contract law

smithgallTV

smithgallTV

Active member
I think i knwo the answer but i wanted to get your ideas. Myself and 3 others have come together to film a small project of under 10k in budget. We are not a corporation and have no legally filed group status such as patrtner, llc, corp, etc.

One member of the group would like to call ourselves something so that we can be recognized as a group rather than individuals. Im ok with that although i think its unneccesay but i will go along for the sake of argument. However this person then also thinks that the contract should reflect that name as well. meaning that the client will sign a contract with us as XYz productions. I think that since XYZ productions does not exist legally beyond our "nickname" then the contract is invalid because their is no legal entity that could actually go after the client should be we need to. What is your opinion?

This is not to mention that without doing an actual legal search the name could very well be already in use.
 
Not an expert, but I agree with you. Take a week to learn about filing for an LLC. I did so using a book and meeting with a (free) small business counselor at a local college. It's cheap and is the best route to go.
 
You can't enter into any contract as a non-entity. The document is automatically invalid and non-binding.

You must either become a partnership, LLC or corporation if the group wants to enter into a deal as a group. Otherwise, one of you would enter into a deal with the client as a sole proprietorship and then sub-contract to the others, which could get very convoluded very fast.
 
You can form a corporation or LLC, or use a fictitious name (be sure to register it) as a partnership or individual. Be careful with all of these, and a partnership is probably the most risky IMHO.
 
The "fake name" is called 'doing business as', and is legal most places, as far as I know.

That bit about not being binding because there's no such thing? Uh-uhn. Just like if I sign a false name to a contract...I'm still liable for whatever I just signed. Otherwise people could just wiggle out of things by "accidentally" misspelling their name.
 
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