Finding Your Roots

Casting Terms

• 1. GENERAL:

a. By participating in this casting process (the “Casting”) for the television series presently entitled, “Finding Your Roots” (the “Program”), you acknowledge that you have read, understand and voluntarily agree to abide and be bound by these Casting Terms (the “Terms”), as well as Producer’s Privacy Policy, located at findingyourrootscasting.com/privacypolicy (the “Privacy Policy”).

b. Please review these Terms carefully before participating in the Casting, because they affect your rights. By participating in the Casting, you accept these Terms and agree to be legally bound by them. If you do not agree to these Terms, you should immediately stop participating in the Casting.

• 2. USER SUBMISSIONS:

a. As part of the Casting, you may submit or transmit audio, video, text, or other materials, including so-called “user generated content” (collectively, “User Submissions”) via our online application portal (together with its successor sites, the “Website”) or otherwise. When you provide User Submissions, you grant to McGee Media, LLC, its affiliates and partners, and each and all of their respective successors, licensees and assigns (collectively, “Producer”) a non- exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable, fully sublicensable and transferable license to use, reproduce, archive, edit, modify, add to, translate, create derivative works of, make available, distribute, sell, display, perform, transmit, broadcast and in any other way exploit those User Submissions, and any names, images, voices, likenesses and other identifying information of persons included in those User Submissions, in any form, media, software, or technology of any kind now known or developed in the future, and for any purpose, including, without limitation, for developing, producing, promoting and/or exploiting the Program. You hereby waive any moral rights you may have in your User Submissions. You grant the rights hereunder whether or not you are selected to participate in the Program in any manner whatsoever. You understand that you will not be entitled to receive any wages, benefits, fees or other compensation for granting these rights or for submitting your User Submissions.

b. General Rights in User Submissions:

i. Producer reserves the right to determine, in its sole discretion, if you are eligible to proceed in the Casting. Producer may, at its sole and absolute discretion, select any eligible person to advance to any round of the Casting. Producer reserves the right in its sole discretion to modify or change the eligibility requirements hereunder from time to time and such modifications will be effective whether or not you receive actual notice thereof.

ii. Producer may refuse, reject or remove a User Submission at any time, with or without notice to you. However, Producer has no obligation to monitor User Submissions, and you agree that neither Producer nor its affiliates will be liable for User Submissions or any loss or damage resulting from User Submissions.

iii. You agree that your User Submission(s) (including, without limitation, your appearance therein) may be edited, cut, modified, rearranged, combined with other materials, adapted, dubbed or otherwise revised by Producer in any manner whatsoever, in Producer’s sole discretion.

iv. Producer has no obligation to review your User Submission(s) or to use your User Submission(s) in any manner whatsoever.

v. You bear all responsibility for your User Submission(s). You represent and warrant that you have all rights necessary to grant to Producer the license above and that your User Submission(s) do not violate these Terms, the rights of any third party, or applicable law.

• 3. ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS:

  To participate in the Casting, you must be able to prove that, as of the day you submit your first User Submission:

a. You are twenty-one (21) years of age or older.

b. You have not been convicted of a felony in the past ten (10) years (whether or not expunged).

c. You are not a member of the Screen Actors Guild - American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (“SAG - AFTRA”), the Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists (“ACTRA”) or any other performing artist union or guild. If you are a member of any performing arts union or guild, your participation in the Program or in the Casting, if any, does not constitute a performance or appearance as defined by any performing arts union or guild, nor does it entitle you to any wages, salary, or other similar compensation.

d. You do not have any other contractual arrangement that, in Producer’s sole discretion, would prohibit you from fully participating in the show and/or entering into any contracts required by Producer.

e. Neither you nor any of your immediate family members or anyone living in your household (whether or not related to you) is or has been within the past year, an employee, officer, director, independent contractor, agent or representative of any of the following:

i. Producer;

ii. Inkwell Media, LLC (“Inkwell”);

iii. Greater Washington Educational Telecommunications Association, Inc. (“WETA”);

iv. Public Broadcasting Service ("PBS");

v. Corporation for Public Broadcasting (“CPB”);

vi. Any sponsor of the Program;

vii. Any person or entity connected with the administration of the Casting; and/or

viii. Any other person or entity involved in the development, production, distribution, or other exploitation of the Program or any variation thereof.

f. You are not a candidate for public office and will not become a holder of public office until after the date that is one (1) year after the initial broadcast of the last episode of the Program in which you appear.

g. You have not taped an appearance as a contestant or a participant on another television show at any time within one (1) year prior to any of your User Submission(s).

