Should You Sign an NDA for an Audition? NDAs for Actors Explained

The audition email arrives with the sides, and attached before them is a PDF called something like Confidentiality Agreement. You have to sign it before you can open the scene. The project has a code name, the characters have placeholder names, and the deadline is Thursday.

Many actors sign without reading, because the alternative feels like losing the audition. Some read every clause, get nervous, and wonder whether they’re signing away something important. Both reactions make sense. Neither is the best one.

Here is the short version. An audition NDA is usually about the project, not about you: the plot, the script, the casting, and who is attached. Read it anyway, because the wording varies. Check five things (what counts as confidential, how long it lasts, who you may tell, what happens to the materials, and whether there’s a penalty), ask your agent or union when something looks wide, and keep a copy. This is a practical guide, not legal advice. For a contract you’re unsure about, a lawyer or your union is the right call.

Why productions ask actors to sign NDAs

Secrecy is part of how big projects are cast now. A leaked character name or plot twist can spread fast online, and audition sides travel through a lot of hands: casting offices, agents, managers, readers, and the actors themselves. An NDA is the production’s way of making everyone in that chain promise to keep quiet.

Often the secrecy goes further than the paperwork. When the UK union Equity published its NDA guidance in 2022, Variety’s report noted that Gal Gadot, Zendaya, and Sophia Di Martino had said they didn’t know what project they were auditioning for. Di Martino, who went on to play Sylvie in Loki, described being told nothing. Her audition scene was a short exchange on a train between two people she remembers as Bob and Sarah, which turned out to be a real scene between Loki and Sylvie.

So when you sign an NDA for an audition, you are often agreeing to keep secret something you barely know. If a small indie short or a community theater show hands you a long, aggressive NDA, that’s worth a closer look.

What an audition NDA usually covers

Most audition and set NDAs protect the same few things. Expect to see some version of each:

• The script and sides themselves, including any pages you receive later.
• The story: plot points, characters, endings, and anything you learn in the room.
• Casting information, such as who else is attached or auditioning.
• The project’s existence, its working title, or its code name.
• On set, photos, video, and posts from the location or the rehearsal room.

That list is reasonable for most actors. You weren’t going to post the sides anyway. The practical effect is mostly about habits: no screenshots in the group chat, no “guess what I auditioned for” posts, and no photos of the call sheet.

It does affect how you prepare, though. If the agreement says the materials can’t be shared, that may include sending them to a reader, a coach, or an online tool. A related guide on using an AI voice as a self-tape reader makes the same point: if the sides came with confidentiality terms, check what you agreed to before you paste them anywhere.

What an NDA can’t do, according to the unions and the law

Easy to miss: an NDA is a contract, and contracts have limits.

In the UK, Equity’s guidance, Use and Misuse of Non-Disclosure Agreements in the UK Film, Television and Games Industries, sets out what it considers reasonable. As Variety reported, the guidance says NDAs don’t prevent signatories from consulting professional advisors, such as agents, lawyers, tax advisors, medical professionals, and unions. It says an NDA can’t be used to stop a crime being reported, and it aims to make sure NDAs don’t stop performers reporting bullying, harassment, and inappropriate behavior. Equity also asked for an end to NDAs as part of the audition process.

In the US, Actors’ Equity has acted on the stage side. In May 2022, the union and The Broadway League reached an agreement releasing members from NDAs on four Broadway productions that had stopped them from speaking about workplace abuse by producer Scott Rudin. Under the agreement, the League’s producing members may no longer use NDAs to silence actors and stage managers who want to speak out against workplace harassment, bullying, or discrimination, and NDA language is used only in limited, approved circumstances, such as protecting intellectual property or financial information.

There’s federal law too. The Speak Out Act, signed on December 7, 2022, stops courts from enforcing a nondisclosure or non-disparagement clause agreed to before a dispute arises when the dispute is about sexual assault or sexual harassment alleged to violate federal, tribal, or state law, for claims arising after that date. A client memo from Sullivan & Cromwell explains that it still lets employers protect trade secrets and proprietary information, it doesn’t cover settlement agreements made after a dispute, and some states have broader rules of their own.

Put together, the picture is clear enough to act on. An NDA can ask you to keep the project secret. It shouldn’t stop you from talking to your agent or your union, and Equity’s guidance, the Broadway agreement, and the Speak Out Act each limit NDAs used to silence reports of harassment.

