A SAMPLE BUDGET (NFB documentary with two first-time filmmakers)

							A SAMPLE BUDGET (NFB documentary with two first-time filmmakers)

Pre-production:
STORY RIGHTS/ACQUISITIONS $0 (Do you have to buy the rights to use the
story in your film? Are you adapting an existing story?)
RESEARCH AND SCRIPT $19,879 (Are you paying for research to explore the
story in more depth and a writer to work with that material to create a script?)
PRODUCER $13,903
DIRECTOR $42,900
SUBTOTAL: $76,682

Shoot:
PARTICIPANTS & CONSULTANTS $550 (Do you have to pay the film subjects?
Do you need to hire people to consult on any matter relating to the production?)
CAST $0
EXTRAS $0
PRODUCTION STAFF $12,474 (Do you have a staff that is helping with the
administration of the production? These could be production assistants, location
managers, accountants, lawyers or production coordinators.)
COMPUTER GRAPHICS LABOUR $0
CAMERA LABOUR $2,220
ELECTRICAL LABOUR $1,313 (Do you need to hire people who work with the
cameraperson to set up the lighting and to ensure proper wiring and power
source is used on the shoot? These may be called the gaffer, the grip,
electrician, lighting engineer or lighting designer.)
PRODUCTION SOUND LABOUR $3,031 (Sound recordist on the shoot.)
PRODUCTION OFFICE EXPENSES $3,897 (Are you paying for a fax machine,
telephones, long distance charges, a receptionist or staff, courier, photocopies,
etc.?)
SITE EXPENSES $0 (Are you renting a site for your shoot?)
UNIT EXPENSES $1,660 (Are you having catering or craft—coffee, tea and
donuts in the morning—for the cast and crew?)
TRAVEL AND LIVING $6,347 (Are you paying for travel to site for the cast and
crew? Are their per diems, hotels, etc…?)
TRANSPORTATION $3,407 (Are you renting cars or trucks to get everyone
around the site?)
CAMERA EQUIPMENT $10,603 (Are you renting or buying cameras?)
ELECTRICAL EQUIPMENT $2,117 (Are you renting or buying lights and
cables?)
SOUND EQUIPMENT $7,701 (Are you renting or buying microphones or
recording equipment, etc.?)
PRODUCTION: FILM or VIDEO $20,814 (Tape stock or film stock.)
DIGITAL IMAGING $0 (Computer generated images and visual effects, etc…)
SUBTOTAL: $76,134

Post-production:
ARCHIVES (RIGHTS) $14,200 (Are you using footage or photographs acquired
from an archive, library or commercial archives facility? If so, you’ll likely have to
pay a fee.)
CAST - POST PRODUCTION $0 (Do you have a narrator? Do you need to
rerecord some additional dialogue?)
EDITORIAL LABOUR $62,164 (Will you hire picture and sound editors?)
EDITORIAL EQUIPMENT $21,250 (Do you need to rent editing equipment for
either picture or sound editing?)
POST PROD VIDEO PICTURE $14,916 (Are you paying for an online? This is
the final visual treatment for the film, where all the edited visual components such
as colour, texture, contrast are adjusted to reach the desired overall effect.)
POST PROD SOUND FILM OR VIDEO $14,884 (Are you paying for a mix? This
is the process of bringing all of the sound components, including dialogue,
voiceover narration, sound effects and music and mixing them together to the
desired overall effect. This is performed after the sound editing is complete.)
MUSIC $8,240 (Are you buying rights for published music or hiring a composer to
do an original score?)
TITLES/OPTICAL $3,500 (Are you paying for titles, subtitles and credits?)
VERSION $0 (Are you doing other language versions or cut-down versions for
specific markets? Do you have closed captions, described video, etc…?)



SUBTOTAL: $139,154


A final item that is not in the above budget is deliverables. This is an extremely
important piece of your overall budget, particularly if you are working with
broadcasting or distribution companies. The deliverables are quite simply what
you have to deliver when the film is finished. Do you need broadcast quality
(digital bet)? Do you have distributors who need SD (standard definition) or HD
(high-definition) master? What about your own copies? What are you retaining as
your master and where are you storing it?