LLC and other legal stuff

A

AngryJimmyFilms

First off, I've been reading the boards for a while, but this is my first post.

I've just started pre-production on a indie feature that I wrote and plan on directing. My budget is around $10,000.

I'm really not sure how to proceed from a legal standpoint though. I wanted to try and do everything legit, but after melting my brain the past few days reading contracts and legalease type stuff, it seems like your whole budget can disappear in just lawyer and filing fees.

I'd like to devote my budget to paying whatever location fees I can't get for free, paying some of my cast and crew, any permits I need to get etc...

So what is the best way to make an indie feature, and not spend all my money on other legal stuff, but still be covered? What about insurance? Is that going to be another lost cause when it comes to a 10k feature?

I've done short films for about $500 where I didn't worry about all the legal stuff.

What at a minimum do I need to pay for from a business/tax standpoint if anything?
 
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Welcome. thanks for finally posting.
AngryJimmyFilms said:
So what is the best way to make an indie feature, and not spend all my money on other legal stuff, but still be covered?
Click to expand...
Covered how?

You’ve been doing research so you know the difference between an
LLC and Sole Proprietorship (or DBA). Filing a DBA is very inexpensive,
does not need a lawyer and offers limited personal protection. And
LLC is more expensive and offers more personal protection. You may
not need to do either one.
AngryJimmyFilms said:
What about insurance? Is that going to be another lost cause when it comes to a 10k feature?
Click to expand...
You can buy short term general liability insurance and you can buy
short term equipment rental insurance. Yep, both will eat into that
ten large, but insurance is essential.


AngryJimmyFilms said:
What at a minimum do I need to pay for from a business/tax standpoint if anything?
Click to expand...
You do not need to start a business or pay any business taxes at all if
you don’t want to. An individual can purchase the necessary liability
and equipment insurance.
 
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The cheapest way to file as an LLC is to incorporate in Nevada or Detroit. (You don't actually need to be a Nevada resident and get some tax benefits, afaik.)

Of course I'm not a lawyer so I couldn't tell you whether you'd actually need to register, depends on the state you're filming in I guess.
 
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directorik said:
You can buy short term general liability insurance and you can buy
short term equipment rental insurance. Yep, both will eat into that
ten large, but insurance is essential.
Click to expand...

I'm not renting any equipment, I have either purchased or built all that I need for filming. So I should just need general liability.

Do you know generally what that would cost for a 15-day shoot using a small crew?
 
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You might want to do a search on prior posts using insurance in the search. If you pay someone, you might have to pay worker's compensation and unemployment insurance. If you want distribution , you would probably need Errors and Omissions insurance.
 
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