The Forest is Insured for:

• Equipment and Property
• Public Liability
• Professional Indemnity
• Employers’ Liability
• Cyber and Data Recovery
• Personal Accident
• and Class 2B Business car insurance (for a 2020 SUV, 50mpg)

As a Certified Green Small Business (GSB), The Forest adheres to sustainable practices that also saves you money:

Environmental Policy

Created: March 2023

Last Reviewed: August 2023

Next Review: March 2024

Mission Statement

The Forest TV Productions Ltd (also trading as “The Forest”) (“we”, “our”) recognises that the environment is important to our business and our clients. We recognise our responsibility to manage our environmental impacts carefully. We are committed to reducing our negative environmental impacts, promoting environmental responsibility and continually improving our environmental performance as an integral part of our business strategy and operating methods, with regular review points. We will encourage clients to do the same.

Policy Aims

We endeavour to:

• Incorporate environmental considerations into our business decisions
• Continually improve and monitor our own environmental performance
• Promote environmental awareness among our clients

Policy Priorities

1.  Carbon Footprint

• We will continue to monitor our carbon footprint annually, seek reductions to our emissions and set a target for net zero
• We purchase second-hand, refurbished kit wherever possible
• We are powered by 100% renewable energy (Octopus) and rechargeable batteries for all of our kit
• We have reduced uncompostable consumables to zero (this extends to banning set builds!)
• We are lit by Cradle to Cradle® certified LED lighting
• Unnecessary printing was reduced to zero in 2021
• All individually packaged drinks are banned, and plant-based alternatives to milk are offered at every eventuality

2.  Our Clients

• We will build consideration of environmental sustainability into all of our work with clients. We endeavour to work with suppliers who share similar values and principles. In 2023, we completed post production on our first Albert Certified television programme.

3. Transportation

• We will continue to minimise our need to travel, including through promoting the use of travel alternatives such as video/phone conferencing. Online screenings of rushes and exports are always accessible
• We will continue to maximise the use of public transport for necessary business travel
• We attend regional shoots only (within 100 miles) – and crew car share wherever and whenever overall mileage can be reduced
• All unavoidable business flights are carbon offset. There have been no flights since 2021

4. Company Administration

• We will incorporate environmental considerations into all aspects of administration including banking, insurance and purchasing
• We are engaging with our landlord to ensure waste management and water consumption are as efficient as they can be
• We are looking to offset unavoidable emissions by investing into the preservation of a forest
  

Environmental Management System

We have developed an Environmental Action Plan to ensure we meet the requirements of this policy. The Environmental Action Plan, together with this policy, comprises our Environmental Management System (EMS). Our EMS is independently certified by Green Small Business. Our certification is maintained through an annual audit carried out independently by Green Small Business, who also provide expert advice on how further we can reduce our carbon footprint via energy consumption and operational changes

We will update this policy at least annually

GDPR Privacy Notice – April 2025

The Forest TV Productions Ltd (also trading as “The Forest”) (“we”, “our”) are committed to both protecting and respecting your privacy. This policy sets out the types of data we collect and/or process about you, and the lawful basis that permits this.

Your rights and our obligations to you, regarding the processing of your personal data, can be found at: www.knowyourprivacyrights.org

We do not collect personal information or statistical data from website visitors. Our website may contain links to affiliates – please note these websites have their own privacy policies, for which we take no responsibility.

The personal data we do collect from contractors and clients are:

• Personal details – such as name, billing address, and delivery address
• Records of correspondence
• Contact details such as telephone number
• Bank account details

(We do not collect special category data)

This personal data will be used for the following purposes:

• To administer the booking process
• To contact you regarding any matter arising from your booking, be that over email, telephone, Meets, Slack, WhatsApp, or Zoom
• To provide deliverables
• To process the payment fee
• To keep a record of the booking

Only employees responsible for administrating payment have access to some or all of your data – if and when it is specifically relevant to their function.

We will not disclose your personal information to any third parties, except Venthams (Red Lion Square, London) our accountants when we submit to them our accounts, who have implemented appropriate technical and organisational measures to ensure the security of your data.

Processing by Adobe Inc., DropBox Inc., Google LLC., MASV Inc., Microsoft Inc., WeTransfer Inc. and Zoom Video Communications Inc. will involve the transfer of data to destinations outside the European Economic Area (“EEA”). This is done under standard contractual clauses.

Your data will be retained for up to six years within our IT systems. We will use strict procedures and security features – such as storing your data in an encrypted format on digitally and physically secure servers – to try to prevent unauthorised access. But we cannot guarantee the security of your data; any transmission is at your own risk.

CCTV is only operational when no one is expected to be on site, to detect criminal movement. Only the company director can view the footage, which is stored on an encrypted server until its automatic deletion within seventy two hours – unless an incident requires legal resolution.

