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Category: Budgets

Apr302010

Free Film Budget

What? Oh yes…

Thanks to Deke Simon (author of Film and Video Budgets – 5th Edition) and MWP Books, there is a free, downloadable budget you can use as a reference from the MWP site:

http://www.mwp.com/virtual-film-school/free-film-budget

For a little more “free”, know that the MWP newsletter is super – not too often; just enough news. Between that and the MWP Facebook site (http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/mwpfilmbooks) where you’ll get a lot more news and as-it-happens updates… you’ll often see a free book giveaway.

Come & join! Enjoy the great and useful industry freebee!

All the best,
Deb

Mar262010

The PM101 Budgeting Pencil

The what? Am I sure I didn’t mean “budgeting computer” or “budgeting software”? Yep. I’m sure. There really is a PM101 Budgeting Pencil… and it’s unique since it’s more than 50% eraser.

Why? Because no matter how well one writes a production budget, there will always be the job of rewriting, reducing, revising and refining it over and over again. Like any good script that will undergo several drafts before the camera rolls, so will the budget undergo many iterations before becoming locked.

The PM101 Budgeting Pencil is here to remind you of that element of the budgeting process. You write it. You revise it.

Now don’t let all those iterations create panic or fear and block you from writing the budget in the first place. Let them instead release you from writing the perfect budget on the first pass. So in honour of the budgeting process… and in happy anticipation of the publication of the new edition of my book “Film Production Management 101: Management & Coordination in a Digital Age“… I bring you the one, the only and the little odd… PM101 Budgeting Pencil.

Come and join me on FB at www.facebook.com/DebPatzBooks and earn your chance to win a PM101 Budgeting Pencil for yourself. A random FB fan every month for the next three months will win one. And at very least, it will give you a little chuckle – and that’s a good thing too!

So, until then… just write it. Then revise it. Happy budgeting and see you on FB!

Cheers,
Deb

Mar192010

Q&A: How Long Does It Take to Write a Budget?

A production budget? What a question! No answer can be made without further questioning. Here’s a quick look at a few of those “further questions”.

Question: Is this the one of the first times you’ve written a budget?
Answer: If “yes”, it will take you a long time.
Consolation: You will understand the detail of every line item on the budget, and so be in a better position to manage the production.

Question: Is the production or script unique compared to what you’ve done before?
Answer: If “yes”, it will take you a long time.
Consolation: You will expand your repertoire and expertise with this new budget… plus your previous experience will help you to ask more of the right questions and therefore write a really good budget on the first pass.

Question: Do you have an example budget as reference (one that you did not write)?
Answer: If “yes”, it will take you a rather long time.
Consolation: If you do the work to really reverse engineer how the example budget was written, you can write a good budget that will work for the production… catching the incomplete areas and the line items that are inappropriate for your particular production.

Question: Do you have a previous budget as reference (one that you wrote – and ideally, production managed)?
Answer: If “yes”, it will take you not such a long time.
Consolation:Your hard work over the years is paying off. In the previous (reference) budget you know and understand where the line items and calculations came from. You know the assumptions under which the budget was written, including which union or non-union rules. You know the script and actual shoot of the previous production and so can identify similarities and differences between that one and the current script – in order to concentrate your budget-writing effort. Every budget you write gets a little bit better… and this one will be an even better reference to you in the future.

What other “further questions” come to mind for you?

Happy budgeting!
Deb

Feb262010

Budget vs Final Costs… Face-off!

You want the best reference document for when you manage future productions… do you look to the Budget or the Final Costs Report?

Round 1… The Budget displays the calculations, so you know how each line item was created, the Final Costs Report does not. Round 1 to the Budget.

Round 2… The Final Costs Report show you what was actually spent, the Budget shows you estimates from the before the fact. Round 2 to the Final Costs Report.

Round 3… The Budget is an electronic file in the software you are going to use to write other budgets, the Final Costs Report is not. Round 3 to the Budget.

