Freelancing & Business

Your First LLC: a Field-Ready Checklist for Filmmakers and Freelancers

You don’t need an LLC to make good work. But you do need one when risk, clients, and cash flow say so. This is the practical, step-by-step version—what to file, what to buy, what to click, and how to stay out of the penalty box.

Photo by Samsung Memory US / Unsplash

Not legal or tax advice. Talk to a CPA/attorney for your specifics. I’ll flag the places where a short consult pays for itself.

0) Pre-flight: do you actually need an LLC?

Forming an LLC makes the most sense if any of these are true.

You sign client contracts, pull permits, hire crew, or rent gear in your name.
Brands keep asking for a W-9 with an EIN, certificates of insurance, and vendor onboarding.
You run real kit (camera/sound/G&E) and want a clean way to invoice labor + kit.
Revenue is steady enough that a little admin won’t sink you.

If you’re mostly W-2 crew on other people’s shows with a tiny personal kit, you can wait. If you’re dabbling a few times a year, you can definitely wait.

1) Choose a state and a name

State. If you live and work in one state, form it there. “Out-of-state to save fees” sounds clever until you’re paying two states and a registered agent with no real benefit. If you truly operate in multiple states, pick your home base and foreign-register elsewhere when the work demands it.

Name. Search your state registry for collisions. Check domain availability. Avoid names that a) get lost in search, b) collide with a bigger brand, or c) you won’t want to say on the phone.

Quick sanity: If the perfect domain is taken, don’t stall the company—use a clean variant and set up a Google Alert on the exact match for later.

2) Pick a registered agent

Every LLC needs someone to receive official mail and service of process. You can be your own in some states (and we recommend you do it yourself), but a professional agent is can be worth the privacy (and the 2 a.m. doorbell you won’t get). Budget ~ $50–$150/year. Use a real address for public records; don’t post your apartment if you can help it.

3) File the Articles of Organization

This is the birth certificate: company name, principal address, registered agent, management type (member-managed is fine for solo founders), and purpose (keep it broad: “film and media production” covers plenty). Pay the fee. If a job is pending, pay the expedited fee.

Some states also require an initial report or publication step. The state site will say so. Do it once; never think about it again.

4) Get an EIN (free, five minutes)

Go to the IRS site and apply for an Employer Identification Number. You’ll get it instantly. Use the EIN on W-9s and vendor portals instead of your SSN. If you did nothing else, this alone is worth the afternoon.

5) Draft a one-page Operating Agreement (yes, even solo)

Banks and some clients will ask to see it. Keep it simple: who owns what, who can sign, where money lives, how distributions happen, what happens if you add a partner, how you’ll dissolve if it comes to that. Add two practical clauses filmmakers forget:

IP ownership: Work made under the LLC belongs to the LLC.
Member gear: If your personal gear is used by the company, spell out whether the LLC pays a kit fee or rents it (useful for clean books and insurance claims).

A lawyer can polish later. Having something beats arguing with a bank clerk about nothing.

6) Open a business bank account (and a credit card)

Bring the Articles, EIN letter, and Operating Agreement. Deposit something non-trivial (even a few hundred dollars) so you stop using your personal card out of habit. Ask for:

Checking + savings: Checking for operations, savings for tax skim.
Business credit card: Cash-back on big gear/flight spends, separated from your personal life.
Merchant setup: If you’ll accept ACH/CC, decide on a processor now and bake the fees into your quotes.

Rule you’ll keep: Every client deposit lands in checking, you immediately move 25–35% to the tax savings account, and you never touch it. (Adjust the percent with your CPA later.)

7) Bookkeeping from day one

Pick a system you’ll actually use. That can be software or a bookkeeper for a few hours a month. The job is simple:

Categorize every transaction.
Reconcile accounts monthly.
Track job P&Ls (what each project truly made after rentals, crew, and overtime).
Store every receipt digitally (phone scans are fine).
Close the books monthly and run a simple P&L and balance sheet.

Good books are how you know your day rate works in the real world. They’re also how you avoid panic at tax time.

8) Licenses, permits, and the new federal BOI report

Local business license. Many cities require a basic license for anyone doing business. It’s dull. Get it done.