In the context of supplied media, the client represents and warrants that they have obtained all necessary consents and complied with all legal and contractual obligations in respect to filming or recording contributors, or licensing audio or visual media. Any release forms will be in the name of the client, or commissioner. We agree to only use this media in accordance with the instructions of the client, and will endeavour to keep such data safe and secure – such as storing this data on offline, physically secure servers. Some footage is featured with permission in our banner showreel at www.theforest.tv (embedded from and hosted with Vimeo), but all rights remain with the original producers. Exports and relevant media are additionally stored for up to six years on the password protected service ‘Frame.IO’. Adobe Inc. own and operate this web based video post production collaboration and sharing service, using third party vendors and hosting partners to provide the necessary hardware, software, networking, storage, and other technology required to run the service. Again, though we implement reasonable precautions and security measures, we cannot guarantee the security of your data; any transmission is at your own risk.

The lawful basis for processing your data is therefore either contractual, or in order to comply with a legal requirement, in the pursuit of our legitimate interests.

In accordance with GDPR principles:

• Processing is fair, lawful and transparent
• Data is collected for specific, explicit, and legitimate purposes
• Data collected is adequate, relevant, and limited to what is necessary
• Data is kept accurate and up to date. Data which is found to be inaccurate will be rectified or erased without delay
• Data is not kept for longer than is necessary for its given purpose
• Data is processed in a manner that ensures appropriate security of personal data including protection against unauthorised or unlawful processing, accidental loss, destruction or damage by using appropriate technical or organisation measures

At any point while we are in possession of or processing your personal data, you – the data subject – have the following rights:

• Right to Withdraw Consent
• Right of Access (to request a copy of the information we hold about you. This may be subject to a fee of £35.00 to meet our costs in providing this)
• Right of Rectification (to correct inaccurate or incomplete data)
• Right to be Forgotten (in certain circumstances, you can ask for the data we hold about you to be erased from our records)
• Right to Restriction of Processing (where certain conditions apply to have a right to restrict the processing)
• Right to Data Portability

We advise that you check this page regularly to keep up to date with any necessary changes.

Questions, concerns, or requests about this policy should be emailed to the Data Protection Compliance Officer: ask@theforest.tv. You also have the right to lodge a complaint directly with the supervisory authority, the ICO: https://ico.org.uk/concerns/

The Forest is a Member of the Producers Alliance for Television and Cinema (PACT), the Guild of British Film Editors (BFE), and James visiting lectures across several screen institutions. These provide access to leading expertise, in the form of seminars, articles, and discussions of work practices – particularly in the ever-changing areas of delivery specifications, technology, and legal compliance

Through membership of the OKRE network, The Forest strives to implement reasonable adjustments that level the playing field for all team members: everyone should be empowered to be treated equally

Every three years, James updates his IOSH accredited Creative Industries Safety Passport (through BECTU):

• Health and Safety Risk assessments and controls are carried out in accordance with the latest HSE guidelines for audio-visual production
• Every piece of equipment has an engineer maintenance log, detailing its usage and safety checks (e.g. annual PAT tests)

Every year, James renews his DBS, EFAW First Aid training, and registration to pilot a drone in ‘Open A1 and A3’ operations (basic, low-risk flying)

James is grateful for regular, constructive scrutiny on many levels of the business, including work ethics, team chemistry, luck, and how we recovered from the last disaster. He regularly consults with:

• The Design Lead at a National High Street retailer (900 stores)
• An Advertising veteran, former partner of Tony and Ridley Scott
• Clients

The Forest has implemented freely published recommendations made by the Trusted Partner Network and ISO 27001 Best Practices – but we are waiting to settle into new premises before being audited

• The site is protected by CCTV
• The company does not have social media accounts
• The fail-safe rushes backup server (32TB RAID 10 NAS) is air gapped
• The Mac Studio is connected to a UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply)
• All kit is secured with a lock and a key. There is one key holder
• Project files are continuously backed up to a secure cloud server, meaning – in the event of a catastrophic IT failure – we can be up and running on our backup Mac within an hour

Sorry, we are not looking to expand our talent pool at this time

Our ethos is: Look after others, before you look after Yourself

The Forest calls upon a regular, tight-knit network of grounded, rounded collaborators; including cinematographers, movement artists, post assistants, exec producers, symphony composers, costume designers, charming illustrators, soho post houses, investor collectives (with feature film a core part of their strategy), and retail design studios

Freelancers are:

• Trained on and expected to use our kit
• Paid within 24 hours of submitting their invoice

Their 10% discount for us is passed on to our clients

Working in the screen industries can be taxing on family life. At The Forest, however, child care, good schools, a Doctors surgery, even the barbers, are all on the 15 minute walk to work. Being surrounded by the Chiltern Hills, the air quality is excellent