All eligibility determinations shall be made solely by Producer in its sole discretion and are final and binding in all respects. Any offer to become a participant in the Program may be conditioned upon your submission to a background check, at Producer’s sole discretion.

Producer reserves the right to exclude or disqualify, in its sole and absolute discretion, any individual from the Casting for any reason or for no reason at all, including, without, limitation, for any violation of any portion of these Terms or tampering with any aspect of the Casting (including, without limitation, any aspect of the application process). Being contacted by Producer at any point in the Casting does not guarantee that you will be considered further or selected to participate in the Program. Producer also reserves the right in its sole discretion to change these Terms from time to time, with or without notice to you. You will be bound by the most current version of the Terms, which will appear on the Website (if any).

• 4. REGISTRATION; ACCEPTABLE USE; ACCESS TO ACCOUNTS:

a. If Producer requests registration information from you to set up a user account, you must provide Producer with accurate and complete information and must update the information when it changes. You may not access any age-restricted areas of the Website unless you are the required age or above. In no case are persons under the age of sixteen (16) permitted to use the Website.

b. You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your user account login names and passwords, and must not permit use of your account by anyone other than you. You accept responsibility for all activities, charges, and damages that occur under your account, and unauthorized use of your account. If you have reason to believe that someone is using your account without your permission, please contact Producer immediately at: fyrcasting@mcgeemedia.com. Producer is not responsible for any loss or damage resulting from unauthorized use of your account.

c. Without limiting any other provision in these Terms, you agree NOT to do any of the following, or assist others in doing any of the following:

i. Access the Website using any interface other than as operated or branded by Producer;

ii. Maintain any link to the Website that Producer asks you to remove, in its sole discretion;

iii. Frame the Website, make the Website available via in-line links, otherwise display the Website in connection with an unauthorized logo or mark, or do anything that could falsely suggest a relationship between Producer or its affiliates and any third party or potentially deprive Producer of revenue (including, without limitation, revenue from advertising, branding, or promotional activities);

iv. Threaten, defame, stalk, abuse, or harass other persons or engage in illegal activities, or encourage conduct that would constitute a criminal offense or give rise to civil liability;

v. Transmit any material that is inappropriate, profane, vulgar, offensive, false, disparaging, defamatory, obscene, illegal, sexually explicit, racist, that promotes violence, racial hatred, or terrorism, or that Producer deems, in its sole discretion, to be otherwise objectionable;

vi. Violate any person’s or entity’s legal rights (including, without limitation, intellectual property, privacy, right to one’s image, and publicity rights), transmit material that violates or circumvents such rights, or remove or alter intellectual property or other legal notices;

vii. Transmit files that contain viruses, spyware, adware, or other harmful code;

viii. Advertise or promote any goods, services, persons or entities without Producer’s express, written permission (including, without limitation, by sending unsolicited email);

ix. Remove, modify, disable, block or otherwise impair any advertising;

x. Interfere with another user’s participation in the Casting or otherwise disrupt the Casting;

xi. Disassemble, decompile or otherwise reverse engineer any software or other technology included on the Website or used to conduct the Casting;

xii. Transmit, collect, or access personally identifiable information about other users without the consent of those users and Producer;

xiii. Engage in unauthorized spidering, “scraping,” data mining or harvesting of content, or use any other unauthorized automated means to gather data from the Website or about the Casting;

xiv. Impersonate any person or entity or otherwise misrepresent your affiliation or the origin of materials you transmit;

xv. Remove, avoid, interfere with, or otherwise circumvent any access control measures for the Website, including password-protected areas and geo-filtering mechanisms, or any digital rights management measures used in connection with any content; or

xvi. Access any portion of the Website that Producer has not authorized you to access (including password-protected areas), link to password-protected areas, attempt to access or use another user’s account or information, or allow anyone else to use your account or access credentials.

d. If you violate this section, Producer may terminate your access to the Website and/or your participation in the Casting without notice and take any other actions or seek any other remedies permitted at law, or in equity.

e. Producer may take any of the following actions in its sole discretion at any time, and without giving you prior notice:

i. Change or discontinue the Casting;

ii. Change how Producer offers and operates Casting;

iii. Remove content from the Website;

iv. Restrict, suspend or terminate your access to the Website or features thereof; and

v. Deactivate your accounts and delete all related information and files in your accounts.

