#Sample low budget documentary 1 person how to
#Sample low budget documentary 1 person movie

That way, you're able to figure out just how much your cast makes, including SAG hires. By the time you sit down and actually budget your whole movie, you should have your actors cast. Paying your actors is a big must, and, if you have an experienced actor, you need to make sure you pay them accordingly. Make Your Actors a Priorityīefore you budget for anything else, make sure you budget for your actors. Once your film budget is structured appropriately, even if it's a low-budget film, you'll be able to spend more energy and time on the things that matter, like directing or producing. However, understanding your budget by creating a detailed breakdown structure, is one of, if not the, most important steps to indie filmmaking. You'll want to focus your budget on your talent, equipment, post production and be able to explain to investors and anyone else with a stake in your project your low, breakeven and high scenarios when it comes to ROI, which is dependent on your budget.īudgeting can be an unpleasant task, especially for 'creative type' directors or screenwriters who don't want to sit down and and figure out how much money it is going to cost.

#Sample low budget documentary 1 person how to

We know many of you are great at the creative side of filmmaking, but might have questions on how to best finance movies efficiently.

How to structure your feature or short film budget is a must-learn for any aspiring or experienced filmmaker. formulas, hiding rows and columns, copy and “paste special” including formulas and/or values, and knowing how to trace or follow linked formulas.įilm Production Budget Template Best Practicesįilm Budget Breakdown and Best Practice Tips Some basic skills we recommended to successfully use the template include: understanding numbers vs. This budget template is not for an Excel novice, nor does it require any advanced Excel knowledge. A Business Plan, used for the purpose of raising funds from film investors, will encompass the costs of producing AND distributing/marketing/selling your film. The film budget template takes you only to this level of funds, and so it is up to the filmmaker to use another form, such as the Film Financial Projections Template, to determine marketing, publicity, film festival and other post production costs. Keep in mind, Film Negative Costs, a term invented before the era of digital film making, are defined as the costs to, quite literally, create a shipment-ready negative of your film. The number to use comes from Line #66 of the Budget Top Sheet, “Total Above/Below (Film Negative Costs).”

#Sample low budget documentary 1 person movie

Using the Film Financial and Business Plan Templatesįor filmmakers who have purchased our Film Financial Projections Template, this sample movie budget template will show you what number to use as your “Film Negative Cost, “ entered into Line #42, usually as the Medium Scenario. Outside of the film industry, people often use burn rates to show the company's cost when an executive is late for a meeting and 10 other executives are sitting around waiting (Executive combined salaries divided by an estimated 2080 paid hours in a work year). Keeping your burn rate on the front of everyone's minds helps everyone maintain accountability for the production budget. Maybe a scene requires one more take more than predicted.but now you've lost daylight.and the whole team has to recreate the scene tomorrow. Obviously, one 5 minute delay should not make or break your production, but keep adding these up and you can easily see how the cost of being stuck in traffic, people showing up late or other filming delays can derail an entire production shoot. That means, if someone or something takes just 5 minutes longer to do than originally estimated, you've just wasted $35. That comes to $3,333 per day, $416 per hour (assuming 8 hour days) or $7 per minute. Your budget shows $100K in total Production Costs over a 30 day Shooting Schedule. Once you budget, add up your total production costs divided by the time unit to get your burn rate. The burn rate is the amount your film costs per hour (or other time unit) while filming. Most film budgets break their line items down to prep, shoot and wrap to cover pre to post production resources. Did you also account for rehearsal time space? Transportation and meals for rehearsals? The cost of rehearsal, without location fees, cameras, lighting and sound is FAR less than production time, so allocate accordingly and work out your kinks prior to production. Let's say you know a supporting actor is required for five shooting days at the rate of $100 per day. One of the most under-budgeted areas for first-time film producers is rehearsal and prep costs.

Film Production Budget Sample Template 1.