UK the film ilm industry

[Simon Thompson]

Hi

I appreciate the answers to these questions may in fact be quite complex, but in simple terms...

can anyone tell me if it is customary to capitalise the costs of a film (i.e the talent, crew, location and equipment hire etc), to create in effect an intangible asset (the film) at cost on the books, or is this expense written off to the P&L in accounting terms and set against any future revenue streams from theatre, dvd and download etc.

If it's capitalised, is it amortized over its useful life?

If 'rights' are sold, is this the sale of the asset, or a revenue stream?

I'd appreciate a steer. It's only for projecting some film finances in an appropriate structure; not for actual accounts or tax calcs...

Many thanks

Simno Thompson

 

[Snorbenz]

I speak as someone who does the accounts for a film production company.

A film is made by the production company I work for and sold on. The production company incurs all costs of labour, equipment hire and crew. They would then invoice whoever commissioned the film. All costs and the sale go through the profit and loss in our case.

You may find this link useful:

http://www.pwc.com/us/en/industry/entertainment-media/assets/perspectives-Costcap.pdf