Speaker 1: Hi, filmmakers, and welcome to High Concept, the show where we just don't show you filmmaking and editing techniques. We show you real producing strategies to help you get your film made. I'm your host, founder and executive producer at the Film Fund, Thomas Verity. I'm also an award-winning filmmaker, film producer, and film festival judge. In this week's episode, we'll tell you all the most important things you need to know when it comes to budgeting your film. Welcome to High Concept. Film budgeting is a very crucial component of the pre-production phase regardless of the type of film you're planning to make, whether it be a low-budget short film, an independent feature, or a high-budget Hollywood blockbuster. Having a well-thought-out movie budget gives your film a better chance of being successful in terms of quality and profits. It doesn't necessarily matter how much money you have, especially if you're working on micro-budget short films. What matters is how you budget and utilize the money and resources you do have. Generally, if you're a producer or independent filmmaker with an idea for a film, you should start with a non-detailed, estimated preliminary budget. This budget will contain an estimated total of all the potential costs and accounts you'll need to purchase for the film. This is created to secure financing from investors. Once you've gathered the necessary funds needed to make your film, you'll need to construct a more in-depth and detailed film budget. This will usually occur after hiring the key members or department heads for your production. This more detailed budget will be much more complex with finalized costs and planning. If you're wondering how to construct an actual film budget, you should look into film budgeting software such as MovieMagic, where you can use budgeting templates that can be of great help during the process. You could also use Google Sheets or Microsoft Excel. One of the first steps for formulating and finalizing your film budget is breaking down your script. When breaking down your script, you'll be determining how many pages you'll shoot in a day, as well as the total amount of days you will need to shoot your film. Knowing how many days you will need to shoot your film will ultimately determine your budget and the amount of money you'll be using each day. Determine which personnel, like crew, talent, and extras, and equipment you'll need for each day of shooting. You don't want to pay extra for having people on set that you don't need. Once you've broken your script down by pages per day and have an idea of the specific equipment, personnel, and time needed for each day, you should begin constructing a shooting schedule. If you're wondering how to make a shooting schedule or how it will greatly help film production, click on the link in the description to take a look at our previous post where we go more in-depth on the importance of production schedules. The first phase of any film production is the development phase. It's where your idea and story are born and gradually developed into a full-fledged screenplay backed by key creative members to put the pages to the big screen. The above-the-line section of your movie budget consists of the costs needed to carry out the development phase and the phases that follow for your film. It's generally the most expensive section of your movie budget because that's where you'll be paying the key members of your production, such as the screenwriter, director, producer, cinematographer, and talent. These individuals are the ones involved in financial planning, scheduling, hiring, prepping, drafting, and even rehearsing for your film. Depending on the scale of your production, they may need to be paid before you even begin filming. The below-the-line section of your movie budget contains key crew members who aren't much involved in the development and pre-production phase that will be heavily involved on set during production. These crew members typically consist of production assistants, first ADs, camera assistants, grips, costume designers, makeup artists, sound mixers, etc. You'll need different personnel for each phase of production for both above-the-line and below-the-line. Pre-production and production will consist of your above-the-line members, where production and post-production will have all your below-the-line crew members. Not all film productions need a VFX artist or a stunt coordinator, especially if you're working with a minimal short film budget or even a dramatic feature film. Your budget will depend entirely on your film's genre and its contents. So, if you know that you may not be getting hundreds of thousands or even millions for your film production, you may want to scrap the crazy car chases, elaborate fighting choreography, and breathtaking special effects from your script. Independent filmmakers and beginners should stick to creating more practical scripts. This will teach you how to be more creative and resourceful with the budget you have. Once you've secured a team of creative and determined individuals involved in the production, you're going to need to account for pre-production costs. Some of the costs associated with pre-production include rehearsal costs that allow enough time for the director to coach and conduct practice shoots with the talent, preparation costs that give the necessary time needed for certain crew members to gather and test equipment in certain locations, scouting costs that factor in the time needed to check out certain locations for your shoot, and production design costs that take into account the time needed to conjure up visuals and ideas for the overall look of the set designs. Depending on how much money you have and the scale of your production, you may or may not need to account for all of these costs in your film budget. This section in your film budget will consist of all the costs associated with your production. This will make up the majority of your film's costs, however, the most expensive costs will still be paying your talent and crew member wages. There can be a lot of expenses in this area, depending on your film. If you're planning on shooting a more professional-looking film, you will need to consider a few costs such as equipment, production design, costumes, hair and makeup, locations, traveling, and even catering. These are just a few of the key production costs that will go into your film. If you're working with a tight, short film budget, you shouldn't worry too much about getting the top-notch equipment, costumes, locations, etc. Although if you can afford it, you should focus on getting the best equipment and materials you can afford. Some of the equipment you're going to need to buy or rent will be cameras, lights, tripods, stabilizers, dollies, and sound equipment. Having the right tools and equipment to make your production work could mean the difference between a great-looking film and a mediocre film. Like many aspects of your film budget, your post-production budget will depend heavily on the specific genre and scale of your film. Are you going to need any CGI, computer-generated images? Are you planning on having original music for your film? If you're shooting a low-budget drama, you're likely not going to need to worry about hiring multiple editors and VFX artists. But if you're working on a sci-fi film, that's something you're going to need to consider. If you're planning on having original music in your film, you're going to need to hire a music composer and possibly multiple musicians to develop the music for you. Speak with these artists on rates and the window of time it will take to complete these projects. You're going to need to consult with your editor to determine how much he or she prefers to be paid over a certain period of time. Some productions can take months to edit, and some only a few days. Make sure you communicate with your editor about the amount of time they have to complete these edits to avoid having to pay more than you need to. Hopefully, these film budgeting tips and information drew a better picture for you on the complexities of film budgeting and planning. You will need to account for all costs and aspects of your production, depending on the scale and budget of your film. Some phases of your production will have much higher costs and expenses than others. If you're working with a low-budget short film budget or feature, figure out which costs you need and don't need. Some movies will have million-dollar budgets, and some will only have a few grand. Don't let a lack of money turn you away from making your film. Rather, have it be the motivation to want to make it. Be creative, get inspired by others, and most importantly, don't give up. We hope you found this video useful. If you want to see more videos like this, don't forget to like and subscribe. And if you're currently looking for funding for your independent film, don't forget to click that link in the description to enter a one-sentence pitch to win up to $10,000 to produce your project. I'm your host, Thomas Verity, founder and executive producer at The Film Fund, and thank you for checking out High Concept.