THE SINISTER - STORY SUBMISSION TERMS

Effective Date: September 27, 2026
Version 1.0

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These Story Submission Terms (“Terms”) govern any story, written account, information, title, description, photograph, recording, attachment, or other content or material that you submit (collectively, your “Submission”) through the story-submission form operated in connection with The Sinister.

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These Terms constitute a binding agreement between you (“you” or “Submitter”) and The Sinister and its owner/operator, together with its successors, assigns, licensees, sublicensees, affiliates, producers, distributors, and authorized representatives, as applicable (collectively, “The Sinister,” “Company,” “we,” “us,” or “our”).

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By submitting a Submission and affirmatively accepting these Terms, you acknowledge and agree as follows.

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1. Eligibility

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You represent and warrant that you are at least eighteen (18) years of age and possess the legal capacity and authority to enter into these Terms and grant the rights described herein.

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If you are under eighteen (18), you may not submit material through this submission process.

 

2. Voluntary Submission

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Your Submission is made voluntarily for consideration for possible use in The Sinister and related content, productions, projects, advertising, publicity, and promotions.

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Submission does not obligate Company to review, use, publish, produce, distribute, preserve, return, acknowledge, or respond to your Submission.

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Company may use all, some, or none of your Submission in its sole editorial and creative discretion.

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3. Grant of Rights

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You hereby grant Company a perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, royalty-free, fully paid-up, transferable, sublicensable, and non-exclusive license to use and exploit your Submission, in whole or in part, in any manner and in any media, medium, technology, platform, or format now known or later developed, to the fullest extent permitted by applicable law.

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Without limiting the foregoing, this license includes the right to:

• use, reproduce, copy, publish, display, perform, communicate, record, narrate, depict, portray, and otherwise exploit the Submission;

• edit, revise, condense, expand, rearrange, excerpt, rewrite, adapt, translate, fictionalize, dramatize, re-create, and otherwise modify the Submission;

• combine the Submission with other stories, information, materials, footage, commentary, music, advertising, or other content;

• create derivative works based upon or incorporating all or any portion of the Submission;

• record or cause others to record performances, readings, narrations, dramatizations, adaptations, or re-creations of the Submission;

• distribute, exhibit, transmit, broadcast, stream, syndicate, publish, reproduce, and otherwise make the Submission or works incorporating it available to the public;

• incorporate the Submission into podcasts, audiovisual programs, television programs, streaming productions, films, documentaries, digital videos, social-media content, websites, applications, FAST/AVOD programming, live productions, compilations, books, publications, advertisements, promotional materials, and other productions or content;

• monetize and otherwise commercially exploit the Submission and any production, program, or content incorporating the Submission;

• advertise, publicize, market, and promote The Sinister, Company, and any production or content incorporating or derived from the Submission;

• license, sublicense, authorize, or otherwise grant studios, television networks, streaming services, distributors, production companies, publishers, platforms, advertisers, sponsors, broadcasters, exhibitors, and other third parties the right to exercise any or all of the foregoing rights; and

• assign or transfer Company's rights under these Terms, in whole or in part, in connection with the development, production, financing, distribution, licensing, acquisition, sale, transfer, or other exploitation of The Sinister, Company, related intellectual property, or productions incorporating the Submission.

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These rights may be exercised worldwide, for the full duration of any applicable rights, an unlimited number of times, and without further permission, notice, or approval from you.

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Because this license is non-exclusive, you retain whatever ownership rights you otherwise possess in your Submission and remain free to tell, publish, or otherwise use your story yourself, subject to any separate agreements or obligations applicable to you.

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4. Irrevocability and Reliance

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The rights granted under these Terms are irrevocable to the fullest extent permitted by applicable law.

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You understand that Company, its producers, licensees, sublicensees, distributors, and other partners may rely upon the rights granted herein when developing, producing, financing, advertising, licensing, distributing, and otherwise exploiting content.

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Accordingly, Company shall have no obligation to remove, recall, withdraw, destroy, edit, or cease distributing or exploiting a Submission or any production or content incorporating a Submission merely because you later change your mind or request withdrawal, except to the extent otherwise required by applicable law.

