Media, Filming, and Intellectual Property Policy

Effective Date: 3/14/2026

1. Overview & Purpose

The Scare Factor operates as an online platform and media entity dedicated to connecting Halloween and horror enthusiasts with haunted attractions. To fulfill our mission of fostering an informed haunt community and producing high-quality content, including POV-style walkthroughs, haunt owner interviews, and convention/trade show coverage, we capture extensive photographic and video media (hereinafter “Media”). This policy outlines our operational standards regarding media ownership, consent, attribution, and authorized use across various environments.

2. Filming Environments and Consent Frameworks

The Scare Factor operates in three distinct environments, each with its own consent framework:

• A. Public Spaces and Conventions (Implied Consent): By attending public events, conventions, trade shows, or outdoor midways where The Scare Factor is operating in a recognized media capacity, attendees acknowledge these are environments designed for public exhibition. Presence in these areas constitutes implied consent to be filmed, photographed, or otherwise recorded. We reserve the right to capture crowd shots, ambient footage, and specific demonstrations without requiring individual release forms.

• B. Ticketed Haunted Attractions (Venue Consent): Haunted attractions are private property operated as commercial public accommodations. When our teams capture walkthrough videos of these attractions, we operate under the explicit written or recorded authorization of the venue’s owner, operator, or other authorized management. It is the responsibility of the venue’s management to govern their staff and actors. Authorization from the venue serves as the blanket commercial media pass for the environment and the performances occurring within it. Actors performing their duties within this commercial space are subject to the venue’s operational media agreements.

• C. Internal “Scream Teams” (Explicit Consent): The Scare Factor utilizes dedicated in-house review teams (“Scream Teams”) to evaluate attractions. Because the experiences and reactions of these team members are a focal point of our content, all official team members and accompanying guests operate under explicit, digitally signed media and liability releases granting The Scare Factor full rights to utilize their image, likeness, and vocal reactions for commercial and editorial purposes.

3. Copyright and Intellectual Property Ownership

All Media captured, recorded, and published by The Scare Factor across our website, YouTube channels, and social media profiles is the sole and exclusive intellectual property of The Scare Factor.

• Subject vs. Medium: While an individual, artist, or vendor may retain the intellectual property rights to their specific costume design, mask, proprietary prop, or physical likeness, The Scare Factor retains the exclusive copyright to the specific video file, photograph, and digital recording created by our personnel.

• Enforcement: Any unauthorized downloading, ripping, screen-recording, or re-uploading of our Media to external platforms constitutes a direct infringement of our copyright. To protect our brand authority and the commercial viability of our content, we will issue immediate DMCA takedown notices and pursue potential legal action against unauthorized duplication.

4. Attribution, Tagging, and Identification Limitations

We deeply value the artists and vendors who elevate the haunt industry’s costuming and special effects. However, due to the sheer volume of attendees, the fast-paced nature of live events, and the prevalence of masks and character acting, it is logistically impossible for our team to identify and independently verify every individual artist, actor, or prop fabricator captured in our Media.

• Standard Attribution: Our standard operational procedure is to explicitly tag and credit the Host Venue, Event, or Haunted Attraction.

• Individual Tagging: We cannot accommodate retroactive demands to alter edited video files or manage financial transactions for social media tags.

• Community Self-Identification: We highly encourage artists, actors, and vendors who see their work featured in our content to engage with our posts! We actively invite you to “tag yourself,” drop your business links, and claim your incredible work in the comment sections of any videos where your work is featured on any of our official social media channels.

5. Authorized Sharing & Native Platform Features

We actively encourage the haunt community, artists, and attendees to share our content to highlight their work and build a supportive network where haunt fans can engage with the industry. However, to protect our intellectual property and ensure proper attribution, all sharing must utilize the native tools provided by the respective social media platforms.

These native tools automatically maintain the attribution chain back to The Scare Factor’s original post:

• Approved Methods (By Platform):
  • Instagram: You may use the native “Remix” feature on our Reels, use the “Add to Story” function, or use the standard “Share” button.
  • TikTok: You may use the “Duet” or “Stitch” features to react to or add commentary to our videos. You may also use the “Repost” button to share our video directly to your followers’ feeds.
  • Facebook: You may use the standard “Share” button to post our original video or article directly to your personal timeline, Business Page, or Facebook Story.
  • YouTube: You may use the native “Remix” feature to create a Short using a segment of our video or audio. You may also use the “Share” button to embed our video links on external websites or social feeds.
• Strictly Prohibited Methods:
  • You may not use third-party websites, apps, or screen-recording software to download, rip, or save our raw video files to your device.
  • You may not re-upload our raw or edited video files as native, standalone posts on your own personal or business pages.
  • Bypassing native sharing tools to host our files independently breaks the attribution chain and constitutes copyright infringement.

If you would like to obtain a license to use any of our content outside of the approved methods defined above, contact us at thescarefactor@gmail.com.