ABSTRACT
This chapter presents the basic business structures of and the relation-ships between the companies used by producers to operate their motion picture development and production operations.
The purpose of each company’s structure is to:
Provide the business entity with a legal identity recognized by governmental bodies (city, county, state, and federal governments), tax authorities, and other businesses and individuals
Establish an independent, tangible, tradable business presence with the capacity to increase in value
Deliver company owners increased business/trading capacities, legal protection, and expanded taxation options
An actor, owning three screenplays and functioning as an individual from a fully operational home office, is treated substantially different from this same actor, with the same assets, who forms an independent production company around these assets. However, that individual’s capacity to communicate does not automatically increase, nor, unfortunately, do the screenplays become better; but the individual’s deal-making power and the responsiveness from other businesses may be more immediate and serious than to the actor as an individual.
