NDAs: What are they, and why are they so important?

As you pursue professional voice work, you'll inevitably be asked to sign the dreaded "non-disclosure agreement", or NDA for short. And even if you aren't actually asked to sign an NDA itself, it's best to treat any official show or game that you work on as being under NDA until you have the green light to do so otherwise. But a lot of times, the language in these contracts looks like a bunch of legal terms and technicalities, so...in plain terms, what does it actually mean?

First and foremost, an NDA is about confidentiality of information related to the project you are working on. This can include, but is not limited to, the title of the project, the platform it will be released on, names/images/descriptions of characters, any information regarding the plot or story, and the actors and staff involved in the production.

Many times, some or all of this information has not yet been released to the public, but needs to be made available to the actors for the purposes of auditioning and recording. Some projects may use "working titles" or "code names" to try to prevent leaks, but there's only so much that can still be kept hidden when you're actually working on the job. You can think of this as being trusted with secret information for the express purposes of doing your job properly---and you don't want to do or say something to break that trust.

You may be asking, "Why do companies care so much whether or not a voice actor announces they're working on a project?" For one, the companies want to be fully in control of when and how information is distributed regarding their properties. They may not have announced the production is even being localized or worked on yet. If they decide to release a cast list, they want to be able to do so on their own terms and timeline in order to promote the project accordingly. And spoilers or any plot giveaways can be a risk, too (sometimes a mere character's existence in a game is considered a spoiler, especially if it's part of upcoming DLC content.) And while this is a very unfortunate circumstance, it does occasionally happen that an actor needs to be recast midway through the recording process, so allowing them to have announced a role before recording is completed can create a messy situation.

Here are two examples of voice actor leaks that caused proprietary information to be released ahead of schedule, both regarding the Fallout games:
kotaku.com/leaked-documents-reveal-that-fallout-4-is-real-set-in-1481322956
www.dailystar.co.uk/tech/gaming/499664/PS4-Xbox-One-Betheda-Fallout-4-Fallout-5-Sony-Microsoft-Sequel

While the provisions of an NDA usually state that an actor can even be sued for leaking information, the chances of this happening are extremely rare. However, violating this agreement, even as an honest mistake, can result from anything from a serious reprimand to even being blacklisted from working with a particular company or studio again. As you can see in the second example, even in the case where an actor realizes their mistake and deletes the post or comment immediately, once it's screenshotted, it's there forever.

So when CAN you talk about your involvement in something? As a general rule, wait until the project is out and released in the English-speaking market, unless a cast list is officially released earlier than that OR you receive permission from the client that it is okay to announce your involvement. Bear in mind these two caveats:
- Make sure your character is released! In video games, characters may be recorded early for the purposes of DLC or later implementation in the game. If the game is already out, but your particular character hasn't been released yet, you can be considered as breaking NDA for leaking the fact that the character is or may be coming to the roster.
- Make sure it's actually your voice. 95% of the time, it will be...but unfortunately, sometimes an actor will record an entire character, the client will later decide it's not quite what they have in mind, and they will bring in someone else later to replace all of the dialogue. Because the original actor completed the session and got paid for it, they will often have no idea they were recast. For example, I saw a game I recorded for get released and was excited to announce my character...but thankfully before I said anything, I looked up gameplay videos only to find my character was recast to a friend of mine (through no fault of my own - we had a great session, but the client decided to go in a different direction after the fact--it happens!), and I had no idea. I'm sure glad I looked it up before saying anything, because how embarrassing would it be to announce that you play a certain role only to find out that you...actually don't after all?

Keep in mind that non-disclosure extends to the auditioning and recording process, too. If something isn't public knowledge (open auditions), don't discuss what you're auditioning for, and be careful discussing anything about the behind-the-scenes process, too. This also goes to outing other actors in the cast---unless an actor themselves has confirmed they play the role or it's listed in the credits, don't take it upon yourself to confirm their involvement without permission, especially if they use an alias. They may be keeping it quiet for a reason, such as if it's a union actor doing a non-union project.

What about "hinting?"
Sometimes actors will be so impatient and/or excited to announce the role that they will drop "clever hints" on social media, under the guise that they're not technically breaking NDA (for instance, posting a picture of a yet-unanounnced character with the caption "This sure looks really cool! ") People aren't dumb, and while you may not officially get in trouble for doing something like this, clients probably wouldn't be too happy with you about it. Giving too many specific details ("I'm in a JRPG that I can't talk about yet, but it's coming out on May 25th!") can also make it possible for people to narrow it down, and therefore I suggest avoiding mentioning anything unless it is so vague that no one could possibly know or figure out what you're referring to.

What about if the trailer or demo comes out and someone recognizes my voice?
You can't control whether or not people speculate, but you can avoid confirming or denying anything by simply staying silent. Some clients are okay with voice actors announcing at this stage, but others are not, so don't assume that just because a trailer or demo is out that it's okay to say anything.

Can I announce that I am reprising a previous role in a sequel, new season, etc?
Again, wait for confirmation or release. Even if a reprisal seems obvious, you don't want to jump the gun on revealing plans for upcoming releases.

What if I have my Facebook private to only my friends and family?
This is still not an acceptable place to discuss confidential work-related material. Remember that not only can things be screenshotted, but even things being said verbally can get you in trouble. For example, you break NDA by talking about something you auditioned for on your personal Facebook, but figure you're okay because you don't have fans or clients friended. However, your cousin sees it and, meaning well, tells a friend of theirs "Hey, guess what cool thing my cousin got to audition for!" and that friend tells another person, and suddenly it finds its way onto an Internet forum. It is always better to be safe than sorry.

Unfortunately, most companies do not tell us when we can announce our roles, so the responsibility falls on us as actors to keep track of release dates and whether or not our characters have yet been implemented. If you are ever in doubt, always ask to be sure.

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