This guide is here to show you the important elements that you need to consider when estimating your films budget. A budget outline for a feature film london pictures limited. Even if you are making a low budget feature or short film you need to know just. This guide is here to show you the important elements that you need to consider when estimating your film s budget. I and my friends twyla and cinditruman used the best product to lose weight and to be fit in summer. We built the following chart of accounts c of a as a template for this purpose. You can take a film budget template and you can make it your own. This budget includes the deferred salaries of all the crew, including a line producer. Filmmaking contracts should always be customised to suit each production and the legislation of your country area. Short films garner oscars, launch careers, and dazzle audiences with bitesized stories. Since film budget software like movie magic budgeting, showbiz budgeting, and ep budgeting can run on the pricey side, weve created a free film budget template.
These film budget templates will streamline your film, save you time and keep it on track. London pictures ltd a budget outline for a feature film. So much information is packed into what i got that i. The budget will should dictate how you proceed with most every decision while making the project. Any good filmmaker knows what it takes to get her film made, and knows how to put together a simple budget for their project, but most new filmmakers arent intimately familiar with the vast amount of categories and line items found in a typical professional lineitem film budget. Filmmaking contracts should always be customised to suit each production. Telefilm will support the production of a second feature film by an emerging director whose first narrative or documentary feature was selected after january 1, 2019, at one of the eligible major film festivals appendix a of the guidelines.
Simple film budget breakdown free template amy clarke films. The film budget template makes it easy for you to track what you are able to spend so that you dont spend more money than you have available to you. Film budgeting refers to the process by which a line producer, unit production manager, or production accountant prepares a budget for a film production. Template for feature film business plan header upper left. You may want to create an animation that requires 18 months of animation rendering time on the worlds most advanced supercomputer, but the budget limits the concept to something a little more modest that will fit on your twoyearold laptop. Its rare for filmmakers to get a candid look at the books of someone elses film but, thanks to the generosity of marcus markou, thats exactly what youll get to read below. Aug 05, 2009 a short instructional video which demonstrates the featrures of the specialized budgeting software for feature length films. Animation budget template this template provides the line items that you should include when building an animation budget. Heres what you can expect from these three sample budgets. The project type and genre play a big role in the structure of your accounts and subaccounts on your film budget breakdown. Tv remains the most lucrative media format for the film and so a few more tv. Feel free to take a look at where we put our money, at least on paper, to give you an idea of where you should allocate funds in your own film s budget. Free film budget template studiobinder download free film investors checklist.
Who are the most essential crew members to have on my micro budget production. Production agreement with the film director on delivery and. Whats it take to make and produce some of the biggest blockbusters. Building the perfect 5 person microbudget feature film crew. Clans description item totalweeks rate section total % spent producer five months 20 250 5,000 5,000. We budgeted one of our features with a low budget and a high budget. Filmmaking is a huge part of the entertainment industry. Your financing partner through the canada feature film fund, telefilm canada supports all stages of a feature film, from development, to production and postproduction, to marketing to audiences both at home and abroad. And the hollywood reporter notes that the average cost of a feature. There are simple and detailed you can create or download.
This is the ultimate guide to film budgeting, including a free template. This printfriendly film budget template provides all the robustness youre looking for in a budgeting template. For example, a musical feature will have a longer prep time for actors to. The essential guide to film budgets with free film budget. You can make a short film budget template or a template for a longer film. See below for the full budget of the independent feature film. Please reach out with questions or comments regarding the sample budget and we will help in any way we can. The ultimate film budgeting guide free film budget template. Making a documentary, short film or feature film budget. Here are all the components of a film budget template listed out. Knowing the average film budget is similar to knowing how much you should place in travel budget forms in the sense that you have an idea on how much you will be spending should you ever decide to create one. A film budget plan is designed based on the movie and the producers necessity.
This is to prove to the buyer that all of your affairs are in order. Detailed feature film budget that includes payroll, tax and fringe assumptions. It also provides rough estimates of each expense and the possible total costs. The film budget has to be designed very carefully after considering all the financial resources and comprising expenses according to the availability of the resources. It should help you throughout the filmmaking process. How big of a crew should i have on my feature film. Ben long and sonja schenk at have put together 3 sample film budgets pdfs and break each one down in these informative articles. But they are also not as much as you might think when it comes to producing a feature film especially a feature that will be compared to projects with budgets of millions or hundreds of millions of dollars. I decided to keep numbers in the budget to show examples of over and under spending in budgets. One example is a business budget, but you can also make and use personal budgets if you wanted to watch your own spending.
The important thing is that the template should keep you organized and productive. Even myself, when doing an independent film will use my own derivation of a budget my template. Apr 11, 2018 the concept takes the message and gives it life. Free film templates budget, business plan, cash flow, contracts. At the center of the documentary business is the budget, which offers a map of the filmmaking process, expressing both the film youre planning to make and how you plan to make it.
