U.K. Performers’ Union Equity hits back at NDA overbreadth

UK Equity, the performers' union, is fighting the growing use of non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) in the entertainment industry.

NDAs are intended to prevent a participant or potential participant in a project from disclosing details, but there is growing industry concern over the extent to which they are used. Actors such as Gal Gadot, Zendaya and Sophia Di Martino said they had no idea what project they were auditioning for even when they showed up for their roles in 'Wonder Woman', 'Spider-Man: Homecoming " and "Loki" respectively due to the secrecy around them.

NDAs have also been used in more sinister circumstances to prevent victims of harassment and abuse from speaking out about their experiences. The most famous, Harvey Weinstein, frequently used NDAs to cover up his behavior.

Equity has now launched guidance to combat what they call "the growing use of unnecessary, intimidating and excessive non-disclosure agreements in the audiovisual industry".

The guidelines define what would be considered reasonable use of an NDA for its members - and what would not. Among Equity's demands is an end to the practice of requiring performers to sign NDAs as part of the audition process, ensuring that NDAs do not prevent signers from reporting the bullying, harassment and inappropriate behavior, and confirming that NDAs are not related to the assignment of intellectual property rights. .

The union's guidelines also state that NDAs do not prevent signatories from consulting professional advisers – including their agents, lawyers, tax advisers, medical professionals and unions – and that they cannot be used to prevent a crime from being reported.

Equity also encourages its members to use the advice to fend off "unreasonable" contracts and to report them to the organization's Deputy General Secretary for Registered Media, John Barclay. "At a time when the industry must work to stamp out bullying, harassment and inappropriate behavior, performers are being gagged by the growing use of NDAs containing provisions that go way too far," Barclay said. . “So Equity is for the first time issuing guidance to performers to ensure they have the knowledge and support to reject NDAs that are downright bad. One of the biggest fears performers have is that if they sign an NDA, they can't discuss it or discuss what's going on at work."

"But Equity's position is clear: an NDA should never prevent a performer from disclosing information about the agreement to their professional advisers, such as their union, agent, legal or tax advisers, its medical professionals and even law enforcement. Equity's advice has been well received by other industry stakeholders and we hope that performers will feel empowered to challenge inappropriate NDAs, which that will enable all of us to make our audiovisual industry the best and safest in the world.

See the full guidance, titled 'Use and Misuse of Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs) in the UK Film, Television and Games Industries'.

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