ASK & DISCUSS INDEX

7 years, 2 months ago - Adam Ethan Crow

Hi, you're looking at around 1.5K to 2.5K for a decent budget and schedule.

7 years, 2 months ago - Vasco de Sousa

As Adam Ethan Crow alludes to, you need to schedule a script before you can get an accurate budget. The page count in one factor, but other things can add to the complexity of the budget (such as special effects, stunts, props, change of locations, and so on.)

I've budgeted a few scripts, features and shorts. As it's all set in London, it should be quicker than something set in multiple countries, but there's still a lot of leeway for complexity.

I personally don't think you can get a truly accurate budget until you have a story board or at least a shot list. Directing style can have as much impact on budget as a script can. (More setups means longer schedule, means you need to hire crew for longer, and so on.)

My CV focuses more on my writing at the moment, but as a project manager I do a lot of planning, scheduling, budgeting and so on.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/udigrudi/

7 years, 2 months ago - Glyn Carter

"How much will this film cost" is an unanswerable question until many things are sorted, including schedule, pay rates, kit requirements, cast size, and whether an A- B- or C-lister is attached.

Assumptions can be made by someone with experience of similar types of film, and this might be enough to start with, for approaching investors and the like.

But it's always going to come back to "If I have this amount to spend in total, how might it break down by department?" That is, how much will I have for actors, director, DP, editor, and the other big variables.

7 years, 2 months ago - Vasco de Sousa

Basically, if you have two weeks, you can create a preliminary budget for a film. (If it's the first time you're doing it, allow four weeks for a typical feature.) If you're in development, this might be part of your development budget. (Other parts might be attaching people, selling the film, optioning the script and so on.)

There are firms that do this for production companies, but I wouldn't recommend a director or writer hiring one of these. The money could probably be better spent elsewhere.

If you hired me for two weeks, I could get you a budget and schedule that would determine what the "typical" production would cost for that film, in a given area. I'd probably ask a few questions first. By breaking down props, sets, costumes, etc, we can find a good estimate.

In addition to the script, it's very helpful to have a location (otherwise the line producer will assume it's being shot in their hometown, or in the locations mentioned in the script), a director, and an end market (TV films do look cheaper than cinema features.)

7 years, 2 months ago - Marlom Tander

How accurate do you need the budget to be?

You can make an awful lot of progress if you start with a schedule then simply work out what you need, for how long, and add in realistic costs for cast, crew and their care,feeding and transport.

This process will also highlight the "how long is a peice of string" areas which can potentially swallow oodles and will need detailed planning.

On the basis that in practice EVERYTHING costs more than you expect, and a bunch of stuff will be missed out, you can safely tell people double and aim to come ion under budget. E.g. if this process say 1m and you reckon you can get 2M, you can make it. If this process suggests 1M and you really only have 1M you need to rethink whatever costs serious money EXCEPT bed/board/feed. If you only have 700K, you have to drastically rethink your vision.

I'd spreadsheet it first, and IF those numbers looked good, then hire someone to do a proper job. You want to pay for a result that goes somewhere, not a "bugger, THAT MUCH?" answer.