Round 4… The Budget has a contingency budgeted, whereas the Final Costs Report has the contingency spent on line item(s) unique to the that particular production – and in time you may not remember on which line item(s) or on how many line items are affected. Round 4 to the Budget.

Round 5… The the Budget were poorly written, the Final Costs Report would expose those weaknesses with large variances. Round 5 to the Final Costs Report.

Hmmm. 3 to 2 for the Budget. Can you think of any other rounds these two could go?

Happy budgeting!

Cheers,
Deb

Sep252009

5 Expensive Budgetary Items – III

There appear to be no end to expensive expenses in the production budget… here is another round of “favourites”:

11. Lots of Set-Ups – There could be two reasons why there are lots of set-ups: either you have multiple cameras running (so there are extra expenses in labour and equipment, and more time to choreograph it all, plus more editing time to sift through the footage); or you have lots of coverage and camera moves planned (so you are not capturing much of the script as you move the camera around for all that coverage, and need more shoot days). Either reason is expensive!

12. Lots of Unit Moves – Not only do you have more costs associated with location rental and management, but you are spending precious daylight hours in vehicles moving from place to place instead of capturing images.

13. Name Stars – Their salaries are obviously high, but what about the extra costs? Do you have fly in their entourage? Send them home every weekend? Do they want a car for themselves, separate from their car and driver on the set? Will they only work for a certain number of hours? Does their limited schedule on your set force you to schedule around them? And yet, aren’t they so worth it? Oh yeah.

14. Weather-Dependant Scenes – Waiting for makeup and hair to be completed is one thing, but to have a whole cast and crew wait around for clouds to clear (or to arrive) feels really silly, and you can feel the money being spent. If you can help it, do not get caught with unfilmed exteriors at the end of your shoot.

15. Rush Hour, Hockey Season & Other Fun Times – There are times when a downtown street cannot be locked, or a hockey rink cannot be closed, for filming. In some cases, you can pay the premium to secure what you need for these “fun times”, but that’s expensive. Typically, instead, you have to schedule around these “fun times” and find yourself locked into shooting on weekends or at night (expensive item #3).

Happy budgeting!

Cheers,
Deb

May292009

5 Expensive Budgetary Items – II

Here are some more of my “favourite” expensive expenses…

6. Stunts & Special Effects – Well, any of the special departments really. Lots of planning (read “money in prep”) has to happen to make sure the “special” shots happen with all their movie magic on-the-day. The many logistics on set to address issues like safety will also slow down the speed of the production on-the-day.

7. Prototype Equipment – Prototype means there is no backup when it goes wrong or breaks down – you have the only one. You  may need 24-hour fix-it crew to keep the equipment in working order for the set day. If you are fortunate enough to work with a prototype when there is two – one will be being repaired while you’re on set with the other one… Murphy’s rules.

8. Large Vistas – The more you see in a shot, the more it costs. If it’s a country vista in a period piece, there will probably be telephone poles or the like to digitally remove. If it’s a city vista, you may need to close a number of streets with all the permits and personnel required to do so. If you have crowds of people in the vista – that’s a lot of (paid) extra vouchers.

9. International Co-Productions – Granted that structuring a coproduction may be necessary for the Producer to raise sufficient funds to make the movie, but the costs of travelling cast, crew and/or equipment, immigration & customs, the extra sets of accounting books, the extra legal costs to set up the necessary documentation, etc. bring unique expenses to a production that non-copros do not typically have to deal with.

10. Music Rights – There are rights to use the “sheet music” (kind of “author rights”) – that allows you to perform your own version of the song… but there are also “master recording rights” that you also need to purchase if you want to play a certain recording of that song… and sometimes there are also artist rights that have been held back by certain performing artists that you have to purchase too. If the song you want is in the public domain… someone can still write a particular arrangement of the P/D song and therefore attach new “author rights” to the song you thought was going to be free. Research the origin of any and all music you want to include in your film in any manner.

Happy budgeting!

Cheers,
Deb