Sales/use tax. If you sell taxable goods, resell or rent gear, or bill certain post services, your state may care. Most times, a quick google will answer this question for you.

FinCEN BOI report. The Corporate Transparency Act created a federal requirement: most small LLCs must file a Beneficial Ownership Information report with FinCEN. As of 2025, companies formed on or after March 26, 2025 generally have 30 days from effective registration to file; companies formed before March 26, 2025 had a one-time deadline of April 25, 2025 (some 2024 companies had 90 days). Check the official site for the current clock and exemptions, then file online—it’s fast, kind of dumb, but easy to do.

Miss this and penalties stack quickly. Put it on your calendar the day you file the LLC.

9) Insurance: buy the boring umbrella

An LLC is a wall; insurance is the roof.

General Liability (GL): Slips, trips, damaged floors. Every location or client asking for a COI is really asking for this.
Inland Marine / gear: Covers owned/leased equipment on the move. Know your deductibles.
Hired/Non-Owned Auto: If you ever rent vehicles or send PAs in their own cars.
Workers’ Comp: Required if you have employees; some states require for certain contractors, too.
E&O (errors & omissions): If you’re producing for brands and distribution, ask your attorney whether you need it for the deliverables contract.

Typically, you'll use a insurance broker who will be able to bundle this into an annual quote for you. Some great ones we use are Abacus and Hartford, but check online and check locally. You'll be surprised what's available.

10) Taxes. What about them?

Write-offs. You could already deduct ordinary and necessary business expenses as a sole prop; the LLC doesn’t change that. Camera bodies, lenses, audio kits, carts, software, mileage, home office, per-diem gaps—deductible if they’re for business and you can substantiate.

Big gear buys. Section 179 (and bonus depreciation, as applicable) often lets you expense equipment the year you place it in service, subject to limits that adjust annually (e.g., higher §179 dollar limits for 2025 per IRS updates). This is entity-agnostic: sole prop or LLC—both get it if you qualify .

QBI. Many pass-throughs may qualify for the Qualified Business Income deduction (up to 20% of qualified income), subject to thresholds/limits. Ask your CPA to model it for your situation (it can be meaningful; it can also phase out).

S-Corp option (not day one). When profits are steady and healthy, you can elect to have your LLC taxed as an S-Corp. You’ll pay yourself a reasonable salary (payroll taxes on that) and may take additional profits as distributions (generally not subject to self-employment tax). Reasonable salary is facts-and-circumstances; the IRS publishes guidance and reminders on how to think about it—talk to your CPA before you pull this lever .

Quarterlies. Pay estimated taxes each quarter. Build the habit: skim to tax savings the day the payment hits; send quarterlies on schedule. Calm beats penalties.

Contractors and W-2s. If you hire crew as 1099, collect W-9s and issue 1099-NEC in January. If you put folks on payroll, register for state unemployment, withhold correctly, and carry Workers’ Comp where required. A payroll service is cheaper than a penalty.

11) Contracts you’ll reuse

Templates make you faster and safer. Keep these ready with blanks:

Master Services Agreement (MSA): The “rules of the road” for how you and a client work.
Statement of Work (SOW): The specific job—scope, deliverables, versions, schedule, approvals, kill fee, change orders, payment terms.
Independent Contractor Agreement: If you hire crew as 1099.
Location Release: You’ll use it more than you think.
Talent Release: Even for “internal” brand pieces, get it in writing.
Equipment Rental Agreement: For your own kit or when you sub-rent to a client.
NDA with a portfolio carve-out (show work after launch unless client opts out in writing).

Plain language wins. Contracts written like puzzles create emails you don’t have time to answer.

Check out our templates in our free stuff section of the website.

12) Vendor and rental house setup

Open accounts where you’ll actually rent and buy. You’ll want:

A completed credit application (trade references help).
COIs with correct loss payee/additional insured language.
A resale certificate if you’ll resell expendables.
Clear terms (net-15 beats net-45). If they won’t budge, price the float—you’re not a bank.

Build reciprocal habits: return gear clean and early, replace anything suspect, and pay on time. Rental houses remember the clients who make their day easier. Typically, they'll give great rates for repeat (and reputable) customers.

13) Your domain and email: own your name, not just your handle

A clean domain and reliable email are the cheapest professionalism you’ll ever buy.

