A Film Budget is a process in which a line producer, production manager, and accountant create a specific budget for film production. The document of the film budget will include several pages. It is used to secure finance and lead to the pre-production of the film.
Film budgeting is also designed based on the film and the producer’s directions. Before starting a film budget, you need to know what a plan such as that is generally made up of.
A film’s budget plays an important role throughout the film production cycle. It is with the major suggestions going far after the basic cost of the film. Maybe the most real feature of the film’s budget is the amount that distributors will pay for a film is nearly always calculated as the percentage of the budget. For example, budget/sales, any way of the film’s script, the cast, etc.
Tips to Build a Budget for Film
Here are some general steps, tips, and tricks to create a solid budget for a short movie or film.
1. Define the Production Schedule
In this step, you should map out a specific time for a shoot that is helpful in defining your budget. Start with a good idea of your scope and specific schedule for production. By choice, you should know the actual number of days and plan to shoot for each day. This can rely on different scales of production. Make a plan to spend a day shooting some pages of the script. Moreover, when you plan to build your first budget, you can use the ready-made film budget templates given in this article.
2. Make a Hard Cost
When you actually start your budget, it generally needs to start with the hard costs that are the most important concrete to define. A camera and the gear are normally a good place to start. If you get a camera on rent, you should know that how many days you need it. Also, what other equipment do you need to go along with such as lenses, rigs, and gear? You should put the gear in the budget that you’re working with.
3. Make a Plan for Edit
One major fact that many filmmakers did not put together a budget is the specific time and resources that they need for editing and post-production. If you edit your film project, you should have a good understanding of the specific time to make good for it. It will be a bumpy guideline for the editing process. However, you can easily prepare a plan to make a budget for some hours for bumpy editing of many pages of the script. Also, take some other hours for revisions, coloring, and other effects.
4. Think About that All Costs are Involved
Creating all costs such as minor and major is very important for making a budget for the film. When you consider pre-production, production, and post-production elements, you should start your work by considering all needed costs. Both soft and hard costs will be everywhere in film production. Such as insurance, craft services, location fees, and also your time need to be included in your film budget.
Important Things to Know About Film Budgeting
Before starting to shoot a film, you should need to take a hard look at your budget plan. Take a look at every angle of the filmmaking and funding process.
- Pre-Production: Your budget plan should contain everything that you need before shooting the film. For example, the location of the shoot and its fees, costuming props, creation equipment, rehearsal, and also story-boarding.
- Fixed Costs: Your film budget must contain all the major and minor costs for shooting days such as crew salaries, sound, cameras, lighting, and travel expenses.
- Post-Production: It must contain all the estimates for the editing process, effects, mixing in sound, composition, and coloring.
However, if you want to make a good movie, you just need to include all of these costs in your film budget plan before submitting the proposal.
Free Film Budget Templates
Making a film budget is not an easy task along with the responsibility that a producer needs. Here are some free exclusive film budget templates available on our website. You can use them to create your own.
Template No. 01 for Film Budget
This film budget template comes along with a generic design and look. It is available in MS Excel format for free. The template contains the Excel formulas to calculate the overall total of your budget. Enjoy this template for free and make your own budget including cast, above-the-line, below-the-line, productions, and post-production costs.
Template No. 02 for Film Budget
This blank Film Budget Template is also created in Microsoft Excel format. You can easily manage a complete budget category-wise predicted and actual costs with this one. In the bottom section, you will find the overall cost of the film. However, get this template for free.
Template No. 03 for Film Budget
Here is the preview of a short film budget template. This sample provides a wonderful layout in MS Excel files. The template is eligible to manage your income amount details and expense amounts and their differences. Furthermore, the chart given at the top will provide the overview of expenses as expected, actual, and the differences between them.
Template No. 04 for Film Budget
Here is another example of the short film budget template with a simple and great look. Using this template, you can easily make a specific budget plan for your movie including above-the-line, pre-production, and post-production costs. Therefore, you can download this one for free in MS Excel files.
Template No. 05 for Film Budget
This is another blank worksheet of Film Budget Template is available in MS Excel for you. It will also help to keep track of your specific budget for your film production. To download this sample for free, you need to click on the download button given below the image.
Template No. 06 for Film Budget
Here is the preview of the black-and-white film production budget worksheet. This template in MS Excel format provides separate sections for production details, budget amount details, and also a chart for budget overview. Click on the download button to get this worksheet for free.