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5. No Compensation

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You understand and agree that your Submission is provided without expectation of compensation.

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Unless Company expressly agrees otherwise in a separate written agreement, you shall not be entitled to any payment, royalty, residual, licensing fee, profit participation, revenue share, ownership interest, or other compensation arising from Company's receipt, use, modification, adaptation, publication, distribution, licensing, sublicensing, monetization, advertising, or other exploitation of your Submission.

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You expressly acknowledge that Company and its licensees, sublicensees, distributors, platforms, advertisers, sponsors, and other partners may generate advertising revenue, subscription revenue, licensing revenue, sponsorship revenue, distribution revenue, or other commercial benefit from productions or content containing or derived from your Submission without owing compensation to you.

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6. Editing and Creative Control

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You expressly authorize Company to exercise full editorial and creative discretion concerning your Submission and the manner in which it is used.

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Company may, without obtaining further permission or approval from you, edit, shorten, expand, rearrange, rewrite, excerpt, adapt, translate, dramatize, fictionalize, re-create, combine, contextualize, or otherwise modify your Submission.

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Company may alter names, locations, dates, chronology, identifying characteristics, dialogue, descriptions, and other details for editorial, creative, dramatic, privacy, safety, production, or legal reasons.

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You understand that Company's presentation or adaptation may differ substantially from your original Submission.

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7. No Approval Rights

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To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, you waive any right to inspect or approve any script, narration, adaptation, edit, recording, performance, depiction, portrayal, advertisement, promotional material, finished production, derivative work, or other authorized use incorporating or derived from your Submission.

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Company is not required to notify or consult you before or after exercising rights granted under these Terms.

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8. Name, Alias, Likeness, Voice, and Biographical Material

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To the extent you voluntarily include or provide such material in connection with your Submission, you grant Company a perpetual, worldwide, royalty-free, transferable, and sublicensable right to use, reproduce, record, edit, publish, display, and otherwise exploit your submitted name, username, alias, likeness, image, photograph, voice, biographical information, and other identifying material in connection with Company's authorized use of your Submission and the production, distribution, advertising, publicity, marketing, and promotion of The Sinister and content incorporating your Submission.

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No additional compensation or approval shall be required for such authorized uses.

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9. Authorship, Ownership, Authority, and Permissions

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You represent and warrant that:

(a) you are the sole author and owner of the Submission or have obtained all rights, licenses, consents, permissions, and authority necessary to submit the material, enter into these Terms, and grant Company all rights granted herein;

(b) if your Submission includes material authored, owned, supplied, or controlled by another person, you have obtained all permissions and authority necessary to include that material and authorize Company's use of it pursuant to these Terms;

(c) if your Submission recounts an experience belonging to, authored by, or provided to you by another person, you have obtained any permission from that person necessary for you to submit the material and grant the rights granted herein;

(d) your Submission does not contain material that you have copied, stolen, or misappropriated from another person's legally protected work without necessary authorization;

(e) entering into these Terms and granting the rights described herein does not violate any binding agreement or legal obligation applicable to you;

(f) you have not knowingly submitted material that you obtained unlawfully or that you are legally prohibited from disclosing;

(g) to the best of your knowledge, your Submission and Company's authorized use of material supplied by you will not unlawfully infringe or violate another person's copyright, trademark, privacy, publicity, confidentiality, intellectual-property, contractual, or other legal rights.

 

10. Artificial Intelligence

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Submissions that are written, generated, or substantially created by generative artificial intelligence or automated content-generation systems are prohibited.

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By submitting your Submission, you represent and warrant that the story itself was authored by a human and was not generated or substantially written by generative artificial intelligence.

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Use of ordinary spelling, grammar, proofreading, accessibility, transcription, or formatting tools that do not substantially generate the story's creative content does not, by itself, violate this provision.

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11. Stories Concerning Other People

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You understand that submitting a story concerning another person does not give you authority to waive or release legal rights independently belonging to that person.

