NDA

I’d like to tell you what I’ve been doing lately, but I can’t. It may or may not have something to do with films for five huge and fascinating architecture projects, but I couldn’t possibly confirm or deny that. The reason is that all the films are under strict NDAs, even though the projects are now in the public domain. This applies to a lot of work lately, as it’s become standard operating procedure to create NDAs for almost all projects, just in case.

This is understandable, as no one likes being sued. Producers need to protect their production companies, and their clients. However, once a project is under NDA, it tends to stay that way, forever. Removing the NDA is extra work, and by the time the project is in the public domain, everyone has already moved on to the next thing. This makes it very hard for creative directors, film directors, CGI artists, DoPs, drone pilots, and everyone else involved to make up to date showreels, share their work, and build their careers. So I’d like to humbly suggest that we should begin to ask ourselves if films really need to be under NDAs, and how long they need to stay that way. It benefits all of us to be able to see each other’s work, so we can inspire each other, form new relationships, and work together to create more beautiful films. Films which hopefully aren’t under NDA until the heat death of the universe.

In the meantime, please enjoy this short reel, where I have tastefully obscured the subject matter.