The Budget: Making it Count

When do you prepare a budget?

As soon as the script is done. Before you start to look for money. The author recommends that you should assemble three budgets; the dream budget, the less-than-dream budget, and the bad-dream budget.

Dream budget…will most lkely be out of reach unless you can attract a seriously bankable actor.
Less-than-dream budget…is the one with all the fat squeezed out but still some room to breathe.
Bad-dream budget…the author gives an analogy of climbing mount everest with a swiss army knife. Better get in shape.

When assemble your budget, keep your audience in mind. Also, the more money you have, the more room you have to play. Scheduling your film should be done before you finish your budget, and keep the exterior shooting days first. This way if the weather isn’t to your likeing, you can push it to a later date or a different location.

Keep in mind, if you are working with a director, he/she will want to put their vision first. Do what you can to avoid an adversarial relationship with the director. Assure the director that you are doing what you can to get them what they want with the resources that we have.

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Union Dues

A question you need to ask yourself, “Am I going to use union cast?” If you are, keep in mind that you will be paying for health, pension, and welfare.

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Facts-and Myths-and Figures

I’m not going to include all the details of this, but rather a bulleted layout of what to expect in a professional budget.

Story and Rights – attaining the original screenplay
Writer’s fees – money for the script
Script Copies – you need to get every actor, and all creative personnel needs a copy of the a script
Clearance Report — Where the law firms says “don’t say this here”
Development Costs – Everything that went on to develop the movie. Dinners, meeting, travel, etc.
Producer Fees – Producer need to take some cash home too. Can range from $75K-$125K on a $2 million budget
Director – Can range from $50K-$100K on the same budget

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Cast – Their fee, like the producer and director depends on the scale of the movie.
Overtime – this is budgeted 35% over the actual fees. You will need it if you’re working with real actors.
ADR Allowance – this is if you need to bring actors back to do additional dialoug, recording, looping.
Insurance Exams – this is so that if your top leads get hurt, you are covered.
Casting — Calls, assistance, all these things add up.
ATL travel and living — this is where you put money if you want actors to come to you.
Fringes — this covers the fees you pay SAG for health and welfare.

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Line Producer – this person does a lot of the below-the-line hiring.
Unit Manager — Overseen by the line producer, looks after the crews needs on a day-to-day basis.
Location Manager — finds the locations and manages them
Assistant Location Manager — they do the preliminary scouting of their own.
First Assistant Director — the heartbeat of the set.
Production Office Coordinator — Manages the office, never comes to the set.
Production Accountant– Your lifeline to the budget
Post Accountant — Someone who needs to keep track of post production expenses

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Production Assistants (PA) — Help on and off the set
Parking PA — supposedly a miserable job
HP&W — health pension & welfare
Extras — These guys dont work for free. Some of them make a living off of being an extra.
Costume Adjustment — If the extra wears his/her own cloths, you pay them
Kit Rental — used to compensate people who bring their own tools to the job
Materials/Supplies/Graphics — Everything the designers use to make their designs

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Set construction, scenic labor — people who build and paint the sets
Scenic/Construction Materials — stuff to use in contruction
Cartage — taking out the garbage
Grips — all-purpose handmen…dollys, mics, lights, etc.
Car Rig Rental — Things to attach to the cars so you can shoot while people are driving or conversing.
Craft Service Supplies — table with snacks, juice, etc.
Unit Supplies – Thinks like tables and chairs for meals and such.

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First-Aid/Nurse — people always get hurt
Watchmen — Its not fun to show up to work and find that your equipment is gone.
Set dressing staff
Props
Video Playback
Wardrobe
Maintenance, alterations, cleaning — actor’s cloths routinly get messed up, you need someone to manage this.

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Special Effects — Don’t mess with this. People who know what they are doing get maimed and killed. If you’re dealing with firearms and explosives, you need someone who’s done it before.
Hair and Makeup — part of special effects
Electrical dept. staff and expense. — Electricians deal with the lights.
Gels — Its a way to keep your storage stuff safe and not be afraid of damaging it.
Director of Photography — The light master.
Camera Operator — can sometimes be done by the DoP, other times you need a separate person.
Assistants — You need someone to handle the focus of the camera, and other people to help with the clappers.

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Steadicam — In case the director wants it.
Stills Photographer — Stills from your shoot are some of the best PR tools at your disposal
Camera dolly rental
Sound — if the audience can’t understand what the actors are saying, they’ll get frustrated and lose interest quickly.
Boom Operator — its consists of holding the microphone in an uncomfortable position
Walkie-talkies — When you don’t need a walkie-talkie on set, then you are the producer.

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Transportation Labor
Vehicle Rental
Location Expenses
Site Rentals
Holding Areas — Areas for dressing rooms, wardrobe, hair, makeup, and catering.
Storage

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Copy Maching — this is so you can copy all your call sheets as necessary
Cell phones — people use them a lot and are killing film budgets
Office — when you start up a production office, you got phones, fax lines, computers, modems, etc.
Location Photos– The photos you take on scout trips to show directors.
Gratuties — part of your scouting expenses
Rain Machine — if you want rain in your film
Film Stock — if you are shooting on film

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Lab – place to print your film
Still Film Process — for your photographer
Polaroids — they’re used by wardrobe, hair, makeup, and the script supervisor for continuity
Camera Test — best way to avoid unplesent sprises in dailies with regards to your equipment.
Editorial– editor starts the picture cut as we’re shooting
Editing Equipment, AVID rental, AVID room rental
N.B.– how far will you budget to? Hoping that distribution will pay for post-production costs is naive. It’s not a bad idea to budget through delivery.

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Post Production Sound — Getting your sound up to par, with doly bicense, dolby sterio, and other requirements will cost money
Titles and opticals — Title sequences can setup your film beautifully. Try to thikn of inventive ways to shoot your titles during principal photography.
Music — You will have to pray license and use fees.
More deliverables — it includes film-to-tape transfers, internegative, D2, textless IP (for forign market)
Miscellaneous — everything from niceties to essentials.
E&O — errors and omissions insurance. In case someone sues you for libel or defamation of character.