PRIVACY
Privacy Policy
Last modified: April, 23rd, 2023
Introduction
The Script Department, Ltd. (“Company” or “We”), respects your privacy and is committed to protecting it through compliance with this policy.
This policy describes the types of information we may collect from you or that you may provide when you visit the website www.thescriptdepartment.net (“Website”) and our practices for collecting, using, maintaining, protecting, and disclosing that information. Company is the data controller for information processed through the Website.
This policy applies to information we collect:
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On this Website.
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In email, text, and other electronic messages between you and this Website.
It does not apply to information collected by:
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us offline or through any other means, including on any other website operated by Company or any third party (including our affiliates and subsidiaries); or
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any third party (including our affiliates and subsidiaries), including through any application or content (including advertising) that may link to or be accessible from or on the Website.
Please read this policy carefully to understand our policies and practices regarding your information and how we will treat it. If you do not agree with our policies and practices, your choice is not to use our Website. By accessing or using this Website, you agree to this privacy policy. This policy may change from time to time (see Changes to Our Privacy Policy). Your continued use of this Website after we make changes is deemed to be acceptance of those changes, so please check the policy periodically for updates.
Children
Our Website is not intended for nor targeted towards children as defined by applicable law. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If you are younger than the age of consent in your jurisdiction, do not use or provide any information on this Website or on or through any of its features or provide any information about yourself to us, including your name, address, telephone number, email address, or any screen name or user name you may use. If you believe we might have any information from or about a child under the applicable age of consent, please contact us at contact@thescriptdepartment.net and we will delete it.
Information We Collect About You and How We Collect It
We collect several types of information from and about users of our Website, including information:
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by which you may be personally identified, such as name, nationality and e-mail address (“personal information”);
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that is about you but individually does not identify you, such as organization, company or comments you may provide; and/or
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about your internet connection, the equipment you use to access our Website and usage details.
We collect this information:
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Directly from you when you provide it to us.
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Automatically as you navigate through the site. Information collected automatically may include usage details, IP addresses, and information collected through cookies, web beacons, and other tracking technologies.
Information You Provide to Us. The information we collect on or through our Website may include:
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Information that you provide by filling in forms on our Website. This includes information provided at the time of requesting further services. We may also ask you for information when you enter a contest or promotion sponsored by us, and when you report a problem with our Website.
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Records and copies of your correspondence with us (including email addresses).
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Your responses to surveys that we might ask you to complete for research purposes.
We may also receive your data indirectly from the following sources:
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Google Analytics: We regularly use Google Analytics to identify user trends and activities on our site.
We also use these technologies to collect information about your online activities over time (behavioural tracking). If you no longer wish us to process your information, you can opt out by emailing us at contact@thescriptdepartment.net.
The information we collect automatically can be associated with other personal information we collect in other ways or receive from third parties. It helps us to improve our Website and to deliver a better and more personalized service, including by enabling us to:
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Estimate our audience size and usage patterns.
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Store information about your preferences, allowing us to customize our Website according to your individual interests.
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Speed up your searches.
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Recognize you when you return to our Website.
The technologies we use for this automatic data collection include:
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Cookies (or browser cookies). A cookie is a small file placed on the hard drive of your computer. You may refuse to accept browser cookies by activating the appropriate setting on your browser. However, if you select this setting you may be unable to access certain parts of our Website. Unless you have adjusted your browser setting so that it will refuse cookies, our system will issue cookies when you direct your browser to our Website.
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Flash Cookies. Certain features of our Website may use local stored objects (or Flash cookies) to collect and store information about your preferences and navigation to, from, and on our Website. Flash cookies are not managed by the same browser settings as are used for browser cookies.
How We Use Your Information
The Script Department will never voluntarily share your data with other companies or organisations.
We use information that we collect about you or that you provide to us, including any personal information:
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To present our Website and its contents to you.
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To provide you with information, products, or services that you request from us.
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To fulfill any other purpose for which you provide it.
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To carry out our obligations and enforce our rights arising from any contracts entered into between you and us.
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To notify you about changes to our Website or any products or services we offer or provide though it.
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In any other way we may describe when you provide the information.
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For any other purpose to fulfil our legitimate interests or with your consent.
How do we store your data?
The Script Department securely stores your data with our hosting company, Wix. Please refer to their policy below:
Wix can store your site visitors data in a number of locations.
Your site-visitors ́ personal information may be stored in data centres located in the United States of America, Ireland, South Korea, Taiwan and Israel. We may use other jurisdictions as necessary for the proper delivery of our services and/or as may be required by law.
Wix is a global company that respects the laws of the jurisdictions it operates within. The processing of the User Customer Data may take place within the territory of the European Union, Israel or a third country, territory, or one or more specified sectors within that third country, of which, the European Commission has decided that it ensures an adequate level of protection (transfer on the basis of an adequacy decision).
Important: Any transfer to a third country, outside the European Union, that does not ensure an adequate level of protection according to the European Commission, will be undertaken in accordance with the Standard Contractual Clauses (2010/87/EU) set out in Appendix 1 of the Wix Data Processing Agreement (DPA)
The security of sensitive data is of extreme importance to Wix and we are 100% committed to data protection. See all the security certifications received by Wix.com.
Marketing
The Script Department would like to send you information about our products and services from time to time. You have the right at any time to stop The Script Department from contacting you for marketing purposes. If you no longer wish to be contacted for marketing purposes, please email us at contact@thescriptdepartment.net
What are your data protection rights?