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You agree not to knowingly submit unlawfully obtained private information, material that you are legally obligated to keep confidential, copyrighted material belonging to another person without necessary authorization, or knowingly false factual allegations concerning identifiable individuals.

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Company may remove, anonymize, alter, fictionalize, or otherwise modify names, locations, identifying information, or other details and may decline to use any Submission for legal, editorial, creative, privacy, safety, or other reasons.

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Company's receipt or acceptance of a Submission does not constitute Company's verification, adoption, or endorsement of the truth, accuracy, legality, or completeness of the Submission.

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12. Credit and Anonymity

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Company may consider the credit preference provided with your Submission, including your name, username, alias, or a request to be identified as “Anonymous.”

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You authorize Company to use the credit designation you provide in connection with Company's authorized use, distribution, advertising, and promotion of material incorporating your Submission.

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Unless separately agreed in writing, Company does not guarantee that credit will appear or that it will appear in any particular form, placement, manner, or production.

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If you request anonymity or use an alias, Company may use that requested attribution when reasonably practicable; however, Company cannot guarantee that circumstances, events, descriptions, or other details contained in your Submission will not allow another person to identify you.

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13. Waiver of Moral and Similar Rights

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To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, you waive and agree not to assert against Company or its authorized licensees, sublicensees, successors, or assigns any moral rights, droit moral, rights of attribution or integrity, or similar rights that you may possess in the Submission or in Company's authorized adaptation, modification, or exploitation thereof.

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To the extent any such rights cannot legally be waived, you agree, to the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, not to assert or enforce those rights in a manner that would interfere with Company's exercise of the rights granted under these Terms.

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14. Release of Claims

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To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, you release and discharge Company and its owner/operator, affiliates, successors, assigns, licensees, sublicensees, distributors, exhibitors, broadcasters, platforms, production partners, advertisers, sponsors, officers, employees, contractors, agents, and authorized representatives from claims by you arising out of or relating to uses of your Submission authorized by these Terms, including claims arising from authorized editing, modification, adaptation, dramatization, fictionalization, portrayal, publication, distribution, advertising, promotion, licensing, sublicensing, monetization, attribution, or omission of attribution.

This release applies to claims arising from Company's exercise of rights that you expressly grant through these Terms.

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Nothing in these Terms releases, excludes, or limits liability that cannot lawfully be released, excluded, or limited.

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15. Indemnification

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To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, you agree to indemnify and hold harmless Company and its owner/operator, successors, assigns, licensees, and sublicensees from third-party claims, damages, liabilities, judgments, settlements, and reasonable costs and attorneys' fees to the extent arising directly from your material breach of the representations, warranties, or obligations contained in these Terms.

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Company will provide reasonable notice of a claim for which indemnification is sought when reasonably practicable.

Subject to applicable law, Company may participate in the defense of any such claim through counsel of its choosing. You agree to provide reasonable cooperation concerning the defense of a covered claim.

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You shall not enter into a settlement that admits wrongdoing or imposes liability, obligations, restrictions, or non-monetary relief upon Company without Company's prior written consent, which shall not be unreasonably withheld.

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Company shall not be entitled to indemnification under this Section to the extent a claim results solely from Company's material alteration of the Submission in a manner that independently creates the legal basis for the claim where that basis was neither contained in nor reasonably derived from your Submission.

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16. Similar Material and Independent Development

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You understand that Company and others involved with The Sinister may receive, research, develop, acquire, or produce numerous stories, concepts, themes, events, ideas, and materials.

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Other materials may be identical or similar to ideas, themes, events, concepts, situations, titles, or elements contained in your Submission.

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Except with respect to Company's exercise of rights in legally protected expression actually contained in your Submission pursuant to the license granted herein, the existence, development, acquisition, production, or exploitation of independently created or independently obtained similar material shall not, by itself, create liability to you.

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Nothing in this Section grants Company rights in legally protected material that Company did not receive from you or otherwise lawfully obtain.

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17. No Confidential or Special Relationship

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Your Submission is not confidential.

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Submission does not create a confidential, fiduciary, employment, partnership, joint-venture, agency, representation, talent, management, or other special relationship between you and Company.

