Legal obligations for taking money for product placement

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  • Legal obligations for taking money for product placement

    Hello,
    I am prepping a reality show. It's my first show that will actually be taking in product placement money and paying crew, myself included.
    Do I have to get a business license, LLC. Or can I simply keep financial records for my accountant and be done with the books?
    It's a tiny budget $3500-5000.

    Thanks so much!
    Melanie
    http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1944626/

  • #2
    Re: Legal obligations for taking money for product placement

    Originally posted by melanie View Post
    Hello,
    I am prepping a reality show. It's my first show that will actually be taking in product placement money and paying crew, myself included.
    Do I have to get a business license, LLC. Or can I simply keep financial records for my accountant and be done with the books?
    It's a tiny budget $3500-5000.
    if only for liability purposes, aside from tax and employer obligations that may arise, you would probably want to run all the income and expenses through a business entity. i have no idea about the licensing requirements for such an entity, however.

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    • #3
      Re: Legal obligations for taking money for product placement

      Thanks Joe!

      Comment


      • #4
        Re: Legal obligations for taking money for product placement

        Originally posted by melanie View Post
        Hello,
        I am prepping a reality show. It's my first show that will actually be taking in product placement money and paying crew, myself included.
        Do I have to get a business license, LLC. Or can I simply keep financial records for my accountant and be done with the books?
        It's a tiny budget $3500-5000.

        Thanks so much!
        Melanie
        http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1944626/
        Lawyer. Lawyer. Lawyer. Spent an hour, save a lot. Don't take legal advice on the web. Lawyer.

        Comment


        • #5
          Re: Legal obligations for taking money for product placement

          Form a business entity (probably LLC or LC or PLLC, depending on your state and situation) and run all money through the entity. Pay yourself out of the entity as an owner. The reason for this, as Joe mentioned, is that if you're just doing everything through your own account and something goes wrong, you are personally liable and whoever is suing you can go after everything you own. The entity is designed to protect against that (of course, anyone can get sued for anything so it's not a guarantee but it helps).

          Probably doesn't hurt to look into business insurance either to the extent you can afford it. I worked on a case in which a reality show was sued when one of the participants was killed during filming. Although that's (fortunately) rare, bad stuff can and does happen.

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