Privacy Policy

PRIVACY POLICY FOR CONTRIBUTORS

1. Introduction & who this policy is for

This policy is for all “contributors” who are involved in making TV programmes or other projects for Plimsoll Productions Limited. Contributors include:

• On-screen talent (e.g. actors, presenters, hosts or other performers)
• Members of the public who participate, or apply to participate, in our TV programmes or in a studio audience
• Other people who contribute to our TV programmes (e.g. interviewees or people who provided user-generated content)

This policy also applies to agents or other representatives of contributors. It does not apply if you are employed by us or provide services to us as a freelancer or other contractor.

This policy explains how and why Plimsoll collects and uses your personal information to make our programmes, and sets out your related rights and options. Your personal information is very important to us and we will look after it in accordance with applicable data protection and privacy law.

It is important that you read this policy together with any agreement or notice provided to you, so that you are fully aware of how and why we are collecting and using your personal information. This policy supplements any other notices (if provided) and is not intended to override them.

We may update this privacy policy from time to time and will post any changes on our website.

This privacy policy was last updated on 16 November 2023.

2. Who are we?

Any reference to “we“, “us” and “our” is to Plimsoll Productions Limited and its subsidiary companies. We are the “controller” of your personal information (which means we are legally responsible for how we use it) and you can contact us email to [email protected] or write to us at Data Protection Manager, Plimsoll Productions, 51-55 Whiteladies Road, Bristol, BS8 2LY, for more information about how we process your personal information.

3. What personal information do we collect and use?

It depends on the production you are involved in and nature of your contribution, but the personal information we commonly collect and use includes your name, address, email address, gender, date of birth, age, phone number, passport details or other national identifier, driving licence, your national insurance or social security number and income, employment information, bank details, tax status, video footage of you, pictures of you, and details about your previous roles/personal appearances and personal history.

As part of your contribution we may also collect and use, or you may choose to share with us (e.g. during an interview), types of personal information which are innately more private or sensitive in nature, such as personal information relating to / about your:

• race or ethnicity
• political opinions
• religious or philosophical beliefs
• trade union membership
• health
• love life, sex life or sexual orientation
• genetics or biometrics
• criminal record

These types of information are referred to collectively and individually as “Sensitive Information” in this policy.

4. Where do we get your personal information?

We collect your personal information either directly from you or from third party sources. The table below sets this out in more detail:

5. How and why do we process your personal information?

Whenever we use your personal information we need a “lawful basis”. A lawful basis is a justification for using your personal information which is recognised and permitted by data protection law. Generally, we use your personal information when one of these justifications applies:

• To perform our contracts with you
• To comply with applicable laws
• You have given us your consent
• Where using your personal information is necessary to satisfy a commissioning broadcaster’s public service broadcasting remit
• Use of your personal information is necessary to achieve our “legitimate interests”, which means necessary for a genuine business, operational or legal reason. We can only rely on this justification where we have considered our plans in advance and concluded that, on balance, the importance of our legitimate interests are not overridden by any potential adverse impact on you.

When we want to use your Sensitive Information, we need to have an additional justification in place. Generally, we only use your Sensitive Information when one of the following justifications applies:

• When it is in the substantial public interest. In brief, these are situations considered by data protection law to be important enough to our society such that the use of innately more private and sensitive personal information is justified. The most applicable to our productions are:
  • monitoring/reviewing/maintain equality of opportunity or treatment
  • public interest journalism/art
  • preventing and detecting unlawful acts
  • protecting the public against dishonesty, malpractice or other improper conduct
  • safeguarding children and individuals at risk
• Where necessary for insurance
• Where necessary or allowed under employment, social security or social protection law.
• Where necessary for certain medical purposes: diagnosis, preventive/occupational medicine, assessment of working capacity, providing healthcare/treatment, public health or in medical emergencies.
• Where you knowingly and willingly make/have made your Sensitive Information available to the public.
• Where necessary to establish, exercise or defend legal claims.
• Where you have provided additional consent.

Do you need my consent to include me in a programme?

For the purposes of data protection law, there are circumstances in which we can make programmes about or featuring an individual without their consent provided we comply with the relevant laws and regulatory codes, such as the Ofcom Broadcasting Code. However, there are some limited situations where we are obliged to do so, and some situations where we consider it the most responsible approach.

We do not generally rely on obtaining your consent to process your personal data to make a programme in which you appear. This is something which we do as part of our legitimate business interests, as explained above.

Please note that where you have entered into a contract with us to participate in our programmes, we may be entitled to show the programme whether or not you later change your mind about participation.

In more detail, when justified, we commonly use personal information and Sensitive Information for the following purposes:

• Contracts

We use your personal information to perform our contractual obligations to you and as part of any agreement which you have entered into with us for your application, contribution and/or participation in a programme.

• Administering our relationship with you and facilitating your contribution

For example, communicating with you about your contribution, managing our legal relationship, using your contribution, onboarding you, booking travel/accommodation, making reasonable adjustments, scheduling, verifying your identity, paying you for your contribution or conducting background checks for duty of care and health and safety purposes; or dealing with any questions or complaints arising in relation to your participation in the programme.

