Confidentiality Agreement

Joe Riggs · June 11th, 2008, 01:54 PM

Hi,

I am casting and crewing for a project and was wondering if anyone has a link to or could upload some sort of Confidentiality Agreement. I would like to freely audition cast and crew without worrying about someone stealing the idea.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Matt Newcomb · June 19th, 2008, 03:43 PM

You know they can't steal your idea even if they do sign that form right? If you tape the auditions it should be pretty good evidence if anything were ever to happen. Your form won't really be able to help you much more.

Shaun Roemich · June 20th, 2008, 09:28 AM

Realizing that the legality of "borrowing" your idea would be decided AFTER the fact in court by lawyers. Whoever can afford to pay their lawyer the longest has a better chance of "winning".

Steve House · June 20th, 2008, 11:54 AM

"Ideas" are pretty hard to claim uniquness on anyway. I had a great story idea about a sea adventure but I hear someone already did a story about a poor boy meets a rich girl on a big boat a while back. The specific WAY an idea is expressed is another matter. If you wanted to audition using specifc scenes from the script, a confidentially agreement might help protect against stealing it verbatim (though copyright also protects you on that already) but there's nothing that would protect you from someone coming up with something similar to your story.

Paul Tauger · June 21st, 2008, 02:40 PM

An NDA creates a contractual obligation to keep specific disclosures confidential. It is, generally, the only way to create a legally-enforceable obligation to not use ideas. Videotaping the audition does not create this obligation. California is unique in that it has some fairly good idea disclosure law -- basically, it provides that, if an idea is disclosed in a context in which a reasonable person would understand that, if the idea is used commercially, compensation would be expected, the discloser can receive the fair market value of the idea if used. The technical explanation is that an implied-in-fact contract is created. I do not see how this doctrine would be applicable to an audition and, moreover, the doctrine is limited to California.

You might try Nolo Press -- they seem to have a lot of form legal documents. Of course, I can't vouch for the quality of their documents.

Matt Newcomb · June 27th, 2008, 01:15 PM

It's just another document you have to use as evidence if you ever have to take somebody to court. It is still not legal to take somebody else's idea and use it as your own under any circumstances. It comes down to how much precaution you want to take and the the steps you're prepared to follow if somebody ever decides to actually take your idea. That is why you are supposed to record and catalog every disclosure about your story you have with people, so that there is documented evidence that they had previous knowledge of your story.

June 11th, 2008, 01:54 PM	#1
Joe Riggs Regular Crew Join Date: Dec 2005 Posts: 57	Confidentiality Agreement Hi, I am casting and crewing for a project and was wondering if anyone has a link to or could upload some sort of Confidentiality Agreement. I would like to freely audition cast and crew without worrying about someone stealing the idea. Any help is greatly appreciated.

June 19th, 2008, 03:43 PM	#2
Matt Newcomb Regular Crew Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Los Angeles, CA Posts: 140	You know they can't steal your idea even if they do sign that form right? If you tape the auditions it should be pretty good evidence if anything were ever to happen. Your form won't really be able to help you much more. __________________ Talenos Productions at http://www.talenos.com or http://www.myspace.com/talenosprod

June 20th, 2008, 09:28 AM	#3
Shaun Roemich Major Player Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada Posts: 633	Realizing that the legality of "borrowing" your idea would be decided AFTER the fact in court by lawyers. Whoever can afford to pay their lawyer the longest has a better chance of "winning". __________________ Shaun C. Roemich - Gearhead Visual Productions - Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada "Telling your stories since 1999" www.gearheadvisual.com

June 20th, 2008, 11:54 AM	#4
Steve House Inner Circle Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Hamilton, Ontario, Canada Posts: 3,712	"Ideas" are pretty hard to claim uniquness on anyway. I had a great story idea about a sea adventure but I hear someone already did a story about a poor boy meets a rich girl on a big boat a while back. The specific WAY an idea is expressed is another matter. If you wanted to audition using specifc scenes from the script, a confidentially agreement might help protect against stealing it verbatim (though copyright also protects you on that already) but there's nothing that would protect you from someone coming up with something similar to your story. __________________ "To be or not to be, that is the quizornenplatz" - Monkey #19,483

June 27th, 2008, 01:15 PM	#6
Matt Newcomb Regular Crew Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Los Angeles, CA Posts: 140	It's just another document you have to use as evidence if you ever have to take somebody to court. It is still not legal to take somebody else's idea and use it as your own under any circumstances. It comes down to how much precaution you want to take and the the steps you're prepared to follow if somebody ever decides to actually take your idea. That is why you are supposed to record and catalog every disclosure about your story you have with people, so that there is documented evidence that they had previous knowledge of your story. __________________ Talenos Productions at http://www.talenos.com or http://www.myspace.com/talenosprod

June 21st, 2008, 02:40 PM	#5
Paul Tauger Wrangler Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Los Angeles (recently from San Francisco) Posts: 800	An NDA creates a contractual obligation to keep specific disclosures confidential. It is, generally, the only way to create a legally-enforceable obligation to not use ideas. Videotaping the audition does not create this obligation. California is unique in that it has some fairly good idea disclosure law -- basically, it provides that, if an idea is disclosed in a context in which a reasonable person would understand that, if the idea is used commercially, compensation would be expected, the discloser can receive the fair market value of the idea if used. The technical explanation is that an implied-in-fact contract is created. I do not see how this doctrine would be applicable to an audition and, moreover, the doctrine is limited to California. You might try Nolo Press -- they seem to have a lot of form legal documents. Of course, I can't vouch for the quality of their documents.

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