• 5.REPRESENTATIONS AND WARRANTIES:

  You hereby represent, warrant, acknowledge, and agree that: (i) you have read, and you meet and agree to be bound by all eligibility requirements applicable to the Casting; (ii) you have completed any questionnaire or application to participate in the Casting completely, honestly and accurately; (iii) if any of the information in such questionnaire, application and/or any of your User Submission(s) is found to be false or incomplete, this will be grounds for dismissal from the Casting, and/or from the Program, if selected; (iv) even if you meet the Casting eligibility requirements, Producer has no obligation to further contact you, to interview you, and/or select you as a participant in the Program; (v) even if you are selected as a participant in the Program, Producer has no obligation to produce the Program and PBS has no obligation to exhibit the Program, even if produced; (vi) you agree to keep strictly confidential all information about the Program that you may acquire during the Casting and/or during your participation in the Program (if applicable), as further detailed in Paragraph 8 below; (vii) all decisions by Producer concerning selection of the participants are final and not subject to challenge or appeal; and (viii) Producer has no obligation to return any User Submission, in whole or in part, whether or not you are selected as a participant. Further, you represent and warrant that: (i) you are the copyright owner of your User Submission(s), (ii) your User Submission(s) are your own original, previously unpublished, and previously unproduced work; (iii) your User Submission(s) are wholly original to you and as of the date of submission, are not the subject of any actual or threatened litigation or claim; (iv) your User Submission(s) neither infringe upon nor violate the intellectual property rights, privacy rights or any other rights of any other person or entity, including, without limitation, any right to a third party’s image; and (v) your User Submission(s) do not and will not violate any applicable laws. For clarity, User Submission(s) must not contain any unauthorized, third-party-owned material, including, but not limited to, trademarks, logos, music, copyrighted photos and the like.

• 6.CASTING PROCESS:

  You hereby authorize Producer and any person or entity designated by Producer to investigate, access and collect information about you, about any of the statements made by you in any application, questionnaire, video, document and/or any other material that you have signed or provided or do sign or provide in connection with the Casting, or any other written or oral statements you make in connection therewith, including, without limitation, any User Submission. You irrevocably authorize Producer and any person or entity designated by Producer to secure information about you and your experiences from your current and former employers, associates, friends, family members, educational institutions, government agencies, any branch of the military, and any references you have provided, and you irrevocably authorize such parties to provide information concerning you. You hereby unconditionally and irrevocably release and forever discharge Producer, the persons or entities designated by Producer, and the Released Parties (as defined below) from any and all liabilities arising out of or in connection with any such investigation. You specifically authorize investigation of your employment records, and government records, including but not limited to your motor vehicle records, criminal records, civil records, military records, and/or consumer report(s). You acknowledge and agree that any such information obtained by Producer or by any person or entity designated by Producer pursuant to this Paragraph or otherwise may be used for purposes of selecting participants in the Program or in the course of producing the Program, and may be described or otherwise related in and in connection with the Program. You understand that the Casting will involve subjective decisions made by certain individuals selected by Producer and/or PBS in their sole discretion. You further understand that PBS, Producer and other persons or entities may be acquainted with or have some familiarity with some or all of the applicants to varying degrees. You understand and agree that all casting decisions shall be final and binding on you in all respects, and shall not be subject to challenge or appeal.

• 7. WEBSITE USE:

a. The Website and its contents are protected by intellectual property and other laws in the U.S. and in other countries. You must comply with all such laws and applicable copyright, trademark or other legal notices or restrictions. You shall not remove or alter any copyright, trademark, or other legal notices marked on the Website. As between you and Producer, Producer will retain all right, title, and interest in and to the Website. No transfer of ownership to any portion of the Website shall be made as a result of any access you are granted. Except as specifically provided below, Producer reserves all rights to the Website. Subject to your compliance with these Terms, Producer hereby grants, and you hereby accept, a limited, non-exclusive license to access and view the Website for personal, non-commercial purposes in accordance with these Terms. You may not build a business or other enterprise utilizing any part of the Website, whether for profit or not. Except as expressly authorized by us in writing, you may not either directly or through the use of any software, device, internet site, web-based service or other means download, stream capture, store in a database, archive or otherwise copy any part of the Website; upload, sell, rent, lease, lend, broadcast, transmit or otherwise disseminate, distribute, display or perform any part of the Website; license or sublicense any part of the Website; or in any way exploit any part of the Website. In addition, except as expressly authorized by Producer in writing, you are strictly prohibited from modifying the Website; creating, distributing or advertising an index of any significant portion of the Website; or otherwise creating derivative works or materials that otherwise are derived from or based in any way on the Website.