• Casting and crewing

Ensuring that we have appropriate and suitable talent, contributors, audience members (if applicable) and production teams for each of our programmes. Non-exhaustively, we do this by:

• creating, maintaining, updating and selecting from databases
• receiving applications and considering them on merit
• auditions, interviews and conversations
• considering public-facing social media profiles
• working with talent and recruitment agencies
• typecasting

Depending on your preferences, we may also use your personal information to contact you about future series / programmes for which you may be interested in applying.

• Research for programmes

We use personal information when doing both initial and further research for programmes (for example if we are making a documentary about real people). We do this by working directly with you and by using publicly available sources, like books and articles, and engaging consultants who can provide relevant information.

• Assessing your fitness and suitability to participate

We ask for health information and carry out health assessments where appropriate so that we can ensure that all participants can be kept health and safe during production, for insurance reasons and to offer reasonable adjustments where appropriate.

• Medical problems and emergencies

If you get ill or injured during your participation in one of our productions, we will share information about your health with either an on-site, attending or emergency medic so that you can receive appropriate treatment, help or support.

• Duty of care background checks and screening

We carry out background checks and screen contributors using publicly available sources and third parties for duty of care, health and safety and/or safeguarding purposes. This includes information such as employment / work details, participation in previous / other TV programmes, social media profiles / posts, other content published online, criminal record data from DBS and information from other public registers or sources like Companies House, the Insolvency Register or court proceedings.

• Recording, editing and otherwise producing content for commercial purposes

We record and edit footage and audio of your contribution to the relevant programme, which helps us fulfil our objective or making television content for commercial use.

• Using your property for filming

When you allow us to film at your property, we collect your name, address, contact details, bank details and (if relevant) ownership details so that we can arrange filming, logistics, set-up and payment.

• Filming in public places

We may film in public places (for example when filming on location outside where members of the public might walk past or through). Whenever we film in public we put up filming notices in and around the area being filmed, and offer opt-outs to anybody who has been filmed and did not realise, was not able to use a different route/area or who has changed their mind about being filmed in the background,

• Archiving

We retain our programme (and your personal information in them) in our archive, for the purposes of repeating the programme or otherwise using it for commercial purposes.

• Promotion and marketing

Sometimes we may use your personal information to promote or market a particular programme or product (for example a short clip of video footage of your contribution to attract commissions from broadcasters or streaming services).

• Diversity, equality and inclusivity initiatives

Plimsoll runs and participates in a variety of DEI initiatives, both internal and external and both on its own and in collaboration with other organisations. In particular (and non-exhaustively):

• Plimsoll contributes to an industry-wide DEI monitoring initiative called Diamond, which is run alongside PACT (the UK screen sector trade body representing independent production companies), UK broadcasters and the Creative Diversity Network (CDN) (an organisation which aims to increase diversity, equality and inclusivity in the UK broadcasting industry). Diamond collects personal information (most of which is anonymised such that it stops being personally identifiable) regarding demographics and characteristics of programme contributors in order to collect statistics and report on the impact of current DEI initiatives and where more improvement may be required. If you have provided us with your email address, we will share it with CDN (unless you have asked us not to). CDN will contact you to ask if you are willing to contribute to the initiatives by providing information about your characteristics like ethnicity, disability, gender identity, age and sexual orientation. Participation is not mandatory.
• We run or participate in initiatives which encourage individuals from diverse and under-represented backgrounds to participate in TV production and consider it as a profession.
• We keep records to create statistics and analysis in order to monitor the effectiveness of our own DEI initiatives and consider what more is required.

• Security reasons

• We monitor our own communications and networks in order to protect the security and integrity of our IT systems.
• We take steps to ensure the safety of our premises and sets (for example by using CCTV or by keeping records of when people are onsite).

• Offering you support and assistance

Depending on the circumstances, we may use your personal information to offer you support or assistance which either you request or we consider would be appropriate and helpful (for example, training and guidance on how to cope with social media and press scrutiny, or psychological support after production).

• Facilitating your rights and honouring opt-outs

We use your personal information in order to help facilitate the exercise of your rights under data protection law (as set out below) or to honour your choice to opt-out of a particular use of your personal information (where you have the right to opt out).

• Corporate transactions

If we sell or buy any business or assets, we may disclose your personal information to the prospective seller or buyer of such business or assets, along with its professional advisers, to the extent relevant to the transaction.  If Plimsoll or substantially all of its assets are acquired by a third party, personal information held by Plimsoll about its contributors may be one of the transferred assets. In such circumstances the acquirer of the information will become the controller of your personal information (i.e. they will become legally responsible for it under data protection law).

6. Who uses your personal information and who do we share it with?

Internally: Your personal information will be used by the relevant production team (i.e. our employees and contractors)  for the purposes of making the relevant  programme. It may also be shared internally with supporting departments or functions, such as our in-house legal team to prepare contractual documentation or provide legal advice, and with any other in-house teams involved in commercial exploitation such as the finance team in order to pay you for your contribution (where applicable) and  the distribution team and the health and safety and insurance teams if their advice is required.

