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Do Your Crews Need to Sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement?

Posted by Becky Holzman Garzone on June 19, 2015

During the hustle of production paperwork can easily fall through the cracks. This includes release forms, filming location agreements for smaller one-off shots, and most importantly, non-disclosure agreements.

Not having cast or background talent sign a non-disclosure agreement can create various problems for your production down the road, and can be a considerably damaging issue if crew members do not sign them.

With the exception of dailies, a crew will be on your shoot every day of production and can be privy to more details than talent. Here are a few specific reasons why you shouldn’t forget to have crew sign NDAs.

Spoilers
Crew members are privy to details about the production more consistently than cast. When on a fiction project this can be a liability when protecting plot points of your story – especially in higher tiers of studio filmmaking and franchises. It can drastically affect independent filmmakers as well.

Keeping your story from being spoiled should be a priority of any producer, director or investor, and signing NDAs should be a priority at the top of your first shoot day.

Confidentiality
In the business world, revealing secrets of the trade is something that could damage you for years to come. If your competitors find out any confidential information it is likely that they will take advantage of it. Consider NDAs as a precautionary way of curbing your competition and protecting your future sales.

This can come down to new product lines being imitated by competition, price points being lowered in order to garner more profits away from your company, and overall a loss in revenue on your company’s behalf. While shooting your video crew members may be working closely with products, marketing assets and other variables directly associated with your company. You never know who will whip out a cell phone and take a photo. An NDA provides the security of reminding crew members not to expose any content they encounter on set and protects you legally if secrets are leaked and you need to seek compensation.

Control
NDAs are all about maintaining control: control of your brand image, trade secrets, production launches, and the ability to decide when to roll out new information to the public. While this seems much larger than a simple one page contract, having a crew member leak all of this important information can vastly effect the way your business is managed.

For more on why Non-disclosure Agreements are so critical to the production of your video and overall state of your business, view this video below:

 

From Valerie Nolan, VP of Production:

When working with Crews Control approved DPs, you can be assured that all of your information will be held as strictly confidential.  On each and every shoot we book, our crews are sent an agreement to sign which contains the following confidentiality clause:

“The parties expressly acknowledge that in the course of their performance hereunder, they may learn or have access to certain confidential, patent, copyright, business, trade secret, proprietary or other like information or products of the other party or of third parties, including but not limited to the other party’s vendors, consultants, suppliers or customers (the “Information”). Anything in this Agreement to the contrary notwithstanding, the parties expressly agree that they will keep strictly confidential any such Information that they learn.”

Find out more about the benefits of booking a Crews Control crew by calling 1.800.545.CREW or click here to get a free quote.

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