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ssfoxhound

I'm hoping to film my first feature in the near future. I just want to make sure I have everything ready before I start. I have read through the forums and am still confused on a few things. Fisrt let me give you some details then I'll see if you can answer some of my questions :yes:

My rough budget is about $10,000 (as this would be my first feature about $6500 is for equipment). The locations, Actors and Crew (if I can swing it, legally of course) I should be able to get to work for free.

Now with that said I would like to cover my ass as much as possible without inflatting my budget.

1. Do I incorporate? If so can I still have the cast and crew sign contracts that would have them work for film credit?

2. Liability insurance? This would require me to form a company to get.

3. If I Incorporate am I still able to seek donations for funding?

If anyone has any information on this that would be great. I will be filming this in Canada so the laws may be a bit different then in the U.S., I just can't seem to find any solid information anywhere.

If I can get away with a website and a small company then all is good. In the end I just want to make movies, if it turns into full time work then bonus.
 
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Welcome to indietalk!

ssfoxhound said:
My rough budget is about $10,000 (as this would be my first feature about $6500 is for equipment). The locations, Actors and Crew (if I can swing it, legally of course) I should be able to get to work for free.
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So your production budget is $3,500. My first suggestion is
to not spend 65% of your budget on equipment. Find people
to collaborate with who already own the equipment. With
some work I bet you can spend under $5,000 buy hiring
people with equipment leaving more for your production budget.


1. Do I incorporate? If so can I still have the cast and crew sign contracts that would have them work for film credit?
Click to expand...
It can't hurt to form a corporation. But there are many different
types of business identities to check into.

2. Liability insurance? This would require me to form a company to get.
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Here in the States an individual can buy liability insurance on a
project by project basis. I suspect you can also do that in Canada.

3. If I Incorporate am I still able to seek donations for funding?
Click to expand...
You can seek donations as an individual or as a corporation.

If anyone has any information on this that would be great. I will be filming this in Canada so the laws may be a bit different then in the U.S., I just can't seem to find any solid information anywhere.
Click to expand...
http://sbinfocanada.about.com/od/incorporation/a/incorporate1.htm
http://www.bdc-canada.com/
http://www.corporationcentre.ca/docen/home.asp


If I can get away with a website and a small company then all is good.
Click to expand...
Then all is good. You can do both!
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ssfoxhound
My rough budget is about $10,000 (as this would be my first feature about $6500 is for equipment). The locations, Actors and Crew (if I can swing it, legally of course) I should be able to get to work for free.

So your production budget is $3,500. My first suggestion is
to not spend 65% of your budget on equipment. Find people
to collaborate with who already own the equipment. With
some work I bet you can spend under $5,000 buy hiring
people with equipment leaving more for your production budget.
Click to expand...

This being the first (of many hopefully) I was going to purchase the equipment. I may still collaborate. This is just a rough budget :)

My biggest thing is the cost for cast and crew under a "business model", what if anything is required as far as pay, If I have a contract with them in place where they agree to work for film credit instead of salary.

I have a template for the different contracts and releases I just don't know if they can be used. In the end if it works out I hope to setup my own part-time, ultra-low-budget film company, I'm sure that's a dream of many. I'll continue to search and I'll stop by the local registry office to see what information they can provide.

Thanks for the information directorik
 
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My advice:

Buy the gear, do a short. Features are HUGE. With a well planned short you could even make back the budget on broadcast if you play your cards right. Do shorts to network and build up a cast and crew, then bring 'em back for the feature!
 
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I'd suggest renting the equipment, unless you get to a stage where you're actually needing them often enough to justify a purchase.

$500 will rent a lot of lights for the week.
 
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1. Do I incorporate? If so can I still have the cast and crew sign contracts that would have them work for film credit?
Click to expand...
How much does it cost to incorporate in Canada? If you were in California I would say "Don't incorporate" because it costs about $1,200 a year in taxes and other fees and expenses. Do you have money to sue for? Unlike others who tell you that you HAVE to incorporate I think it's overkill for a micro-budget movie.

2. Liability insurance? This would require me to form a company to get.
Click to expand...
Yes. If someone falls off a ladder and dies you want to be covered.

3. If I Incorporate am I still able to seek donations for funding?
Click to expand...
Why not?
 
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Quote:
1. Do I incorporate? If so can I still have the cast and crew sign contracts that would have them work for film credit?

