Thank you for this video. It was very informative and to the point. I've been debating forming an LLC versus a partnership and this answered that question. LLC it is.
We do not use cameras like the one you are using in your graphic. :-) If you want to educate start by having PRIDE and KNOWLEDGE of the gear we use including our own words to describe what we do. 🙂 Film, filming, and filmmaking are the most misused and MIMICKED words in the industry. Digital Video and film require different skill sets. Having DIFFERENT historical and TECHNOLOGICAL timelines spanning 150 years. Have PRIDE and KNOWLEDGE of the gear we use including the words that describe what we do. Our tools are Digital Video, Non-linear, and CGI. We are moviemakers, not filmmakers and we do what film wishes it could. We are Videographers directors and/or cinematographers. We video or are videoing, we do not film. That's the other RARE professionals who know how to use film (such as KODAK COLOR NEGATIVE 35MM 500T) and film cameras, like an ARRIFLEX 435 Panavision R-200 and Steenbeck flatbed film editors. Know the difference and have a better understanding of the craft. You will also stand out in an industry polluted with point-and-shoot "pros". Respect to you.
Thank you for that excellent overview on how to legally create a production company. When you talked about the separation aspect and having the money in the LLC account to cover the day to day expenses of the LLC, how does one get the operating money into the account to begin with if as the producer one needs to remain separate from the LLC? Like if I'm investing my own money to produce the movie and also form both the production company LLC and the movie's LLC? Does the day to day operating expenses of the LLC for the movie include the production costs of the movie, or are they not connected with the budget of the movie, but exist as distinctly different accounting from the production of the movie? How does an independent producer approach this process during the formation of both? Thank you for your insights.
To fund the LLC, the owners of the LLC, which may, for instance, include the producer and the investors, need to make capital contributions to the LLC. Depending on the terms of the LLC's operating agreement, the capital contributions will likely determine each owner's share of the profits from the LLC. Regarding your question about accounting for the day-to-day expenses of running the film LLC versus the production cost of the film, because the LLC is devoted entirely to making the film in this example, the day-to-day expenses will typically be considered part of the movie's budget (in the "legal" category).
If you are doing feature films, at least, I think that is the best way to protect your assets. If you are just doing your first short film, and doing it at, say, a SAG micro-budget level ($20k or under), it probably isn't necessary to form an LLC.
@@filmtracts Oh, okay thank you. It doesn't apply to me because I am hiring SAG actors for my first movie and tv show. My budget will be over $20k because I am applying for a film grant and I am starting two small businesses to save up for the profit I will make from the small businesses I have and the two jobs I am working now before I even send SAG AFTRA my screenplay.
It good to know so when they hack my phone and tell my storys I know who to go after to and start my own businesses and go after my losses and to pay my taxes and not hide anything.
