<prompt> Human: Greetings wise money advisors of Reddit. I just sold a screenplay for an independent film that is being shot next month. I am not in the WGA writers guild. It is my first sale. I hope to have more in the future but who knows. I have a chance at net profit participation when the movie sells to distributers 2.5 of the producers share but that often goes away in the film biz with creative accounting you hear stories about how Fox claim the first Star Wars has still not turned a profit.Other successful screenwriter friends I know have LLCs that their sales go through, but those are for much larger amounts of money on studio films. From what I understand, starting an LLC can cost thousands, and I have a sense its not worth it for a 20k sale. I can have residency in New York or California.Anyways, wondering if theres a way to mitigate the bite taxes take out of my sale. I quit my job to move across the country and work on this movie and need all I can keep of it to support myself until the next big break and to plan my wedding.Any advice and hard truths would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for reading.EDIT: All the advice is very helpful and Im super grateful to all who weighed in. My main takeaway is to talk to a vetted accountant, which I will indeed do, and they can help me hone in on what I can deduct as business expenses. Ive been told that even having a drink with a director buddy where we talk shop could be a business expense when youre in the entertainment industry. Ill plan on walking away with 30 less and go from there.Sounds like Im not making enough for an LLC to be helpful at this stage of my career, but that Sole Proprietorship might be. As far as not reporting it... Im sure the LLC that was set up to finance the movie through WILL report it on their end, so...And yes, the exciting part about all of this is that after 15 features and 10 years working my butt off in LA, seeing unoriginal movie after unoriginal movie get made, my career as a writer is officially on track. I started with 0 connections and have never been an asshole, so Ive been battling against the odds. Youd be shocked at how little actual reading goes on by people with power in an industry that is ideally built on a foundation of good stories. Hopefully this is just the beginning. And I appreciate the congrats.I really think youll like the movie, too. You definitely havent seen it before. Tonally its very Coen Brothers -- and thats not me tooting my own horn, thats what I keep hearing from people who read it. Once its in the can I will share more details.  <response>: An entertainment industry specialized tax accountant would be the most helpful! Sure, most tax people in LA have some experience but specialized is better--I can refer you to one if you PM me hes in BurbankToluca. Keep every damn receipt, you can write off a LOT of things against that money: Every cent you spend that year on your cable, internet, movies, and books. Any travel or classes even vaguely related. Research? Every meal you have with anybody else in the industry! Everybody else in LA, in other words! Hopefully you havent already trashed everything from up till now! A good accountant will make sure youre getting all the easy money and steer you away from things that are audit bait home office without 110 backup, for example. Congrats on the sale BTW, Im sometimes a bit jaded about how everybody in every Starbucks in LA is a budding screenwriter... on the cusp of a 6-figure sale! 