The Script Department would like to make sure you are fully aware of all your data protection rights. Every user is entitled to the following:
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The right to access - you have the right to request The Script Department for copies of your personal data. We may charge you a small processing fee for this service.
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The right to rectification - you have the right to request that The Script Department correct any information you believe is inaccurate. You also have the right to request The Script Department to complete information you believe is incomplete.
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The right to erasure - you have the right to request that The Script Department erase your personal data, under certain conditions.
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The right to restrict processing - you have the right to request that The Script Department restrict the processing of your personal data, under certain conditions.
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The right to object to processing - you have the right to object to The Script Department’s processing of your personal data, under certain conditions.
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The right to data portability - you have the right to request that The Script Department transfer the data that we have collected to another organisation, or directly to you, under certain conditions.
If you make a request, we have one month to respond to you. If you would like to exercise any of these rights, please contact us at our email: contact@thescriptdepartment.net
Cookies:
Cookies are text files placed on your computer to collect standard internet log information and visitor behaviour information. When you visit our websites, we may collect information from you automatically through cookies or similar technologies. For further information, visit allaboutcookies.org
How do we use cookies?
There are a number of different types of cookies, however, our website uses:
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Essential: These cookies enable core functionality such as security, verification of identity and network management. These cookies can’t be disabled.
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Marketing: These cookies are used to track advertising effectiveness to provide a more relevant service and deliver better ads to suit your interests.
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Functional: These cookies collect data to remember choices users make to improve and give a more personalised experience.
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Analytics: These cookies help us to understand how visitors interact with our website, discover errors and provide a better overall analytics.
How to manage cookies
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You can set your browser to not accept cookies. However, in a few cases, some of our website features may not function as a result.
Privacy policies of other websites
The Script Department website contains links to other websites. Our privacy policy applies only to our website, so if you click on a link to another website, you should read their privacy policy.
Changes to our privacy policy
The Script Department keeps its privacy policy under regular review and places any updates on this web page.
Your Rights
To the extent required by law, Company provides you with (i) reasonable access to the personal information collected through the Website, and (ii) the ability to review, correct, export, and delete such personal information. Please contact us using any of the methods identified if you would like to exercise your individual rights and for information on any fee required to obtain copies of your personal information. We may need to obtain or confirm certain personal information in order to accommodate your request. We will not accommodate a request to change information if we believe the change would violate any law or legal requirement or cause the information to be incorrect.
If you have any questions about The Script Department’s privacy policy, the data we hold on you, or you would like to exercise one of your data protection rights, please do not hesitate to contact us at contact@thescriptdepartment.net
SUBMISSIONS POLICY
We regret that we can no longer accept unsolicited material. For administrative reasons we do not respond to individual submissions and any unsolicited material which is sent to us will not be read and will be destroyed.
SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
More diverse voices, from diverse backgrounds, provide a richer and better experience for audiences worldwide. The Script Department has long championed historically underrepresented groups within the talent community to ensure equal opportunity for success. To this end, we work with emerging and established talent to give wider exposure to their work; participate in academic research projects and focus on increasing the diversity of our own client base.
THE SHORTLIST MEMBERSHIP
Membership to The ShortList requires approval from the executive branch of The Script Department Ltd. At different times in the year, The Script Department recruits members through its partner University programmes.
AI POLICY
At The Script Department, we recognise the challenges that the advent of AI technologies bring to various creative sectors. However, we also recognise the value that AI can play in the creative process and as an academic community, we welcome informed discussion that can help shed light on the future of AI technologies within the craft of screenwriting and the wider screen industries.
As a community of active practitioners creating and championing work to the wider industry, The Script Department must take a stance that discourages the use of AI as a means of idea generation, execution and diagnosis as a major contributor to the development of a screenplay. At The Script Department, we liken the use of AI tools to the outsourcing of work to another writer and the authorship of such work by an AI programme is viewed as such. As our mission is to champion emerging writers, The Script Department will not consider work generated through AI tools when selecting projects for our Stream platform.
With this in mind, we’ve created a set of guidelines for our members:
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Members should refrain from using AI to generate ideas for projects that they intend to showcase through The Script Department’s Stream platform and its affiliated podcasts. Members are welcome to include AI supported screenplays on the forums in The Studio for feedback but full transparency is expected if any project is to be showcased in any form by The Script Department. The Script Department offers a safe and supportive space for writers to experiment with these tools if they wish and writers should be made to feel welcome to disclose if they have used such tools without judgement from the community.
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In the same way Grammarly and other ‘smart’ writing tools are used to assist in sentence structure, it is acceptable if AI is used to enhance the wording of a sentence or as a source of research for helping the writer understand how to describe something. We liken this process to a Google search and it is not necessary to disclose this. Works enhanced using such tools are welcome to be showcased as sole authorship (by WGA standards) still rests with the writer.
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Members should refrain from using AI tools to execute or diagnose work or to assist in acts of writing that extend beyond simple phrasing matters. Asking a programme to write/rewrite a scene or to do any high-level craft work (structure, characterisation, etc.) is considered ‘outsourcing’ and therefore will not be championed on our platforms as the sole authorship of the work is no longer in the hands of the writer (in line with WGA proposals) and the remaining work cannot be credited to any other writer.
The Script Department welcomes healthy debate and discussion on this subject and intends to undertake academic research into the field of AI and its relationship to the craft of screenwriting. The Script Department does not condone trends or policies that encourage or facilitate the outright replacement of writers with AI tools at any stage of the filmmaking process.