Film Budgets and Creative Results...

Can any movie be made on a smaller film budget with the same creative results? False! The budget of a film determines how much a film spends on every category. "Titanic" could not have been made for $10 million and "Paranormal" could not have been made for $20 million. If James Cameron made "Titanic" on a significantly smaller budget, it would have looked like a bathtub video and audiences would not have become engrossed in the love story that was the heart of the film. Similarly, audiences would have never believed that an expensive Hollywood version of "Paranormal Activity" could possibly be true. Sometimes money is wasted, but every movie has an appropriate budget level.

Check out www.QuickFilmBudget.com for a guideline on film budgeting.

Film vs. Video

Will it be cheaper if I shoot digitally vs. film? Not always. The key factors for deciding whether to shoot on film or video is 1) how much film are you going to shoot? 2) What will you output to? Creatively, what is the best look? Does your movie have many exterior day scenes? If you are shooting a documentary, you will probably shoot a ton of film or maybe you have a director that shoots a lot of takes. If these are true, then the cost of developing film to your movie budget will be much greater than video which has no cost to develop. But if you plan to shoot a short film or have a director who shoots with great efficiency than the cost to develop the film will be the same as the DI and all of the other treatments to make video look like film. Creatively, if your film is all about beautiful sunsets or the water, then shooting video will not look real as video has a tough time dealing with the brilliant colors and texture of sunlight and water.

For a film glossary check www.quickfilmbudget.com

The importance of editors

In the past two weeks, I have heard two separate stories where films have fired editors because the director wanted to edit the film. One of these films is a high level documentary (which may be killing its chance for a theatrical release) and the second is a low film budget comedy (which probably never had a chance for a theatrical release). I was shocked in both instances because editors play an invaluable role on a film. In fact, about 75 years ago, studio heads were editors because they knew how to salvage a film or piece a story together from what the director shot.

True, nowadays many people have bought Final Cut and learned to cut together a digital video. But there is an art and an importance to having a separate person edit a film. The significance is that editors offer an impartial view that directors lose as they fall in love with specific shots or an actors performance. However, a single beautiful shot may confuse the story and an actor's performance may distract the audience from the plot. The art of editing takes years to hone because it takes a true understanding of story and determining how the specific film needs to be shaped to create a great story.

For more information on how much to pay an editor and how long an editor should work on a film, check www.QuickFilmBudget.com

Extras Extras Read all about it!

As a young producer I thought I could always trims a budget by cutting a few extras in some scenes. True, I saved money by not hiring those extras because extras have daily wages, require being fed and require extra attention by the 1st AD or even require hiring an additional AD to direct them.

What I quickly learned was that yes I saved money but the film's sales value was less because the production value dropped. Extras are supposed to simulate real life because when was the last time that you walked into a coffee shop in a decent sized city during normal business hours and it was empty? Audiences know that there are going to be people in the coffee shop or something is wrong or it looks not real.

It's a tough lesson to learn but sometimes extras are a cheap way to add production value. A win-win solution to this issue is filming in a smaller location that requires less on-screen actors to fill it.

For guidelines on how much to budget for extras in your film budget, check out www.quickfilmbudget.com

Child Actors and Movie Budgets

Some of my favorite movies are about kids ("The Goonies" and "E.T."). Looking at these films from a production perspective gives an entirely different way of filmmaking that are dominated by child labor laws. For example, a teacher liaison must be on set at all times when children are present not only to protect them but also to spend a certain number of hours teaching them what they miss in school. Also, children cannot work as many hours as adults. All of these elements affect the film budget so they must be taken into consideration when making a movie with child actors.

For more information on how child actors affect film budgets check out www.quickfilmbudget.com

Film Budget and Box Office Mathematics

Understanding what your film make at the box office will help shape how large or small your film budget should be. Of course, there was no way to predict how much "Napoleon Dynamite" or "Paranormal Activity" or how small "The Island" would gross at the box office. But, if you have a reasonable expectation for the average box office numbers on theatrical films or what certain actors and/or directors command in foreign sales, then you can back into how much to make your film for. The rule of thumb for box office gross is that every dollar the theater earns in gross revenue, half goes to the studio and half goes to the theater (the longer the film plays in theaters the more the split favors the studio). So if your movie makes $100 million dollars at the box office, then $50 million goes to the studio and $50 million goes to theater. P&A costs are usually either $20 million for a normal wide release and closer to $50 million and possibly higher for a tentpole film (ex: "Troy", "Avatar"). So if you expect your horror film to gross $100 million at the box office, with a $20 million P&A spend, then the breakeven cost of the film budget shout be $30 million. Now that you understand the mathematics, you can understand why most horror films are made on a movie budge of $20 - $40 million.

Look at www.quickfilmbudget.com for more information on how to make a film budget for $30 million.

Low Budget Films and Locations

Film locations have a multiplying effect on a film's budget. Even if you can get all of your film locations for free, the more film locations you have the more time will be wasted on company moves, transportation costs (ex: gas), set-up time, construction and set design costs. Movies like Paranormal Activity and Saw not only saved money on using fewer locations but made their film better by focusing all of their time and money on a couple locations which gave them high production value and gave the director more time for the actors as opposed to waiting for the crew to constantly build sets and make company moves. Too often do I see low budget movies trying to act like studio films by picking stories that require many locations which all end up looking cheaply done.

