A brief summary of the specialized legal services offered by the Law Offices of John W. Cones.
1. Initial Consultation — No charge for initial consultation. Consult with prospective independent film producer clients to help determine the most appropriate form or forms of film or project finance relative to a specific film or other entertainment project, choosing from gifts (e.g., crowd funding), grants, investor financing (active vs passive investors), lender financing, studio/industry financing or international finance options.
2. Film Financing Generally — Advise client when it is appropriate to use one or the other of the three forms of informational documents to be presented to film financing sources:
a. Producer’s package (for studio/industry and lender financing);
b. Business plan (for active investor financing); or
c. Securities disclosure document (for passive investor financing).
3. Active Investors — If active investors, help with choosing and creating an appropriate active investor vehicle (investor financing agreement, joint venture agreement, initial incorporation and/or member-managed LLC), while also creating the associated business plan, if needed, and helping to avoid common law fraud.
4. Passive Investors — If passive investors, work with the client in choosing and creating the appropriate investment vehicle (manager-managed LLC, limited partnership or corporation) and consult with client regarding compliance with the federal and state securities laws. Presuming that an exempt/private offering will be conducted:
a. Discuss management options for manager-managed LLC or limited partnership;
b. Advise client regarding creating a fictitious name company if needed;
c. Advise client regarding obtaining federal employer ID number;
d. Advise client regarding opening bank account for investor funds;
e. Advise client regarding optimum time to create investment vehicle;
f. Discuss application of SEC’s anti-fraud rule to all securities offerings;
g. Provide client with list of disclosures that originate with the producer client;
h. Provide instructions to client for most efficient PPM drafting process;
i. Help client determine revenue-sharing ratio between management and investor group;
j. Help client determine minimum and maximum offering proceeds and unit size;
k. Provide direction to client regarding preparation of the PPM’s estimated use of proceeds;
l. Advise client regarding SEC policy on financial projections;
m. Help client prepare box office comparables and financial projections (per SEC guidelines):
n. Prepare the required securities disclosure document and subscription agreement;
o. Help with federal and state notice filings;
p. Advise client regarding marketing limitations for the offering based on the specific exemption being used;
q. Discuss issuer sales and limitations re use of finders;
r. Advise client regarding use of supplemental offering materials;
s. Advise client regarding creating burden of proof file for demonstrating compliance.