b. Producer does not warrant: (1) that the Website, any of the Website’s functions, or any Website content will be uninterrupted or free of errors or omissions; (2) that any such defects will be corrected; (3) that the Website or the servers hosting it are free of viruses or other harmful code; or (4) that the Website or information available through the Website will continue to be available. Producer shall have no liability for any such issues. To the greatest extent permitted by law, Producer disclaims any express or implied warranties, including, without limitation, as to noninfringement, merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, title, quality, availability and/or subject matter. The Website, including all content and functions made available on, accessed through, or sent from the Website are provided “as is,” “as available,” and “with all faults.”

• 8.CONFIDENTIALITY:

a. Whether or not you are selected to be a participant on the Program, you shall keep in strictest confidence and shall not authorize or cause others to, directly or indirectly, use or disclose to any third party at any time (i.e., prior to, during, or after the taping or exhibition of any episode of the Program) including personal social media (i.e. Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, etc.) any of the following, which, as between you and Producer, is the exclusive property of Producer: any information or materials that you may read, hear or otherwise acquire or learn in connection with or as a result of your participation in or in connection with the Program, including without limitation, any information or materials concerning or relating to Producer or to PBS, the business of Producer or PBS, any program produced by Producer or exhibited by PBS, including, without limitation, any information concerning or relating to the Program, Casting applicants, the Program participants, the location(s) of the Program, the events contained in the Program, the outcome of any episode of the Program, and the contents of any User Submissions or any other agreement or document that you sign, have signed or receive from Producer or PBS at any time (collectively, the “Confidential Information”). You acknowledge and agree that your obligations with respect to confidentiality set forth in these Terms shall continue in perpetuity. In no event will you have the right to terminate your confidentiality obligations herein. You acknowledge that in the event you breach the confidentiality or any other provisions of these Terms, your breach may, in the sole discretion of Producer, result in your being disqualified to participate as a participant in the Program. You further acknowledge that a breach by you of any of the confidentiality provisions of these Terms would cause Producer and PBS irreparable injury and damage that cannot be reasonably or adequately compensated by damages in an action at law, and, therefore, you hereby expressly agree that Producer and PBS shall be entitled to injunctive and other equitable relief to prevent and cure any breach or threatened breach of any of the confidentiality provisions of these Terms by you.

b. You authorize Producer to provide information concerning you and your activities to comply with applicable laws or respond to court orders, subpoenas, or other lawful requests, or if Producer believes doing so would protect your safety or that of another person, protect the security of the Casting, or as otherwise described herein or in the Privacy Policy.

• 9.RELATIONSHIP/WAIVER OF EQUITABLE RELIEF:

  Producer does not accept unsolicited submissions, including scripts, story lines, articles, fan fiction, characters, drawings, suggestions, ideas or concepts. Any similarity between an unsolicited submission and any elements in any creative work by Producer is purely coincidental. Producer has wide access to ideas, stories, designs, and other literary materials, and new ideas are constantly being submitted or being developed by its own employees. Many such ideas may be competitive with, similar or identical to the User Submissions and/or each other in theme, idea, format or other respects. You will not be entitled to any compensation as a result of the use by Producer of any such similar or identical material. Producer does not now and shall not have in the future any duty or liability, direct or indirect, vicarious, contributory, or otherwise, with respect to the infringement or protection of the copyright in and to any User Submission. With respect to any claim by you relating to or arising out of the actual or alleged exploitation or use of any User Submission or other material submitted by you in connection with the Casting, the damage, if any, thereby caused to you will not be irreparable or otherwise sufficient to entitle you to seek injunctive or other equitable relief or in any way enjoin the production, distribution, exhibition or other exploitation of the auditions or the Program or any other production based on or allegedly based on the auditions or the Program, and your rights and remedies in any such event shall be strictly limited to the right to recover damages, if any, in an action at law.

