Film Budget Process

Recently, a line producer wrote a Tweet about www.QuickFilmBudget.com: "Need detailed script breakdown b4 budget. If you back into a number, you change the script to fit the budget. Not ideal."

I would say that this person is approaching budgeting in the traditional way taught in film school where you first read a script, break it down by schedule and then determine the film budget. However, today's market forces filmmakers to rely on their own salesmanship. For instance, if a recent film school grad wants to make a horror film, the current market determines that it should be made for a $1-2 million with no known actors or about $10 million dollars with known stars. This all assumes that the film is intended for domestic and foreign sales. ("Paranormal Activity" is a one in a million lottery winner.) Most indie films work backwards from an amount that investors are willing to give. To start the budget process by scheduling and breakdown is a dreamer's approach in today's indie world. Also, Quick Film Budget is a tool for getting started for the cost of $149 and not intended to be the actual shooting budget. The difference is that we admit that up front whereas UPM's (like the one who wrote his criticism on Twitter) sell their budgets to filmmakers in need of a budget for a typical price of at least $1000 without clarifying that their budget is also a road map and a true shooting budget will have to be created-- When? After the total budget number is raised and the budget will have to "backed into that number".

Cinematographer

Choosing a cinematographer is a complex decision that is based on artistic taste and budgetary constraints. For example, it would make sense that if you are producing a slapstic comedy, that you would hire a DP who had worked on other comedies as opposed to a DP who had only worked on sad dramas. The lighting of a scene contributes tremendously to the emotional response of the audience.

The other consideration is your budget. DPs who have only worked on big studio budget films, may not know how to effectively a light a shot on a short schedule and smaller lighting budget. Studio films generally film 1-3 pages of a script per day as opposed to an independent film which usually needs to film 3-6 pages per day. Sometimes, you may find a DP with experience in both worlds and the ability to light on any size film budget (Keep those DPs as close friends!)

For a guideline on how much to budget for a cinematographer and his lighting equipment, check out www.QuickFilmBudget.com