Check out www.quickfilmbudget.com for a guide on budgeting for locations on low budget films.

A-List vs. Ensemble Casting

Whether you are producing your low budget indie film or high budget hollywood blockbuster, one of the major first steps in putting together your movie is casting. Of course you want to cast the best most talented biggest actors but that is easier said than done. A tough decision in casting is whether to spread your money to create a cool ensemble cast of B+ or A- actors (I wont list them but you can find examples by going to Blockbuster or Netflix and looking at films that had big actors but didn't get theatrical releases) OR you can put all of your money into an A-list actor/actress (think Brad Pitt or Leonardo DiCaprio). I cannot advise you on the creative choice as to who is right for the role or who has the most talent but if you put that aside and look at it from a movie budget and film sales perspective I recommend that you always put all of your money towards one A-list actor instead of a few B-list actors.

In the current climate of foreign sales and film studios/domestic distributors buying films, a spreading your money across a bunch of B-list actors will deem your film a direct to dvd film whereas giving nearly all of your casting money to one A-list star will give it consideration for a theatrical release and bigger film sale prices ($$$).

In past years, ensemble casting was a great trick that would get you the same sales numbers as one A-list star. Even David O. Selznick wrote about using this trick in his memos. But times have changed and casting has changed with it. The gap between an A-list star and a B-list star has grown which is reflective of theater audiences and their taste in ticket purchases.

Look at www.quickfilmbudget.com for a guideline on how much to budget for actors and actresses given your film budget and genre.

-Adam

Film Scheduling and Actors

Bringing your film under budget or on budget begins before day one of production and even pre production. The biggest cost to your film is probably the lead actor if you are dealing with movie stars. If your film production schedule is 25 days or 5 weeks of 5 day shoots, but you only need your star for 10 days, schedule your film around making the top priority of having those 10 days be consecutive. That way, when you make your offer Joe Smith, aka The Biggest Movie Star on the planet, and your film budget only allows you to offer a fraction of his quote, it will be easier to sell it to his agent and his agent will have any easier time selling it to his client if he only has to work a short amount of time. Make sure the actor's contracts allow you to use his name and appearance in all marketing and material so you can benefit from his starpower. If you use this strategy effectively, you can save money on your star costs to spend on other film production needs, like special effects. Understanding scheduling is an important tool that has a direct impact on your movie budget. Check here for guidelines on how much you should budget for actors.

-Adam

SAG DGA IATSE WGA PGA

Film unions are good and bad for films. SAG, DGA, IATSE, WGA and PGA all are good for films because they create a clear set of rules and payment so everyone knows the rules. They are also good for films because they signal an expected level of quality of worksmanship (although this doesn't always ring true). The downside to union films is that they increase the cost of wages and the clearly stated union work rules can work against a film producer when they are trying to save money. Producing is all about making choices- shoot on a soundstage or on location? hire another production assistant or spend more on set design?

If the choice is which guild for your film to become a signatory, here is a guide. Keep in mind that all of these unions and guilds have different wage scales depending on the budget of your film (micro level, low budget level, medium budget, high budget). If you still must choose, I suggest the following rational:

Ask yourself what kind of film you are making. If it is a special effect heavy horror film or action film, it is probably wiser to make sure that you have a strong director and strong crew so the special effects and stunts look as real as possible.

If you are making a drama or musical, you want to hire the best actors and director because audiences and film critics will evaluate your film first and foremost based on the actors' performances.

Thrillers are tricky because they usually require great performances (remember Keiser Soseh in "The Usual Suspect") and some action. Overall, thrillers require great directors, actors, writing, and crew to pull off the film. The challenge is to keep it under budget. Try limiting your shooting locations while avoiding a direct-to-dvd "always inside" feel.

Visit here for a For more information, see movie budget guidelines on how much to budget for film producers, writers, directors, crew, and actors.

-Adam

"Night Filming"

The term "Night Shooting" is a film scheduling term that means that the film production takes place at night. Related terms are "Night for Day" which means that you shoot a daytime scene at night. These shooting practices are common in plots of horror films. Both of these practices should be avoided if at all possible and these are the reasons why:

1)One or two days of night shooting may not have a harmful effect but anything more will dramatically reduce the productivity of the crew and actors by almost 50%!!
2) Scheduling nightmares! When you go from shooting night time shoots to day time shoots you need to give the crew and actors the required turnover time between calltimes (even if you wrap night time shoots on Friday night and begin Monday morning).

You might be asking why I am blogging about a scheduling issue for my first blog in "Film Budget"? Because, these scheduling issues have a detrimental effect on your bottom line and they are the easiest to solve!

When the crew is less productive, it is more probable to run into overtime ($$$) and possibly accidents happen ($$$). The best way to deal with night time shooting is to shoot all of the interior night scenes during the daytime but light the scenes for a night time look. All exterior night scenes should be grouped together and saved for the last days of shooting (to avoid the scheduling turnover issue). This strategy minimizes the harmful effects on your film budget.

For more information, see film budget guidelines on how to budget a horror film filled with night time shoots.

-Adam