Chris Hansen Turned Away From A24's "Primetime" Screening After Refusing to Sign NDA
Chris Hansen arrived at a private advance screening of A24's upcoming film Primetime and was turned away at the door. The reason, according to Deadline: he refused to sign a non-disclosure agreement.
The document in question was a standard NDA — a confidentiality contract that preview audiences routinely sign before watching an unreleased film, designed to prevent spoilers and protect the studio's intellectual property. Hansen declined to sign it. Without a signature, he was not permitted to screen the film.
The journalist and television host then took his account to Fox News, appearing on Jesse Watters Primetime and telling viewers he had been asked to sign "a very restrictive agreement" to attend the advanced screening. Hansen said A24's lawyers wanted him to sign away rights to his name, image and brand, along with any potential legal rights that might arise from the film. He said he could not agree to those terms.
A source told Deadline that Hansen was not asked to "sign away my rights" in order to view the film — characterising the document as the same NDA all preview audiences sign a week in advance of a screening.
Primetime is directed by Lance Oppenheim and written by Ajon Singh. It stars Robert Pattinson as Chris Hansen and dramatises the journalist's efforts to make television history with To Catch a Predator, the NBC hidden-camera series that ran from 2004 to 2007 and staged stings for adult men seeking sex from minors online. The film is set for a theatrical release on September 25.
The screening invitation had been in the works for weeks. TheWrap reported on August 17 that A24 was arranging a private screening of Primetime for Hansen ahead of the film's release. Hansen had confirmed he was "going to see" the film after receiving an invite from the production team. By August 20, Deadline reported that Hansen was publicly questioning "Hollywood's motive" regarding the project.
One day later, the fuller picture emerged: Hansen had refused the NDA, been denied entry, and gone on national television to describe the document as something far broader than a standard confidentiality form.
What makes the dispute unusual is the overlap between subject and audience. Hansen is not a critic or a member of the public booked into a test screening. He is the central figure of the film itself — the man whose career, on-screen persona and real-life legal exposure are all dramatised on screen by one of the most recognisable actors working today. A standard NDA asks a viewer not to spoil a film. For Hansen, signing any document connected to Primetime carried a different weight: the film is, in part, about him.
A24 has not publicly commented beyond the account provided to Deadline. The film arrives in theatres on September 25.
