core, inclusive leadership means leading for everyone, not just for the majority or the most comfortable. This ruling might be a legal precedent, but legal definitions don’t always reflect lived experiences. Inclusive leaders understand that identity isn't one-size-fits-all.  People’s realities are complex, fluid, and deeply personal. To force them into categories that don’t fit is to erase them. When leadership teams only reflect what’s “safe,” familiar, or majority-approved, they send a message (intentionally or not) that difference doesn’t belong. That kind of culture isn’t just harmful; it’s bad for business. Diverse teams are smarter, more innovative, and more resilient. But diversity without inclusion is performative. It doesn’t work. This moment is about more than bathrooms or boardrooms. It’s about belonging. If members of your team feel erased, marginalised, or tokenised, then inclusion is incomplete. And when people don’t feel safe, they can’t thrive. Now is not the time for silence or neutrality disguised as professionalism. Now is the time for leadership rooted in empathy, courage, and action. Not to “take a side,” but to create a space where everyone feels safe, seen, and supported. So ask yourself: Are you creating a culture where people can show up as their full selves? Do your organisation’s policies match your values? And are you leading with empathy, or just managing optics? True leadership goes beyond PR-safe diversity statements. It requires equity in systems, empathy in relationships, and policies that back up both. We don’t all have the same lived experience, but we all have a role in building spaces where every person feels they belong.

Because lasting growth starts with the culture you’re growing it in.

"Everyone’s signed one, and no one knows what they’re not allowed to say." — The Rest Is Entertainment podcast In a recent episode of The Rest Is Entertainment, Richard Osman and Marina Hyde took aim at the culture of secrecy that blankets the entertainment industry. A culture often enforced by NDAs (non-disclosure agreements). While their conversation cast a wide net, it struck a particularly relevant chord for those working in the UK’s booming creative sectors, especially gaming and digital media. Here, NDAs have become so normalised, so baked into the culture, that questioning them can feel almost taboo. But maybe it’s time we did? From Creativity to Censorship The use of NDAs in gaming, design, and digital storytelling is understandable. Studios want to protect upcoming releases, original IP, and commercially sensitive innovations. No one wants their narrative twist or character design leaked on Reddit before launch day. So, in this instance, having an NDA is understandable. But increasingly, NDAs are being used not to protect ideas, but to stifle criticism, suppress toxic workplace cultures, and control narratives long after the credits roll. In some cases, they’re included in contracts almost reflexively; whether you're a concept artist, freelance writer, or indie dev hired for a month-long gig. The result? A creative landscape where people are often legally barred from discussing crunch, harassment, failed projects, unpaid royalties, or ideas they watched get stolen and repackaged by someone higher up the food chain. In the words of Osman on The Rest Is Entertainment, “NDAs are the wallpaper of the industry” — and nowhere is that truer than in gaming and digital media. Real-World Gag Orders This isn’t just theoretical. There are well-documented UK cases where NDAs were used to silence creative professionals at great personal and professional cost. • Ubisoft’s UK studios came under scrutiny following the global wave of harassment allegations in 2020. Several employees based in the UK reported toxic work environments and abusive behaviour — but many couldn’t speak publicly due to binding NDAs signed upon leaving. One former employee described the process of trying to share their story as "legally paralysing," fearing retaliation for breaching terms they barely remembered agreeing to. - https://www.axios.com/2021/12/06/ubisoft-workplace-scandal-anika-grant-interview • In the TV and digital production sector, the case of presenter and producer Liz Kershaw is telling. She was one of several BBC women who revealed they’d signed NDAs as part of settlements after raising concerns about bullying, pay disparity, and sexism. Speaking to MPs, Kershaw described how NDAs were routinely used to “get rid” of those who spoke up and to ensure they didn’t speak again. - https://www.theguardian.com/media/2012/oct/06/dj-liz-kershaw-routinely-groped-bbc • In the theatre world, whistleblowers from high-profile venues, including the Royal Court and the Old Vic, have pointed to NDAs as part of the reason abuse and bullying went unchallenged for so long. After Kevin Spacey’s tenure at the Old Vic ended, internal investigations revealed that numerous staff had felt unable to report misconduct at the time — some citing confidentiality clauses they feared breaching. https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2017/nov/04/royal-court-theatre-issues-behaviour-code-to-tackle-sexual-harassment These examples reveal a pattern: NDAs are not just tools for managing leaks or intellectual property. They’re often used to avoid accountability. The Indie Sector Isn’t Immune Even in the indie world, where flexibility and openness are part of the appeal, NDA culture is creeping in. Small teams mimic the behaviour of bigger studios, not always realising that the overuse of NDAs can actively harm collaboration. When every playtester, contractor, and marketing freelancer is sworn to silence, you don’t just kill leaks; you kill buzz, feedback, and honest reflection. This is particularly damaging for younger or marginalised creatives, who may have been part of something brilliant (or traumatic) and now can’t speak about it without risking legal action. A Different Path for the UK? The UK has an opportunity to take a different path. While the U.S. industry has a well-documented track record of using NDAs to bury allegations of misconduct (especially in games and tech) the UK’s legal culture is at least beginning to shift. There seems to be a growing awareness among regulators, unions like BECTU and Equity, and grassroots collectives within gaming (like Safe In Our World and Game Workers Unite UK) that silence is not safety. We need to reframe NDAs not as standard operating procedure but as something to be used sparingly and ethically. NDAs should protect truly sensitive material, not PR reputations or abusive management styles. They should not prevent someone from speaking up about a toxic workplace or from claiming ownership of the ideas they brought to life. If the UK’s creative sector is serious about inclusivity, fairness, and sustainability, it can’t afford to keep hiding behind legal boilerplate. Because if every exit interview is locked behind an NDA, how can anything change? Talking Is Not Leaking What Osman and Hyde managed to do so well on The Rest Is Entertainment was to normalise the idea that talking about your industry is not a betrayal. It’s part of what keeps culture healthy. If you want creativity to flourish, you need people to be able to speak. So maybe it's time we stopped treating NDAs as default, and started treating them as a choice. Because creativity needs room to breathe. And if the only way to talk about your job is with a lawyer present, maybe the real problem isn’t what you might say, it’s what they’re afraid you’ll reveal.

International Women's Day is more than just a celebration...

Tackling the Excuses That Stall Gender Equality in the Workplace