Within the ITV Group of companies: Plimsoll is part of the ITV Group of companies, meaning we may share your personal information with other companies in the group (for example, where 2 ITV Group companies co-produce a programme or where a different part of the business uses your personal information to perform its function (for example distribution and sales).

Externally: we may appoint third parties to collect and use your personal information on our behalf, or we may share your personal information with third parties as part of our working relationship with them, to facilitate your contribution. Non-exhaustively, those third parties include:

• online casting application systems
• medical service providers and health assessors, such as physiotherapists and psychologists
• professional advisers such as lawyers, insurers, accountants and auditors.
• suppliers which help with logistics such as accommodation and travel or set construction
• studio audience providers
• external TV studios and post-production services
• transcription and translation services
• suppliers helping with DEI initiatives
• commissioning broadcasters / streaming platforms as part of the editing, review and delivery process
• recruitment / talent agencies
• parties helping us with background checks, screening and identity verification
• external payroll service providers
• property owners/managers on locations where we film
• security (physical and threat monitoring)
• unions and industry representative bodies
• Government bodies and official authorities (e.g. in order to comply with accounting, tax reporting and audit requirements or requests from prosecutors/law enforcement authorities for the purposes of preventing crime)
• Courts and regulators (e.g. in response to a court order or providing personal information on the request of a regulator)

In some cases we may work with third party advertisers and platforms, including social media platforms, to direct casting flyers or invitations to apply to relevant potential contributors. Depending on the platform in question, this can involve sharing your personal information with the relevant third party, who then match it with personal information they hold on their platform provide you with such flyers / invites or to find and target individuals with similar interests and demographics.

When we use third party service providers, we disclose only those elements of your personal information that are necessary to deliver the required service and put them under contractual obligations which mean we can monitor and ensure their compliance with applicable data protection law and retain control over their use of your personal information.

7. Sending your personal information internationally

We primarily collect and use personal information in the UK. However, we may transfer your personal information to other members of the ITV Group and to third party service providers outside the UK and the European Economic Area. We will only do this if:

• either the UK government or EU has determined that the data protection law of the relevant country offers a sufficiently similar standard of protection as under UK/EU law;
• we put the recipient under contractual obligations or organisational rules (ITV Group companies only) that means the standard of protection offered in practice is similar to that under UK/EU law;
• you provide your consent; or

data protection law allows us to do so (for example where necessary under a contract which benefits you or you have asked us to enter into).

8. How long do you keep my personal information?

As a general rule, we keep your personal information as long as we need it to achieve a genuine business, commercial, operational or legal purpose. Often this means we keep it until we have achieved the purpose(s) for which we collected it in the first place, for example to administer our contractual relationship with you, but sometimes there may be related purposes which justify continued retention.

We do not keep personal information on a “just in case” basis. When determining our retention periods, we think about the amount and nature of the personal information, the benefits of our proposed use of it, the risks posed to you by our proposed use of it, whether we can achieve our objectives without using it, and other applicable legal or regulatory requirements.

We keep your personal data for as long as it is required by us for our legitimate business purposes, to perform our contractual obligations, or where longer, such longer period

9. What are my rights when you use my personal information and how can I exercise them?

When we use your personal information, you obtain several rights which you can exercise:

• Access: you can request a copy of our records, files, footage and documents containing your personal information.
• Rectification: you can ask us to correct or update our records of your personal information.
• Erasure: you can ask us to delete your personal information from our records in specific circumstances.
• Restriction: in specific circumstances you can ask us to only use your personal information in certain ways.
• Objection: you can challenge our use of your personal information in specific circumstances. We then have to stop the relevant use(s) unless we have a compelling reason to continue.
• Complaint: you can make a complaint to the ICO (the UK data protection regulator) if you are not satisfied with our use of your personal information.
• Consent withdrawal: where we rely on your consent to collect and use your personal information, you can withdraw that consent at any time. Please note that withdrawal may preclude or prevent you from participating. Please also note that consent to use your personal information under data protection law is different from consent obtained in a release form for purposes of compliance with the Ofcom Broadcasting Code.

Please note that these rights are not always applicable and there may be some situations in which you cannot exercise them or they are not relevant.  You should also note that as explained below, these rights may not apply in some limited public interest production scenarios..

10. Public interest productions and other exemptions

There are certain situations where data protection law allows us to not comply with certain obligations (for example telling you how and why we use your personal information or obtaining your consent in advance). One of those situations is where we make a production which has public interest value or benefits. If this applies, aspects of this policy and some of your rights under data protection law may not apply.

Other situations where data protection law may entitle us not to comply with our obligations include:

• assisting with the prevention or detection of crime
• protecting the public against dishonesty, malpractice, serious incompetence or other seriously improper conduct
• protecting the health, safety and welfare of people at work
• where legal privilege applies
• when negotiations of management forecasting or planning need to be confidential

11. How to contact us

If you have any questions about our use of your personal information please contact [email protected] or write to:

Data Protection Manager, Plimsoll Productions, 51-55 Whiteladies Road, Bristol, BS8 2LY