Budgeting is a No-Brainer
Always do a budget.
Always.
A movie, a short film, a
web series or anything you’re creating is a business. It’s a one-off business
and produces one piece of product, but it’s still a business. And what do
businesses all start out with? Business plans.
Your budget is your
business plan. It gives you an idea of what you need to spend money on even if
you have no idea what to spend money on. If I handed you $10,000 and said go
make a short film, where’s that money going?
In your pocket? You’d be
surprised how many producers answer ‘yes’ to that one. But seriously, what are
you spending your money and how much should go to what department?
Hiring sound? Paying for
a sound mix in post?
Editor?
Equipment? What kind?
Getting a dolly track? Steadicam?
Hiring an operator? Who’s
shooting it?
Digital camera, right?
Buying hard drives? Backup hard drives? (Yeah, you’re going to need those)
What about food? How many
meals you providing?
Travel expenses?
Are you paying actors? If
not, are you paying for their travel? If not, why would they work for you for
free?
Have a headache now? This
is just a small list. Could you imagine if you were planning an 18-21 day shoot
for a feature? You’d go insane.
Budget, budget, budget.
Making a budget is
paramount to the success of your project. It forces you to think about the
unthinkable that pops up in your production. It makes you rank by level of
importance where your money should go.
Quick hint: Sound.
If you don’t like to
create a budget, go make friends with a line producer or even someone who loves
creating budgets. I know, I know. What person loves to do budgets? You’d be
surprised. Now go find them and make a budget.
I like the brevity and simplicity here, Faison.
ReplyDeleteI like the instinct to share your knowledge and teach.
My question is: who is your audience? There’s not enough information here for beginners and your colleagues already know this lesson.
The whole post has the quality of a Hollywood bigshot walking across the lot. Don’t bother me kid, I’m tryin’ to make a picture.
“…go make friends with a line producer…”
If you rush through your writing, the reader feels that. The reader feels everything you feel while writing. Make yourself laugh; the audience will laugh. Discover something that surprises you; it will surprise others. Feel outrage; you share outrage.
Rule number one this semester: write about what you want to write about. Or discover what you want to write about. The obvious answer may not be the right one.
This is definitely a fact in the indie film industry.
ReplyDeleteI freelanced in social media marketing for indie films and I saw this all the time. However, the saddest part is when the film is completed and they have absolutely no money left. Which is also related to your topic, budget!
All indie filmmakers should leave some money left for one of the most important things, marketing and distribution. They send out the money for several film festivals, but if admitted, they have no money to travel and represent the film. There are times when filmmakers don't even have money to pay for the submission fees. Spending some money in online advertising is also out of the list, the last dollar in post-production.
The final result is keeping a master piece in an external drive. No money left to market and distribute the film.
Best,
The Social New Yorker
I'm a big supporter of not-enough pre-production when it comes to putting together a production. The more you plan for and the more you're prepared for the unprepared is extremely helpful to keeping costs down. And yes, many indie filmmakers only think about getting the shoot done. They never consider post-production and the costs associated with it.
DeleteIt's a tough balance of art and business. But it needs to be done.
Thanks!
Alex