Starting a Ltd. Company

M

mad_hatter

Hey Guys and Girls,

I noticed this thread (http://www.indietalk.com/showthread.php?t=28433&highlight=names) going the other day and it got me thinking about the name I’d like for a production company.

Has anybody here (particularly in the UK) had their production company, i.e. the name they decided they wanted to produce their films under, registered as a ‘real’ limited company?

I’ve been looking into this and it seems extremely cheap and easy set up; £16.99 gets your company registered and ready to start trading.

The only reason I’d want this is so that the name I’d choose (which is available according to Companies House) would be mine to use as I see fit and nobody else could question my ownership of that name. If I were to start this company, I would be director, I would hold 100% of the shares, my head office would be my home and I would have zero employees. Producing films as a limited company should place all liability on the shareholders, but since that would be me, all liability would be mine. But that would be true if I were to just go out and make a film, right? The ‘Ltd.’ suffix just seems more professional and protects the name I want for my production company.

I’m only intending on making no-budget films for a while, so my turnover would be minimal. Does this exclude me from paying taxes on this money? Would I still need to file any paperwork to HMR&C? If I were to ever get to where I want to be, and producing movies with ‘real’ budgets, the name would still be mine and I could look into the serious business side later.

Basically, right now, I just want to use the name and protect it for the future, and for £16.99, this seems well worth doing! Is there something serious that I’m not thinking about?
 
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You should really see an attorney - or a solicitor in the UK :D - about that and all legal questions

Here in the US a common practice is that the film being produced is a separate entity. For example, My Production Company creates a wholly owned subsidiary for the production of "Our Stupid Movie" called Our Stupid Movie, LLC (Limited Liability Corporation). This provides litigious insulation to the parent company; you can sue Our Stupid Movie, LLC for anything related to the production of "Our Stupid Movie" but the assets of My Production Company are not put at risk. This means that the litigant could not get any moneys that were made by My Production Company for their productions of "Our Dumb Movie", "Our Crazy Movie" and "Our Fubar Movie" (each of which was it's own LLC) or any other assets such as properties, equipment, etc.

Here in the US a formal company of any kind - LLC, Ltd, Co or Corp - needs to put out an annual statement and pay taxes. The bigger the company the more complex the requirements. It is a very gray and murky situation when you are a DBA (Doing Business As - my current status). I have a "company" name - Alcove Audio Productions - but it is only an "alias" for branding/marketing purposes. It allows me more leeway at tax time with regard to personal and business expenses as a freelancer and provides some insulation from my personal life.

It is a lot more complex than this - I depend upon my attorney and my financial guru to keep me legal - and none of what I say should be construed as legal advice or fact.
 
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Thanks Alcove,

I had already gathered a lot of that, and of course, if I were to go ahead with this, I would definitely speak to a solicitor.

As for creating a company for each movie, as I said, I’m talking about no-budget movies, no more than a couple of thousand going into a single production. Really, at this kind of level, I don’t feel that having an established company of any kind is necessary. Just a luxury, having a protected company name. If anyone wanted to sue the company, there would be very little for them to gain. And as the company would be solely mine, I’d be risking nothing more than if I were to just go out and produce a movie with no established company behind me. Does this make sense?

As far as taxes and the like, I'll definately be seeking professional advice first.


Just out of curiosity, I’ve just been onto one of the many UK company formation websites, tried the name ‘Alcove Audio Productions’. Turns out I can register that name. But then, I also tried ‘New Line Cinema’ and I can also register that name!

Unfortunately Walt Disney is taken. Pirates 4 is out soon, I could’ve made a killing! :lol:
 
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I don't know how it works in the UK, but here in the US a judgment can be made against your future income. I know of a case where a filmmaker lost a suit against him over an accident on the set and has a 10% lien on all of his earnings until he pays the plaintiff $1.2 million; he most probably will be paying this off for the rest of his life. That's why you want to insulate your personal life from your business life, and, in the case of films, each project from the business as a whole.
 
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