Money, contracts?

"basic" is something to be cautious with. When it comes to investors there are a million laws and regulations that many people overlook. It really makes sense to at least talk to a lawyer or parallegel, just to cover yourself.

In theory if it's somebody like a family friend you can write up your own document about how much of a percentage they get for said amount of money and have a notary stamp it, but keep in mind that it's not the most legally binding type of contract and could bite you on the ass in the end.

It's a very complicated mess to navigate and could take weeks of research to figure out all of your state laws and Blue Sky laws governing investments and investors...there are a lot of laws out there to protect investors. Now, again most people just wing it, but keep in mind that if your film does get distribution and you haven't dotted your t's and crossed your eyes (bad joke), you could find yourself in trouble.

i don't mean to preach, but most filmmakers are businesspeople and don't really think about stuff like Deliverables and such in case a distributor ends up wanting your film.

Best thing to do, if you haven't already is do a bit of research about setting up something like a limited partnership and then have your company as an LLC acting as the Managing Member so that you can have a bit of protection in case you get sued by somebody. There are also dozens of variations on this theme.

Anyway, just a heads up. It's the right thing to do, but so is having production insurance, but how many filmmakers do you know buy it. :)

Later,

jason
 
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