Financing / Crowdfunding : Budget by Aikaterini Athina Bougoulia

Hi Aikaterini Athina Bougoulia ,

-First download a budget template from StudioBinder (or just use an Excel spreadsheet) to keep track of the various positions that you need to hire and what you plan to pay.

-You’ll need to estimate the costs of Wardrobe, Props, Location. etc.

-Then you’ll need to know how many Days and/or Weeks it will take to shoot and edit.

Start small and then see what the total is

Hope that helps you get started and good luck!

hello my name is Kimberly. what is the easiest way to estimate the cost of everything you need. I'm still in the process of learning phase of putting everything together and pricing.

Hi Kimberly Gadson unfortunately, there’s no “easiest way”- budgeting means thinking ahead and planning carefully. You can determine your budget in advance depending on how much money or resources (like free resources) you can access.

1. If your production is local, you can start with actors’ pay- you’re in the Atlanta area so actors might want more money. But you may be able to negotiate with them.

2. How many Locations/Actors/Crew does the script need? How many Days/Weeks will it take to finish the entire production process??

3. Add up your total on a Spreadsheet THEN add in another 15% because most productions go overbudget.

4. Also ask local producers in your area who have done productions similar to yours- they will know how to save money!

Hope this helps- let me know! And Good Luck!

As a matter of interest, when I taught my Production Management class, I made sure my students understood that they had to create a schedule first before they could determine their budgets. If you don't know how many days you'll need crew, then you don't know how much it would be to hire them. If you don't know how long you'll need a location, then you don't know the full price of securing it (there is almost always a location fee per day). So, what Colette said, but start with your schedule.

Kimberly Gadson I second what Colette says - there is no easy way. There is a methodical way, and that can feel easier, but none of it's easy:

1) Break down the script - noting every little thing that will cost you money. There is now software that will do this for you (including StudioBinder, although I prefer Jungle Software as a cheap alternative to EP), but you should know how to do it by hand to double-check its work.

2) Create a feasible schedule - one best-case scenario (with all the money you hope to have) and one worst-case scenario (with the least amount of money you can use). The "feasible" one will likely be something in between these two. 4 pages per day is standard, but you can do more if it's two people talking in the same set up, or less if there are complicated shots or setups. A second unit camera crew can also be accounted for. *You'll have to make some important decisions at this point - where are you filming, are you working people 5 day weeks or 6, are you using union or non-union crew, will you be filming on-site or in a studio, etc. Be sure to check with your director to see if there are any important scenes that they feel will need more time - this will help to prevent any unnecessary tension on set.

3) Call around and confirm pricing - day rates for crew members, equipment rentals, location fees, permits, insurance, etc. Getting active quotes is the only way to complete the equation (time x rate = cost). ***This is especially true for ART DEPARTMENT (or any other specialty departments, like vehicles, stunts, SFX, or VFX), which can vary so wildly that if you DON'T price check it with at least three different viable vendors, then no one will take your numbers seriously (i.e. you pulled them out of your ass and we know you pulled it out of your ass).

4) ADD a 10% CONTINGENCY at the end of your budget. Because something will go wrong and you will need the extra funds, so build it into your budget.

5) Finally, add up all the lines. And now you have a working budget. ***If you're figuring out where to film, you may have to do this a few times with different locations to be able to compare.

Karen "Kay" Ross I looooove this and am saving it in my Notes! It feels really good to see a budget discussed as real work- calculations, spreadsheets, calling for estimates. You did such a wonderful job of demystifying the budget process in an organized methodical way. Quick story- a few weeks a filmmaker told me how much they needed for their next project. I asked them, “If I gave you a check for the full amount today, when could you start filming?” They had NO IDEA because they had not even created a tentative schedule! (screams). Filmmaking is a process. The more methodical you are in the beginning the easier it will be as your projects become more complicated. GREAT POST KAREN!!!

Good advice. Start with a breakdown, create a schedule, cost out your requirements. Appropriate crew rates for the scale of the production is a fundamental first step. Best advice, hire a professional producer, line producer, production manager for a serious film budget and schedule for investors. (bias alert: I am all of the above.)

Thanks so much, Colette Bee! It's my wheelhouse (scheduling and budgeting, i.e. "production management"), but it is not my future (that's all writing/producing/acting/directing). But I'm so glad it was so valuable! There are lots of little details that you get better about with experience (like figuring out crew rates, as Jack Binder mentions). One such concept is "allowances", where you allow for a certain amount of money based on departments, but not on quotes. Some part of that is based on the 20-60-20 split (pre/Prod/post) - if you do a breakdown for your script (from above), and figure out the schedule/budget for production, you've actually only accounted for 60% of the TOTAL budget. Now it's time to "allow" for 20% of the total to be reserved for pre-production and another 20% (minimum) to be reserved for post-production. You can also see why attaching top-billed talent sooner than later is important, too - you'll want to know how much they'll cost!