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Do not submit material that you are legally obligated to keep confidential.

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18. No Reliance on Outside Statements

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You acknowledge that in making your Submission and accepting these Terms, you are not relying upon any oral statement, interview, social-media post, advertisement, direct message, email, promotional statement, or other representation or promise concerning your Submission or Company's use thereof except as expressly stated in these Terms or in a separate written agreement expressly applicable to your Submission.

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19. No Obligation to Use or Preserve

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Company has no obligation to use your Submission.

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Company may reject, remove, discontinue, or refrain from using a Submission at any time.

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Except to the extent required by applicable law or applicable privacy and data-retention obligations, Company has no obligation to preserve or return submitted materials.

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Company's decision not to use or to discontinue using a Submission does not terminate rights previously granted under these Terms.

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20. Assignment and Sublicensing

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Company may assign these Terms and may license, sublicense, delegate, or otherwise authorize the exercise of rights granted herein, in whole or in part, to its affiliates, successors, purchasers, producers, production partners, financiers, networks, studios, streaming services, distributors, publishers, broadcasters, platforms, advertisers, sponsors, exhibitors, and other commercial partners.

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These Terms and the rights granted herein shall bind you and your heirs, personal representatives, successors, and permitted assigns to the extent permitted by applicable law.

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21. Electronic Agreement and Separate Submissions

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By affirmatively selecting the checkbox indicating that you have read and agree to these Terms and then submitting your Submission, you intend to enter into a legally binding electronic agreement.

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You consent to the use of electronic records in connection with your Submission.

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Each Submission constitutes a separate acceptance of the version of these Terms presented to you in connection with that particular Submission.

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Company may maintain electronic records reflecting your Submission, acceptance of these Terms, checkbox selections, date and time of submission, version of these Terms accepted, and related transactional information for purposes including documenting the rights granted and administering the submission program, subject to applicable law and Company's privacy practices.

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22. Governing Law and Venue

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These Terms and any dispute arising out of or relating to these Terms or a Submission shall be governed by the laws of the State of California, without regard to its conflict-of-laws principles, except to the extent applicable federal law controls.

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Subject to applicable law, any legal action or proceeding arising from these Terms shall be brought in a state or federal court of competent jurisdiction located in Los Angeles County, California, and you consent to the personal jurisdiction and venue of such courts.

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23. Severability

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If any provision of these Terms is determined by a court of competent jurisdiction to be invalid, illegal, or unenforceable, that provision shall be enforced to the maximum extent permitted by applicable law or, where appropriate, severed or limited, and the remaining provisions shall remain in full force and effect.

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24. No Waiver

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Company's failure or delay in exercising any right or enforcing any provision of these Terms shall not constitute a waiver of that right or provision.

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A waiver concerning one circumstance shall not constitute a waiver concerning any other circumstance or any future enforcement of these Terms.

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25. Headings

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Section headings are provided solely for convenience and shall not affect the interpretation of these Terms.

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26. Entire Agreement

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These Terms constitute the entire agreement between you and Company concerning the rights granted through your Submission and supersede prior or contemporaneous discussions, communications, understandings, or representations concerning that Submission.

Any different or additional arrangement concerning a Submission must be set forth in a separate written agreement expressly applicable to that Submission.

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27. Changes to These Terms

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Company may revise these Terms from time to time for future Submissions.

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The version of the Terms affirmatively accepted by you when a particular Submission is made shall govern that Submission unless you and Company subsequently enter into a separate written agreement providing otherwise.

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A later modification of these Terms will not retroactively alter the contractual terms governing a previously submitted Submission merely because Company subsequently updates this webpage.

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28. Survival

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The provisions concerning the grant and irrevocability of rights, compensation, creative control, representations and warranties, moral rights, releases, indemnification, independent development, assignment and sublicensing, governing law, and any other provisions that by their nature are intended to survive shall survive submission, Company's use or non-use of a Submission, and discontinuation of the submission program.

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29. Contact

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Questions concerning these Terms may be directed to:

The Sinister
5101 Santa Monica Blvd, Ste 8
Los Angeles, CA 90029
press@creeptime.com