Film budgeting

All you want to know about Film budgeting

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Sample page from a motion picture budget.
Sample page from a motion picture budget.

Budgeting is an important aspect of film production.

During script development, filmmakers produce a rough budget to convince film producers and film studios to give them a greenlight for production. During pre-production, a more detailed film budget is produced. This document, which could be over 150 pages long, is used to secure financing. Multiple drafts of the budget may be required to whittle down costs.

A budget is typically divided into four sections: above-the-line (creative talent), below-the-line (direct production costs), post-production (editing, visual effects, etc), and other (insurance, completion bond, etc).

Contents

Elements

  • Story rights: The right to produce a film based on a play, novel, or new story. Can be paid from rs. 15000/- to 100000/-
  • Screenplay: An A-list screenwriter can be paid rs.25000/- to 50000/- to write the first three drafts of a script.
  • Dialog writer can be paid 25000/- 50000/-
  • Director: minimum can be paid rs.250000/-( daily convense extra) for one movie up to 1st release , for a minimum of ten weeks' work. Traditionally, a director's salary is about 7 percent of the final budget.
  • Cast: An A-list actor can ask for anything from rs. 200000/- to 700000/- (trailer, entourage, etc.). The rest of the cast, often come out much worse with many being paid the Screen Actors Guild minimum. Sometimes an actor will accept a minimal fee in exchange for a lucrative share of the profits;
  • Production costs: The cost of shooting the film including sets, wardrobe, location filming, hotels and transportation. The most prestigious productions will often employ the most successful, and therefore most expensive, crew, with the director of photography
  • Visual effects: if required can costs 100000/- to 200000/-
  • Music: The top film composers can ask for a six-figure salary, so of original music, could cost rs 500000/- with all expanses, rights etc.

The budget as an advertising tool

For blockbuster movies, high budgets are advertised to imply that the film will be worth watching. On the other hand, El Mariachi was advertised as having a shoestring budget of $7,000. El Mariachi's actual budget including the distribution costs far exceeded $7,000. (It should be noted that the festival print of El Mariachi was in fact made for $7,000 - the additional budget expenditures came when the movie was picked up for distribution by a studio.)

Going over budget

In the US film production system, producers are not allowed to exceed the budget. Exceptions have of course been made, one of the most notable examples being Titanic. Director James Cameron ran around with the budget and offered his fee to the studio. In other countries, producers who exceed their budget tend to eat the cost by receiving less of their producer's fees. While the US system is profitable and can afford to go over budget, other countries' film industries tend to be financed through government subsidies.

Examples

Though movie studios are reluctant to release the precise details of their movies' budgets, it has occasionally been possible to obtain (clandestinely) details of the cost of films breaks down. For an example of a budget for a $4 million independent feature, see Planning the Low-Budget Film by Robert Latham Brown (ISBN 0-9768178-0-2).

Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life

  • Story rights and screenplay: $4 million
  • Producers: $4 million
  • Director (Jan de Bont): $5 million
  • Cast: $17.25 million
    • Angelina Jolie: $12 million
    • Extras: $250,000
    • Other (inc. Angelina's perks): $5 million
  • Production costs: $67 million
    • Set design and construction: $17.8 million
  • Visual Effects: $13 million
  • Music: $3.3 million
  • Editing: $3 million
  • Post Production costs: $1.5 million

Total: $118 million

Source: [1]

Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines

  • Story rights (Carolco and Gale Anne Hurd): $14.5 million
  • Screenplay: $5.2 million
    • John D. Brancato & Michael Ferris: $1 million
  • Director (Jonathan Mostow): $5 million
  • Producers: $10 million
  • Cast: $35 million
    • Arnold Schwarzenegger: $29.25 million + 20% gross profits
    • Arnold's perks: $1.5 million
    • Rest of principal cast: $3.85 million
    • Extras: $400,000
  • Production costs: $58 million
  • Post-production costs: $4 million
  • Visual effects: $20 million
  • Music: $2 million
  • Other costs: $33.6 million

Total: $187.3 million

Source: [2]

Spider-Man 2

  • Story rights: $20 million
  • Screenplay: $10 million
  • Producers: $15 million
  • Director (Sam Raimi): $10 million
  • Cast: $30 million
  • Production costs: $45 million
  • Visual effects: $65 million
  • Music: $5 million
  • Total: $200 million

Source: [3]

See also

v • d • e
The filmmaking paper trail
Pre-production
Production
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Film_budgeting"

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