Pick the domain. Keep it short, spellable, and close to the company name. If the .com is taken, we do like to try a variant rather than .net or .film. .io is becoming popular and searchable, but .com is still king for now.

Set up business email. Use a real provider (Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, Fastmail, etc.). Create hello@, invoices@, and yourname@. Then set SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records in DNS so your messages actually land in inboxes (your provider will give copy-paste values). Add a simple, legible signature with your phone, site, and city.

Website essentials (don’t overbuild):

A clean landing page that spells out what you do, where you are, and what you offer.
Pages: Home (reel + one-sentence positioning), Work (3–6 examples with role, problem, result, and 2–3 stills), Services (what you do, plainly), About (one real paragraph + photo), Contact (form + email + city + phone).
Admin: Connect your domain, set redirects (non-www to www), create a custom 404, and test your form submissions (they break more often than you think).

The goal is to make yourself reachable and findable.

14) Day-one paperwork pack

Put these in a shared drive and keep them current:

Articles of Organization (PDF)
EIN confirmation letter (PDF)
Operating Agreement (PDF)
W-9 (pre-filled with your LLC + EIN)
COI (and the broker’s email)
Voided business check (for ACH setup)
MSA/SOW templates
Vendor list (account numbers, logins, rep contacts)

These you'll use more often than not, and the ones you don't need for a while, you want to be able to find easily when the time comes.

15) Bonus tip: What your year looks like

Monthly: Reconcile books; pay sales/use tax if you owe; review AR/AP; set aside tax skim.
Quarterly: Send estimated taxes; review pipeline and cash; revisit rates.
Annually: File the state annual report; renew your registered agent; insurance renewal (shop it); 1099s to contractors; W-2s if applicable.
One-off: File/update the FinCEN BOI report on formation and within 30 days of any ownership/address/ID changes (confirm your specific deadline on FinCEN’s site) .

Block these on your calendar, and keep to them. Admin is the one thing we don't always love to do, but it needs doing.

16) Optional: when to consider S-Corp status

Not day one. When your net profit (after expenses but before owner pay) is clearly more than a market-rate salary for your role, a CPA may recommend electing S-Corp taxation for the LLC. You’ll:

Run payroll to yourself for a “reasonable salary” (facts-and-circumstances; the IRS has guidance and looks at how your business earns money).
Take owner distributions on the extra profit (often not subject to self-employment tax).
Add filings, deadlines, and fees—worth it only if the savings beat the overhead .

Have your CPA model the year before you switch.

17) Two fast tracks (because roles differ)

Owner-operator (direct to client):

File LLC → EIN → bank/credit → insurance (GL + gear) → contracts (MSA/SOW) → domain/email/site → bookkeeping → BOI → local license → vendor accounts → quarterlies. Add payroll/EIN state accounts only if you’ll W-2 people.

Crew with a real kit (gaffer/sound/AC):

You can run a season as a sole prop cleanly (EIN + separate account + gear insurance). When your kit fee becomes meaningful and coordinators start asking for COIs and EINs, form the LLC, keep kit vs. labor separate on invoices, and open vendor accounts in the company name. However, if you're ran as payroll (W2) for a job more often than not, you may want to hold off on the LLC for a while as the benefits aren't as heavy.

18) What it costs (ballpark)

Formation + initial fees: $50–$500 depending on state (expedite extra).
Registered agent: $50–$150/year unless you do it yourself.
Insurance (GL + gear): wildly variable; many small shops land in the low thousands annually.
Bookkeeper/CPA: a few hundred per month for bookkeeping if you choose not to do it yourself; a bit more for annual returns and advice. However, it's a great skill to learn.
Domain + email: $10–$30/year for the domain; $6–$25/user/month for email.
Website: DIY CMS fee or designer; up to you. We recommend Squarespace or Webflow.

Ultimately, an LLC is a decision that you should spend some time considering; but the decision to create an LLC is a good one for those building a production company or renting out equipment to others, if for nothing more than the legal protection.

However, if you are still on your own and on the fence about creating an LLC, at the very list build yourself a website, social media presence, and a proper email. Check out this article here as to why.

What advice would you give to anyone starting an LLC for the first time? When did you find was the best time to make an LLC? Comment down below.