Someone has to
run the line.
Job tracking, commission invoicing, and the accounts that keep a sports or entertainment business solvent. Built for agents, managers, PR consultancies, production companies and small organisations who don't have an in-house team to do it. Handled by someone who already speaks the language of the industry, so you don't have to translate it.
Built around one industry, not every industry.
Agents & talent managers
Where commission splits, deal structures, and booking or appearance fees all move differently depending on the client, and a generalist needs it explained every time.
PR & communications consultancies
Retainers, press-office fees, and client billing that doesn't run on a normal sales cycle, sport or entertainment.
Production companies
Independent film, TV, commercial and content production businesses without an in house finance team, where every project brings a new set of invoices, contractors and deadlines.
Producers, directors & freelance crew
Working through your own limited company or as a sole trader, and doing the finance director's job between jobs.
Small sports and entertainment organisations
Clubs, small labels and independent outfits big enough to have real financial operations, not big enough to have a finance department running them.
Independent operators & sole traders
Still doing your own invoicing after hours, still chasing payment on deals you closed months ago, because the job that earns the money keeps beating the job that collects it.
Three ways to work with us.
Take one function, or hand over the lot.
Admin Manager
The day-to-day operations that keep a business running.
- Job & project tracking
- Diary and scheduling
- Contract logging & renewals
- CRM & client records
- Correspondence support
Finance Manager
The invoicing and accounts that keep the business paid.
- Sales & commission invoicing
- Payment chasing / credit control
- Bank reconciliation
- Monthly management accounts
- Cashflow reporting
Full Service
One point of contact, covering admin and finance together.
- Everything in Admin Manager
- Everything in Finance Manager
- Single dedicated contact
- Priority turnaround
- Monthly review call
The production is yours. The paperwork is ours.
Independent production runs on tight margins and tighter timelines. Every project brings a new set of invoices, contractors, expenses and deadlines, and the finance rarely gets the attention the edit does. Sideline runs the business side so you can run the production.
Project budgets and cost tracking
Spend tracked against budget per production, so you know where every job stands before the wrap, not after.
Invoicing and getting paid
Invoices to broadcasters, brands, agencies and platforms, raised correctly and chased properly.
Crew and contractor payments
Freelancers paid on time, self billing where it applies, and the records HMRC expects for every one of them.
Expenses and receipts
Location costs, kit hire, travel and per diems captured, coded to the right project and reclaimed where they can be.
Bookkeeping, VAT and year end
Books kept current, VAT returns filed, accounts prepared, and every number ready for your accountant or ours.
Company admin and compliance
Companies House, contracts and paperwork, insurance renewals, the inbox. The running of the company, taken care of.
Production logistics
Crew travel, accommodation and transport for a shoot, booked and coordinated as part of the production admin. Private arrangements for a named individual are handled by our sister company Xylo.
Your own company, without the second job.
Most producers and directors work through their own limited company, which means you are also a finance director, an office manager and a debt chaser in between projects. Sideline takes that on. Invoicing, expenses, bookkeeping, VAT, self assessment and the company admin, kept in order while you are on set.
And when a job takes you away for months at a time, our sister company Xylo looks after the personal side, from the home you leave behind to the family joining you on location.
Three steps to get started.
A working session, not a sales pitch
We look at how invoicing, commissions, and job tracking currently run, and where the gaps actually are.
Systems set up around your existing tools
We slot into what you already use rather than making you migrate everything to fit us.
Ongoing, quiet, and on schedule
Invoices go out, payments get chased, books stay current, without you thinking about it day to day.
Someone who already knows what a commission split is.
Generalist finance providers are built to handle any industry, which means explaining, every time, how sports and entertainment businesses actually make money: commission splits, transfer and negotiation fees, appearance and endorsement invoicing, development and attachment fees, production budgets, and brand partnership income, none of which follows a normal sales cycle. And most only cover finance. The admin side, job tracking, contracts, correspondence, and diary management, tends to get left to the client, a separate assistant, or nobody at all.
Sideline is built the other way round. One industry, understood properly, with a specialist Finance Manager and a specialist Admin Manager working from the same knowledge of how sports and entertainment businesses actually run.
Part of The One Three Group
Admin and accounts,
taken care of.
A 20-minute call to see whether Sideline is the right fit. No pitch deck, just a look at what's currently taking up your evenings.