Overview
A Film Trust holds the copyright, chain of title, and production assets of a single motion picture. Independent films are normally produced through a single-purpose LLC, because distributors, financiers, and errors-and-omissions underwriters all need one identified owner of the copyright. A Film Trust puts that ownership in a trust instead of leaving it inside the operating company — so the picture, its screenplay, and its sequel and remake rights survive the production company being dissolved, sued, or wound up after delivery. The trust is identified by the screenplay title, the settled release title, and title-independent markers like the Writers Guild registration number, the Copyright Office registration number, and the EIDR identifier, so a change of title never breaks the chain of title.
Best For
- Independent producers financing a single picture
- Screenwriters who want to hold their own material
- Filmmakers whose production LLC will be dissolved after delivery
- Families holding a completed film as a long-term asset
- Producers preparing a chain of title for a distributor or E&O carrier
Key Features
- ✓ Production Identification Schedule — screenplay title, settled title, and a.k.a. titles
- ✓ Title-independent markers: WGA registration, copyright registration, EIDR, ISAN
- ✓ Title-change clause — a new release title never requires amending the trust
- ✓ Short-Form Copyright Assignment ready to record with the Copyright Office
- ✓ Chain of title file requirements and work-for-hire provisions
- ✓ Sits above your production LLC instead of replacing it
- ✓ Sequel, remake, merchandising, and music rights expressly captured
- ✓ Archival duty for negatives, digital intermediates, and sound elements
- ✓ Spousal consent clause in community property states
- ✓ No fractional division of copyright on distribution
📊 Tax Benefits
- ✓ Keeps the copyright out of probate, so exploitation is never suspended
- ✓ Preserves eligibility for film incentives by leaving the operating entity in place
- ✓ Step-up in basis on the film library at death
- ✓ Residual and participation reserves handled inside the trust
Considerations
- A trust is not a filed entity and does not by itself provide limited liability — keep an LLC for production
- Many film incentive programs and guild agreements require a corporation or LLC as the applicant or signatory
- Investor interests are securities governed by your LLC documents, not by this trust
- Statutory termination rights under the Copyright Act cannot be assigned away
- Canada: available only as a holding trust above a production corporation; Quebec and Mexico are not supported
Does every state need different wording?
No — you do not need fifty different trusts. One instrument covers every state, because the trust names its own governing law and the duration clause is written to track whatever that state's law currently allows. What we do change is a small number of clauses that genuinely differ:
- Execution formalities. Most states need only notarization. Florida requires the testamentary provisions to be signed before two attesting witnesses; New York accepts either a notarial acknowledgment or two witnesses. Your document is built to satisfy your state's rule.
- Community property. In Arizona, California, Idaho, Louisiana, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, Washington, and Wisconsin, a screenplay written during a marriage is presumptively half your spouse's — whoever is credited as author. We add a spousal consent page, because an assignment signed by one spouse alone is a chain-of-title defect a distributor's counsel will find.
- Trust duration. States differ on how long a trust may last, and many have changed their rules recently. Rather than hardcode a number of years that goes stale, the trust claims the maximum its governing law allows and reforms itself automatically if that changes.
- Asset protection strength. Some states recognize self-settled spendthrift protection; the spendthrift clause is worded to claim the maximum your state permits.
- Entity option. States with a statutory trust act let you convert this into a filed entity with true limited liability. Where that's available, the document says so.
Louisiana is the one state where we tell you plainly to see local counsel before signing — it is a civil law jurisdiction with forced heirship rules that have no equivalent anywhere else.
Filming in Canada or Mexico?
This is where an honest answer matters more than a sale. Here is what applies:
Canada (common law provinces)
Available as a holding trust above a Canadian production corporation — not as the production entity itself.
- The Canadian Film or Video Production Tax Credit (CPTC) requires the applicant to be a taxable Canadian corporation that is primarily in the business of Canadian film or video production. A trust cannot be the qualified applicant, so holding the production directly in a trust forfeits the credit.
- Provincial credits (for example the Ontario Film and Television Tax Credit) apply the same corporation-based eligibility test.
- Canadian trusts are subject to the 21-year deemed disposition rule, under which trust property is treated as sold at fair market value every 21 years. For an appreciating film library this creates a recurring tax event that a corporation does not face.
What to do instead: Incorporate the production company in Canada and claim the credits at the corporate level, then hold the shares of that corporation in the Film Trust. The trust protects the equity and the succession; the corporation preserves the incentives.
Quebec
Not supported. Quebec is a civil law jurisdiction and a common law trust deed is not a valid instrument there.
- Under the Civil Code of Quebec a fiducie is a "patrimony by appropriation" — property that belongs to no one, administered by a trustee. There is no split between legal and beneficial ownership.
- Because no beneficiary holds equitable title, the ownership language that makes a common law trust work has no meaning in Quebec law. Drafting must start from the Civil Code, not from a translated US instrument.
What to do instead: Engage a Quebec notary or avocat to constitute a fiducie under the Civil Code of Quebec. The Film Trust instrument is not a suitable starting point.
Mexico
Not supported. A Mexican trust cannot be self-declared — only a licensed financial institution may serve as trustee.
- The Mexican analogue to a trust is the fideicomiso, a statutory contract under the Ley General de Titulos y Operaciones de Credito rather than a creature of equity.
- The fiduciario (trustee) must be a licensed Mexican financial institution. Neither an individual nor an ordinary company may act as trustee, so a self-declared trust instrument is void on its face.
- A fideicomiso is constituted before a Mexican notary public and administered under Mexican banking supervision. There is no document-only path to a valid Mexican trust.
What to do instead: Retain a Mexican bank as fiduciario and constitute the fideicomiso before a Mexican notary. If the production is a US–Mexico co-production, the usual structure is a US Film Trust holding the US rights and a Mexican production company holding the Mexican rights, joined by a co-production agreement.
A US Film Trust can still hold the US and worldwide rights in a picture shot abroad. The limits above are about which entity may claim a foreign tax credit or serve as trustee under foreign law — not about where you point the camera.