Heres a feature film budget breakdown that takes a closer look at how the money to produce a film gets spent. Of course, one very good example of budgets in business would be film budgets. Studios and film makers often try to keep the information secret and will use accounting tricks to inflate or reduce announced budgets. Click over to our forum to download a free template that can help you start building a budget for your next film. What about the average feature film or an independent film. The hollywood reporter, llc is a subsidiary of prometheus global media, llc. Our actual indie film budget worksheet template is in excel, fully editable and contains 100s of line items and formulas that can be completely customized to your film. In this range, we see a lot of movies many would consider well, pretty average. This template, actually the whole package, has been invaluable and well worth the money i spent on it. Film sourcing production documents and templates are not intended to be legal advice and are for educational purposes only.
A film making is a very complex and layered process where number of things are involved. In many aspects of life, you can find a use for a budget. For example, a shortform project will benefit from even 1 pickup day with a skeleton crew. Whereas, a feature film shooting 3045 days usually has at least 3 pick. One of the most common questions i get relating to producing micro budget films is. Jul, 2015 feel free to take a look at where we put our money, at least on paper, to give you an idea of where you should allocate funds in your own films budget. Every line producer has their own, however all of them are a sum of basically the same parts.
A well thoughtout budget is a clear plan for making a film. Budget numbers for movies can be both difficult to find and unreliable. The average film budget could come across to at least 1 million usd to around 2030 million usd. This is a vital part of the whole filmmaking process. A short instructional video which demonstrates the featrures of the specialized budgeting software for feature length films. What a typical movie and tv pilot really cost to make now and why. Our actual indie film budget worksheet template is in excel, fully editable and contains 100s of line items and formulas that can be completely customized to your film production. Film budget template sample movie production budgeting. Our sample is based on the top 100 feature films at the domestic box office released theatrically within the u. Works perfectly for budgeting out short films, features, commercials, music video, and more.
Many free film tools and samples exist across the internet and here is a great starter list of free budgets, guides, books and more for the independent filmmaker. This chart shows the budget of every film in our database, where we have it. A few years ago, my company and i produced two feature films, from. Of course there is no easy answer to either of these questions, as every production has different requirements.
This download is for a sample movie budget template as a static pdf file. Before you download one of the sample film budget templates that we have got for free, you should know what a plan such as that is usually made up of. This document, which could be over 4 pages long, is used to secure financing for and lead to preproduction and production of the film. Want to produce or direct even write or act in a feature film. Jul 04, 2017 building the perfect 5 person micro budget feature film crew posted on july 4, 2017 one of the most common questions i get relating to producing micro budget films is. Ideally, it is also a living document that can help get. The template leaves room for you to fill in all of the relevant expenditures that you will have. Estimate what each department is going to cost you in percentages. Its the culmination of all the script and scheduling work youve done this far. One of the crucial part of the film making process is designing the budget.
One of the most important steps to selling any show is a producers ability to create an accurate and realistic preliminary budget. Consult an entertainment attorney for advice on any specific situation. As the size of the budget increases, quick film budget includes unions and fringes. The 2018 feature film study follows the same basic approach as prior reports and analyzes the following data for included films. Ive made short films before, but this is my first feature, and the first film ive tried raising money for. Your film budget template will vastly look different for each. Also, when creating a budget for a studio you need to get ahold of their budgeting guidelines documentation and chart of accounts. Template for feature film business plan eric weiler. F ilm budgeting is an essential part of the filmmaking process. Film project package prospectus template eric weiler. The essential guide for crafting film budgets with free film budget template by aj unitas april 1, 2019. Formats feature film budget template excel word pdf doc xls blank tips.
A short film is an excellent calling card for a first time filmmaker or a fun sideproject for an established writer who has a five minute story theyre burning to tell. The sample feature film production budget template provides the list of the standard expenses likely to be incurred in the production of such films. If youre a producer, you should know how to create a production budget template. Anyone vaguely thinking of a career as a producer needs to know how to make a film budget.
At the end of the day, a short film is just a short movie with a clear, compelling story. All columns can be cleared and replaced with numbers that reflect your budget. The film budget is the foundation of your film, you need to know exactly how. This allencompassing c of a can be utilized for 2d, 3d and hybrid productions. If yes then you absolutely must realize, upon preparing a budget, what is a realistic and what is an unrealistic for independents.
Many people like to go to the cinema to spend their free time. Mastering media distribution media dvd blu ray copies packaging. This is a very simple example that can be used for short films. It is my proposal to produce the screenplay socom into a feature length film with a budget of 2.
Free film templates budget, business plan, cash flow. This is a fully revised look at documentary budgeting, and updates the 2006 documentary article dont fudge on your budget. Entertainment is good for the mind and for socialization. Simply create a subtotal for each budget category, and add all of the subtotals up at the end to come up with your complete budget. Grab your film making action guide, production directory, film festival report, film business plan checklist, cash flow report, movie budgets, film investment memorandum and more today. People enjoy going to theaters to watch movies starring their favorite celebrities.