Five things to check before you sign

You don’t need a law degree to read an audition NDA. You need ten minutes and a pen. Look for these:

1. What counts as confidential. “The script and plot” is narrow and normal. “Any information of any kind relating to the producer” is wide. The wider it is, the more worth asking about.
2. How long it lasts. Some end when the project is announced or released. An NDA with no end date, or one that lasts forever, is worth a question.
3. Who you may tell. Equity’s guidance says NDAs shouldn’t stop you consulting agents, lawyers, and unions. Check that your agreement says the same.
4. What happens to the materials. Some agreements ask you to delete the sides after the audition, or not to share them with anyone, including a reader. Know that before you plan your prep.
5. The penalty. A clause that names a large sum you’d owe for any breach is a reason to get advice before you sign.

Then keep a copy. Save the signed PDF with the project’s name and the date. If you book the job, the set NDA may be a separate document, and you’ll want both.

Asking questions without losing the audition

Asking about an NDA is not being difficult. The same agreement often goes to every actor on the project, and a short, polite question about it is ordinary business. If you have an agent or manager, send it to them first. They see these agreements all the time and know which clauses are standard.

Keep the question small and specific: “Can you confirm my agent and union can see this?” or “Does this end once the project is announced?” A small, specific question is ordinary business. Refusing to sign usually does mean you won’t see the sides, so decide what matters to you before you push.

If you’re a union member and something looks wrong, call the union. That’s what the dues are for. Actors outside a union can still ask an entertainment lawyer to look it over.

Keeping the secret in practice

NDA slips tend to be small: telling a friend the plot at a party, posting a selfie with the script visible, or thanking a co-star by character name before the announcement. Swearing secrecy is an old dramatic device for a reason. Shakespeare built a whole beat around it:

HAMLET: Never make known what you have seen to-night.

HORATIO and MARCELLUS: My lord, we will not.

HAMLET: Nay, but swear’t.

William Shakespeare, Hamlet, Act I, Scene 5

You don’t need a sword. You need a few habits:

• Keep the sides in one folder, named by the code name, not the real title if you know it.
• Check every photo you post from home for pages on the desk or the screen behind you.
• When people ask what you auditioned for, say “a TV thing, I can’t say yet.” Nobody minds.
• Wait for the production’s own announcement before you post about booking.

Preparing confidential sides

An NDA changes where your sides can go, not how well you learn them. If the agreement bars sharing the materials, work alone or with someone the agreement allows, and don’t paste the pages into tools or send them around without checking. Read our guide to breaking down audition sides for a method that works from a short scene with little context, which is often all a secret project gives you.

Once you know what your agreement allows, Offbook makes the drilling fast. You upload the scene, pick your role, and realistic voices read every other character and wait for your line, so you can run it out loud again and again until the words are solid. To keep rehearsing between auditions, our free run lines tool rehearses classic scenes in Offbook’s voices and waits for your line, with no account needed.

One more habit helps with secret projects: prepare for change. Sides written to protect a secret may not match the final script, so learn the scene’s shape and intentions as well as the words.

Questions actors ask

Why do auditions ask actors to sign an NDA?

To keep the project secret. The sides and anything you learn at the audition can reveal plot, characters, and casting, and they pass through many people. The NDA asks each of them to keep quiet until the production announces it.

Can I refuse to sign an NDA for an audition?

You can, but you usually won’t get the sides or the audition without it. A better first step is to ask your agent, manager, or union about any clause that worries you. In the UK, Equity has said it wants NDAs taken out of the audition process.

Can an NDA stop me from reporting harassment?

Union guidance and US law both push back on that. Equity UK’s guidance aims to make sure NDAs don’t stop performers reporting bullying, harassment, or inappropriate behavior, and says they can’t be used to stop a crime being reported. In the US, from late 2022 on, the Speak Out Act stops courts enforcing pre-dispute NDA clauses in sexual harassment and assault disputes. For your own situation, talk to your union or a lawyer.

Can I tell my agent what I auditioned for?

In the UK, the performers’ union Equity says in its guidance that NDAs don’t prevent signatories from consulting professional advisors, and it names agents among them. That is union guidance, not law, so check your own agreement’s wording, and if it seems to forbid telling your agent, ask about it before you sign.

When is an NDA a red flag?

When it reaches far beyond the project: no end date, a ban on talking to your agent or union, a large fixed penalty, or wording that seems aimed at your conduct rather than the script. A small production with a long, aggressive NDA is also worth a second look.