What to Consider When Choosing Production Accounting Software
Posted on: Feb 20, 2025
Photo Credit: Zamrznuti Tonovi // ShutterstockCameron Woodward is one of the co-founders of Wrapbook, an industry payroll and production management software. His career as a commercial producer taught him the importance of three tools to help filmmakers reduce their liabilities on-set: contracts, insurance and incorporation.
Many independent filmmakers struggle to understand liabilities they may be up against, such as serious financial penalties. Cameron sat down with us to discuss how Wrapbook can help.
It starts by undersating these three aspects of production accounting:
Contracts: Clear agreements with vendors and crew members outline roles and responsibilities for smooth operations and contingency plans when things go wrong.
Insurance: Coverage for errors and omissions, damage, theft, illness or production interruptions ensures recovery and continuity.
Incorporation: An LLC or corporation will protect personal assets and mitigate risks associated with filming and employment.
There are additional elements to consider related to legal compliance and operations like payroll, union compliance and financial management. Let’s break it down.
Payroll
Paying your employees, cast and crew members accurately is of utmost importance. Due to employment laws and union affiliations, payroll can become complicated quickly. Producers must consider each employee and their worker-specific factors like restrictions on age, requirements from union collective bargaining agreements, specifics related to tax incentives and federal employment laws. While an incorporation can help protect personal assets in bankruptcy, business owners remain personally liable for unpaid or improperly paid workers.
Smooth payroll systems ensure you’re reporting finances correctly and complying with all requirements. Wrapbook embeds compliance-focused steps into the software to guide users through onboarding their employees and navigating payroll to avoid issues. Wrapbook has a “Startwork” tool for uploading and signing essential documents, such as W-4, W-9 and I-9 forms, that you will need when first bringing your cast or crew on. Digital time cards allow workers to log hours, breaks, roles and rates seamlessly.
Classifying workers as employees or contractors will help avoid legal penalties and make sure you comply with rights and benefits depending on the jurisdiction you are in. Some jurisdictions have penalties for late payments. Wrapbook makes sure workers are paid on schedule.
Union Compliance
Working on a union film means handling the complexities of contracts with multiple unions, such as SAG-AFTRA, IATSE, Teamsters, DGA and WGA. Wrapbook accounts for location-specific pay rates and rules based on production type. It includes a SAG Agreement Finder Tool that identifies the appropriate union agreement for your production and provides clarity specific to the selected agreement.
Wrapbook guides producers by suggesting scale rates and mandated minimums to make sure collective bargaining agreements are met. It also has a dedicated labor relations organization that helps filmmakers understand the ins and outs of contracts they’re agreeing to with the labor unions.
Insurance and Benefits
Wrapbook has in-house insurance offerings. This helps producers navigate and acquire Annual DICE coverage, which is for producers working on more than three projects a year. They can also offer Motion Picture & Television Coverage, Errors & Omissions Coverage, and Drone/Aerial coverage. A big consideration for producers working on long-term projects where employees become eligible for medical benefits is ACA Medical Benefits insurance. The Wrapbook in-house experts can help producers navigate all of these areas.
Financial Management
From finding funding through financial management on-set to accurate reporting, producers should treat financial management with the utmost importance. Protecting and properly using investments or raised funds requires organization and diligence. One way to make the most of your funds is with state tax incentives. Wrapbook has tools to research incentives and understand how they can be collateralized to secure financing. They can also connect filmmakers with potential financiers.
Once in production, producers need to know where they are in their budget. Wrapbook allows cast and crew expenses, petty cash and purchase orders to be logged in real time. Having up-to-date expense reporting allows for faster decision making on-set.
With this list of responsibilities that fall on producers, it’s easy to see how busy daily activities could interfere with time to research, record and report. Many in the industry have been on film sets with issues regarding on-time payments, safety considerations and getting staff onboarded quickly when hired last minute. Having the right production accounting software and a team of experts behind it can make or break your production.
Jessica Mathis (AKA Divinity Rose) is an award winning screenwriter/performer/producer from Louisville, Kentucky. She is the CEO of She Dreams Content Development and Production, which focuses on female forward projects in comedy, docustyle and genre entertainment.
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