How to Prepare a Film Budget
Tips for Filmmakers on How to Make a Workable Movie Budget
Jun 19, 2009
You’ve tagged first base and you’re heading for second when suddenly you find yourself caught in a cinematic squeeze play.
Good news: “Yeah, I like how the nerdy guy gets the pretty girl in the end.”
Bad news: “Let me see your budget.”
Your budget is a key element in your movie “package.” In the early stages of development it’s just as important as a great story, director and top talent. But what is a budget supposed to look like and how do you do it?
The head of acquisitions at a major studio once said that if they really liked a project, "...the budget could be written on a paper napkin." Indeed, major movie deals have been signed on the table cloth at the Carlton Hotel in Cannes during the film festival. The popular misconception that a budget must be presented in a specific template to suit a particular studio, network or distributor is hogwash.
Unfortunately for the independent producer, it’s rare that the creative elements of a movie package are so compelling and attractive from a marketing standpoint that the production cost is of minor importance. Today's filmmakers must have a solid, reliable estimate before approaching today’s risk-averse, creatively-challenged studio execs and fidgety investors.
This is what a good budget should do:
- Prove that the movie can be made for a certain price.
- Describe the creative allocation of funds.
- Show how you’ll deliver maximum production value.
- Make an investor or distributor feel confident.
- Provide for the unexpected setbacks of production.
- Be honest, concise, easy-to-read and understand.
- Be adequate for what the story requires.
- Clearly provide for areas of production concern.
- Pass critical analysis by other production experts.
- Make you look good, (i.e., professional).
This is what a good budget should not do:
- Be a precise estimate of every single cost.
- Budget for specific production equipment and materials.
- Be unrealistic about costly story requirements.
- Make assumptions about “name” cast compensation.
- Be an accounting system, (i.e., handle AP/AR, etc).
- Ignore the cost of likely production delays.
- Be too long or contain dozens of nearly-blank pages.
- Neglect adding notes to describe budget assumptions.
- Overwhelm the reader with too much detail.
- Not address the obvious challenges to this production.
A good budget is not an accounting, it’s an estimate. A very good guess about what you think it will cost to make your next epic as you sit in front of your computer a thousand miles from the location and a year away from your start date. It’s an absolute waste of time, (and very amateurish) to estimate for every cup of coffee and donut. Even how much film or video you’re going to need! All you can do is make an educated guess and hope you’re right.
The very best educated guesses can only come from actual experience. It’s not until you’ve screwed something up that you learn how long it really takes to do something. On the flip side, these painful lessons also show you how to streamline a process, conserve financial resources and lower a budget. Your budgeting goal should always be maximizing production value.
The Top Sheet summarizes everything on one sheet of paper. A seasoned producer, A.D. or P.M. can look at the Top Sheet and quickly see how much you’ve allocated for Above and Below-the-Line costs: the balance between the costs for the stars, writer and director as compared to everything else. Is it 80/20 or 70/30 like most studio pictures, or is it more like 20/80 for an independent? The balance between ATL and BTL says everything about a project.
An important person looking at your budget might know nothing about actual production. So, your budget needs to be very clear and make sense to someone who’s never heard of a gobo arm or a digital intermediate. Your budget needs to be organized logically and contain just enough detail to show that you’ve considered every expense, yet not burden the reader with endless pages of detail.
A good budget is a financial template or general plan. Using some super-expensive budgeting program to create your budget is pointless because your budget should describe a financial structure and not look like an accounting. You’re also declaring that this is all you’ll ever spend. Why?
Because once you start shooting and you begin to rob Peter to pay Paul, your budget will be forever out-of-balance. This is an absolute guarantee that you will go over budget and your movie may be mortally wounded.
You’ve succeeded when they put the budget down and think to themselves, “This person has really covered all the bases,” or “This kid has got his act together.” Producing a film is all about perception and self-confidence. If you really think you can do it and you can convince everyone else too, you will get that movie made.
Eventually.