• 10.RELEASE:

  To the maximum extent permitted by law, you irrevocably and unconditionally release each of the Released Parties (as defined herein) from any and all liability arising out of your participation or appearance in or in connection with the Casting and/or the Program, on any legal theory whatsoever (including, without limitation, personal injury, rights of privacy and publicity, false light and defamation) (collectively, the “Released Claims”). Further, to the maximum extent permitted by law, you agree not to sue the Released Parties for any reason based on any of the Released Claims hereunder. The term “Released Parties” shall mean and refer to Producer, Inkwell, PBS, WETA, CPB, any affiliate or station broadcasting the Program, any other licensees or assignees of the Program or the User Submission, any sponsor of the Program, the other participants in the Program, all other persons and entities connected with the Program, each of their respective parent, subsidiary, related and affiliated entities, and all of the respective directors, officers, principals, executives, on-air talent, employees, agents, contractors, partners, shareholders, representatives and members of each of the foregoing.

• 11.INDEMNITY:

  You will defend, indemnify and hold harmless the Released Parties with respect to all third-party claims, costs (including reasonable, outside attorney’s fees and disbursements), damages, liabilities, and expenses or obligations of any kind, arising out of or in connection with (i) your use or misuse of the Website, (ii) any breach or alleged breach by you of any of the warranties, representations or agreements hereunder, and/or (iii) your negligence or willful misconduct. Producer retains the right to assume the exclusive defense and control of any claim subject to indemnification, and in such cases you agree to cooperate with Producer to defend such claim. You may not settle any claim covered by this Paragraph without Producer’s prior written approval.

• 12.LIMITATION OF LIABILITY:

  Producer will not be liable for any failure or delay in its performance due to any cause beyond its reasonable control, including, without limitation, acts of war, acts of god, acts of third parties, earthquake, flood, embargo, riot, sabotage, labor shortage or dispute, governmental act, power failure, or failure of the internet or computer equipment, epidemic, pandemic, public health emergency (including, without limitation, COVID-19). The Released Parties will not be liable to you or anyone else for any special, indirect, incidental, exemplary, punitive or consequential damages in connection with the Website, your use of the Website (including its functions and content), the Casting, these Terms or your User Submissions, even if foreseeable or even if one or more of the Released Parties has been advised of the possibility of such damages (including, without limitation, whether caused in whole or in part by negligence, gross negligence, or otherwise, but excluding willful misconduct). You assume these risks by use of this Website and disclaim the right to enjoin any use of the User Submission(s) and/or the Program. If you incur any damages that arise out of the Released Parties’ acts or omissions, the damages, if any, are not irreparable and are not sufficient to entitle you to an injunction or other equitable relief restricting operation of the Website or the development, production, promotion, exploitation, and/or other use of any property, product, program, television show, motion picture, or other content owned or controlled by the Released Parties.

• 13.ASSIGNMENT:

  You agree that Producer may license, assign, and otherwise transfer these Terms and all rights granted by you to any person or entity.

• 14.ENTIRE AGREEMENT:

  These Terms, including all additional terms, conditions, and policies posted in connection with the Casting, constitute the entire agreement between Producer and you and supersede all prior agreements with respect to the subject matter hereof. Nothing in these Terms affects any non-waivable statutory rights that apply to you.

• 15.CHOICE OF LAW:

  This application shall be interpreted under the internal, substantive laws of the State of New York, without regard to the conflicts of law provisions thereof. Any court action arising out of this Agreement will be brought exclusively in the State or Federal courts located in the State and County of New York, and courts with appellate jurisdiction therefrom, and you irrevocably submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of any such courts and agree not to plead to the contrary.

• 16.DISPUTES; ARBITRATION:

  You agree that any and all claims, disputes or controversies arising out of or in connection with your application for or participation in the Program that are not otherwise barred or released pursuant to the terms herein shall be resolved exclusively and confidentially by binding arbitration before a single, neutral arbitrator, under the auspices of JAMS using its Streamlined Arbitration Rules and Procedures, through its New York, New York office.

• 17.SEVERABILITY:

  The illegality, invalidity or unenforceability of any provision of these Terms shall in no way affect the validity or enforceability of any of the remainder of these Terms, which shall be enforced to the maximum extent permitted by law.

• 18.FURTHER DOCUMENTS:

  If you are selected by Producer to advance in the Casting, you agree to execute and deliver to Producer a long-form agreement and/or any other documents (including, without limitation, any and all waivers and releases required) as Producer deems necessary or advisable regarding your potential or actual participation.

• 19.SURVIVAL:

  These Terms will survive any termination of your access to the Website and/or participation in the Casting, whether Producer terminates your access or participation, or you voluntarily discontinue your use or participation.

• 20.QUESTIONS:

  If you have questions regarding these Terms, please contact us at fyrcasting@mcgeemedia.com and we will endeavor to respond to your request within a reasonable period of time.