Films need money. Before starting to create a movie, it’s an irresistible thing to know. The film budget is a goal for investors to get a positive return on their money. In this post, we will discuss Film Budgeting and how producers can outline a course for a positive return. A production budget breaks down into three levels including low, mid, and high-end. So, if you wish to make a movie, you can use free film budget templates to manage your investments.
We will also help you find out personal budget templates from our site.
Basically, a film budget is an agreement between a producer and an investor for making a movie. Both need a positive return ratio by the release of the film. So, the production budget includes essential factors so you have to know about them before starting to create a movie.
Above the Line:
In the above-the-line, the essential members are required to be hired before the pre-production process can begin. These members are screenwriters, movie directors, photography directors, and producers. They are the creative-minded and highest-paid crew members for movie production and take around 10% of the budget.
Below the Line:
After hiring the screenwriters, producers, and directors, you have to find other crew members. Your amount of budget enables you to decide how many crew members are needed to hire. However, here is a list of below-the-line departments:
- Camera Department
- Lighting Department
- Assistant of the Director
- Production Department
- Also, the Art and Sound Departments
Pre-Production Costs:
Once you’ve all the crew members, then you require a specified budget for pre-production costs. Here are some typical costs which are associated with the pre-production budget:
- Rehearsals Costs: This is the cost for directors to conduct and coach the talent with practice shoots.
- Preparations: It is the time that crew members are required to test and gather the equipment.
- Scouting Expense: The time required for checking out the locations for the shooting.
- Designs Costs: It contains visuals and ideas for the overall design set for production.
Post-Production Costs:
For post-production, the cost will depend on the computer effects when they are required. So, you should hire an editor and his/her assistant during the pre-production stage. Because editors will cut the footage alongside the shoot and add computer effects to the video shoots.
Production Costs:
This part of the film budgeting contains all the costs that are related to the production process. For better understanding, the production costs include the major expenses for making a movie and it considers a specified cost for equipment, location, costumes, makeup, traveling, and catering.
Free Film Budget Templates
Creating a film budget template may sound difficult. But, you don’t need to worry and can use our great budgeting templates for better management of all the movie costs. These samples are free of cost and you can get them without any paperwork.
Short Film Budget Template
Check out this amazing portrait layout of the short film budget template in Microsoft Excel format. In the brown color scheme, the worksheet provides a professional look. Consistent use of this budgeting template will surely help you predict the risk and return of your film budget. Further, this worksheet is specially designed to track a short film’s expenses. It enables easy management of movie costs including above-the-line, below-the-line, and also production costs. On the other hand, it will do the calculations of the values for each section and provide the overall outcome in the summary. Some blank lines are provided at the bottom for putting additional notes related to the budget. Therefore, you are one step away from getting this short film budget template for free from the download button below.
To get this Short Film budget template, click on the download button below.
Film Production Budget Template
In order to have a well-organized production budget planner, you can use this marvelous structure of the film production budget template. It enables you to foresee your film costs in a better way. The eye-catching blue theme breaks down into various sections to manage each expense category such as above-the-line, below-the-line, pre-production, post-production, and also production costs. This one can also provide a sum of the values automatically for each category as well as overall totals. Furthermore, you can see some blanks at the top for putting the basic details. So, this film production budget template is available in Excel format and comes in a free package for downloading.
To get this film production budget template, click on the download button below.
Film Budget Worksheet Template
This black and grey color theme of the film budget template is a superior source for tracking film-related expenses. In addition, this Excel worksheet enables you to manage the income summary and spending plan of your new movie. You just need to put the cost values and the funded values of each category. Then, this worksheet lets you unfunded costs and the overall totals automatically. Moreover, the charts provided at the bottom will also update from time to time whenever you make changes to the above-the-line and below-the-line spending sections. This wonderful Film Budgeting Tool is available free of cost. So, you can get it from the download button below the sample image.
To get this film budget worksheet, click on the download button below.
Movie Production Budget Planner
Are you looking for a film budget planner to handle the overall costs? Then you’re on the right site. Here, below is a wonderful and comprehensive structure of the movie production budget planner. To deal with all kinds of movie costs, you can grab this one because it contains all the expense details related to film production. For instance, pre-production costs, production costs, post-production costs, and overhead costs as well. Further, there is an additional column provided on the sheet to add some notes for each expense. You don’t need to calculate the values of each section because the worksheet will do it automatically and also provide the grand totals. Therefore, this movie budget planner can be downloaded in MS Excel format free of cost from the button below.
To get this movie budget template, click on the download button below.
Elisa Clark is a seasoned blogger renowned for her deep interest in office document processes and her dedication to sharing valuable templates with the audience. With a wealth of experience in the field, Elisa has become a trusted expert, helping countless individuals and businesses optimize their daily tasks through meticulous planning and effective document management.