How much does it cost to incorporate in Canada? If you were in California I would say "Don't incorporate" because it costs about $1,200 a year in taxes and other fees and expenses. Do you have money to sue for? Unlike others who tell you that you HAVE to incorporate I think it's overkill for a micro-budget movie
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.

It's about $600 when all is said and done to incorporate here. It's about $100 to setup a Trade Name (sole proprietorship).

Do you have money to sue for?
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Not enough to matter.

Quote:
2. Liability insurance? This would require me to form a company to get.

Yes. If someone falls off a ladder and dies you want to be covered.
Click to expand...

Yeah this is one of those insurances that I thought was a must have.

Quote:
3. If I Incorporate am I still able to seek donations for funding?

Why not?
Click to expand...

With the regulations on corporations I wasn't sure if this was allowed.

Buy the gear, do a short. Features are HUGE. With a well planned short you could even make back the budget on broadcast if you play your cards right. Do shorts to network and build up a cast and crew, then bring 'em back for the feature!
Click to expand...

I'm not really interested in shorts to be honest, I have nothing against them it's just not something I want to do. I am working on building up a network of cast and crew through local independent film groups and filmmakers. By buying the gear now I'm hoping to save on future projects.
 
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Blade_Jones said:
Do you have money to sue for?
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ssfoxhound said:
Not enough to matter.
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It ALWAYS matters. There have been many instances where a persons income was attached for years to collect a judgement. 10/20 years from now when you want to - whatever, buy a house? - you may not be able to because your wages have been attached.

Production insurance protects you from all kinds of unexpected happenstance. Besides the legal ramifications it also tells the people whom you want to work with you that you actually care about their well-being. It keeps the "authorities" off of your back, because in many places it's the law.

I'll second renting what you need. If your crew members own the gear you should rent it from them. You'll pay a lot less than what you would at a rental house, the crew member will know their gear inside/out, they will (hopefully) have their own insurance so won't have to worry about it, and you'll probably end up with better gear than if you bought everything.

If you are buying the gear have you budgeted for everything? Cables, cases, media, expendables, sand bags, etc.? Equipment insurance?

I know you want your talent to work for free, but aside from their expenses you should at least pay them a token wage as a gesture of respect. You should also make sure that they are very well fed and that they are made comfortable.

Keep in mind that it is about more than making your film, it's about people management.
 
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I know you want your talent to work for free, but aside from their expenses you should at least pay them a token wage as a gesture of respect. You should also make sure that they are very well fed and that they are made comfortable.

Keep in mind that it is about more than making your film, it's about people management.
Click to expand...

I was also thinking about the token wage, although it wouldn't be much, something is better then nothing. I also had the food and drink in the budget.

Right now the $10,000 is a rough budget, I'm trying to figure out the cost based on worst case scenario and with future projects in mind. Once I figure everything out as far as getting started then I will revise the budget.
 
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It ALWAYS matters. There have been many instances where a persons income was attached for years to collect a judgment. 10/20 years from now when you want to - whatever, buy a house? - you may not be able to because your wages have been attached.
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How many people have been buried due to a lawsuit after making a micro-budget movie? What is someone going to sue for? The big worry is copyright infringement or trademark infringement, but errors and omissions insurance will protect you from that worry. What's left? Someone didn't get paid for a week or something? I'd only worry about the catastrophic million dollar lawsuit - not the $5,000 lawsuit.
It costs like $10,000 just to do a deposition. It costs $100,000 to go to trial in a lawsuit. Plaintiffs don't spend THAT kind of money fighting broke people who they will have to chase down for 20 years. It costs like $500 just to do a one time nationwide search for a bank account.
I'd just read books like The Pocket Lawyer for Filmmakers and know the laws. So $600 + $700, plus you'll need to buy Turbo Tax for your state and federal taxes, you'll need a separate phone number and separate mailing address and separate bank account. You have to follow corporate formalities. It's so complex that you'll need to buy a book of forms and instructions from a book store. Then you have to keep renewing and paying taxes every year. No joke: In California it's about $1,200 a year and it's a PAIN IN THE ASS to figure out how to do everything just right. No cutting corners either - if you don't follow formalities then a Plaintiff will pierce your corporate veil and sue you personally. This is something that even some lawyers don't tell you. You have to be proactive in figuring out how to maintain a legal corporation.
 
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