Budgeting

Sep 2026

Above the Line vs Below the Line: Where Every Film Cost Belongs

Above-the-line film costs are rights, writers, producers, director, and cast; below-the-line is crew, gear, locations, and post. Here's where the gray-area lines go.

Sep 2026

Above-the-Line Costs on a Micro-Budget Film: What to Pay For

How to budget above-the-line costs on a micro-budget film: rights, producers, director, and cast, with SAG-AFTRA agreement limits and two worked examples.

Sep 2026

Best Film Budgeting Software for Producers in 2026

Eight film budgeting tools compared on fringes, actuals, incentives, exports, and September 2026 prices: Storiara, Movie Magic Budgeting, Showbiz, Saturation, and more.

Sep 2026

Completion Bonds Explained: How a Film Completion Guarantee Works

How a film completion bond works: who requires it, what the guarantor reviews, the bond documents, how contingency is used first, and a worked overage scenario.

Sep 2026

DGA Low Budget Agreement: Budget Levels, Rates, and Terms

The DGA Low Budget Sideletter covers theatrical films up to $11 million. See each budget level's director and AD/UPM rates for 2026-27, prep minimums, and fringe terms.

Sep 2026

Film Budget Assumptions: How to Keep From Running Out of Money

Every film budget rests on assumptions about days, hours, deals, exchange rates, and incentives. Write them down, price what happens if each one breaks, and fund it.

Sep 2026

Film Budget Contingency: How Much to Carry and How to Use It

How to set a film budget contingency: choosing the base, testing 10% against a real risk list, tracking draws week by week, and how contingency interacts with union caps.

Sep 2026

Film Budget Fringes: Payroll Taxes, P&H, and How to Budget Them

How to budget fringes on a film: payroll tax rates and wage caps, SAG-AFTRA and DGA percentages, IATSE hourly contributions, and worked examples for each.

Sep 2026

Film Budget Top Sheet Explained: How to Read Every Line

What each block of a film budget top sheet means, how the totals roll up from detail, where fringes, contingency, and bond fees sit, and the errors that make it useless.

Sep 2026

Film Budgeting Software Compared: Movie Magic, Showbiz, and More

Movie Magic Budgeting, Showbiz Budgeting, Hot Budget, Saturation, StudioBinder, and Storiara compared on current pricing, platforms, features, and cost tracking.

Sep 2026

Film Chart of Accounts: Budget Account Numbers, With Examples

A sample film chart of accounts from 1100 to 6800: how the numbering works, how to code invoices, time cards, and petty cash, and the mistakes that break reports.

Sep 2026

Film Crew Day Rates: Union Minimums and Setting Non-Union Pay

Union minimum day rates for film crew by position and region, converted to 12-hour days, plus how to set and budget non-union rates without getting the overtime wrong.

Sep 2026

Film Crew Per Diem: Rates, GSA Tables, and How to Budget It

How to set and budget film crew per diem: FY2027 GSA meal and lodging rates, travel-day math, meal deductions, SAG-AFTRA background per diem, and the tax line to watch.

Sep 2026

Film Production Budget Template: How to Fill One In, Line by Line

How to fill in a film production budget template: set globals and fringes first, price each line as amount x units x rate, and avoid the errors that break totals.

Sep 2026

Filming Location Rental Cost: What You Pay Beyond the Day Rate

What filming locations cost: how private owners price prep, shoot, and hold days, published public location fees in LA, NYC, and London, and the hidden lines.

Sep 2026

Hot Costs vs Cost Reports: What Each One Tells a Producer

Hot costs vs cost reports on a film: timing, scope, inputs, and audience, with one long shoot day traced from the daily hot sheet into the weekly cost report.

Sep 2026

How to Budget a Commercial Shoot: The AICP Bid, Worked Through

How to budget a commercial shoot on the AICP bid form: the questions to ask before bidding, a two-day bid priced section by section, talent P&H, markup, and weather days.

Sep 2026

How to Budget a Documentary: Trips, Edit Weeks, and Archival

How to budget a feature documentary: research, shoot trips priced with GSA per diem rates, edit weeks driven by the shooting ratio, archival licensing, and E&O insurance.

Sep 2026

How to Budget a Music Video: A One-Day Shoot, Line by Line

How to budget a music video from the label's all-in number: a one-day stage shoot priced in bid-form sections, with fringes, production fee, and cuts.

Sep 2026

How to Manage Production Costs With a Daily Hot Cost Report

Build a daily hot cost from the production report, time cards, and Exhibit G, price the overages against the budget, and project the trend before the weekly cost report.

Sep 2026

How to Read a Film Cost Report: Columns, Math, and Red Flags

How to read a film cost report: what each column means, how EFC and variance are calculated, the order to read it in, and warning signs in a sample week 3 report.

Sep 2026

How to Run a Shutdown Cost: Pricing a Hiatus vs a Full Stop

A shutdown cost prices what it takes to pause or abandon a film mid-production: sunk costs, weekly holding costs, restart costs, and wind-down, net of insurance.

Sep 2026

IATSE Low Budget Theatrical Agreement: Tiers and Crew Rates

The IATSE Low Budget Theatrical Agreement sets crew rates by budget tier, from Ultra Low up to $3.3M to Tier 3 at $16.5M. See 2026 thresholds, rates, and budget math.

Sep 2026

Indie Feature Film Budget, Line by Line: A $1.48M Example

A line-by-line indie feature budget for a 20-day SAG-AFTRA Low Budget shoot, from story rights to deliverables, with fringes, contingency, and the math for each account.

Sep 2026

Kit Rentals and Box Rentals: How to Budget and Pay Them

How kit and box rentals work on a film: typical departments, deal memo wording, inventories, why they stay off payroll, 1099 reporting, and a 5-week budget worked out.

Sep 2026

Meal Penalties Explained: Union Rates, Non-Union Rules, and Math

How meal penalties work for IATSE crew, SAG-AFTRA actors, and non-union crew in California, with current rates, grace and NDB rules, and a worked example for a full day.

Sep 2026

SAG-AFTRA Low Budget Agreements: Which One Fits Your Film

SAG-AFTRA has six agreements for indie projects, from Micro-Budget ($20,000) to Low Budget Theatrical ($2M). Compare caps, day rates, background rules, and release terms.

Sep 2026

Short Film Budget Breakdown: A $50,000 Short, Line by Line

A worked short film budget for a 12-page, 3-day shoot: cast, crew, gear, locations, post, payroll taxes, and contingency, with the math shown for every line.

Sep 2026

Short-Form Series Budget: How to Budget a Vertical Series

How to budget a short-form or vertical series: which costs follow shoot days and which follow episodes, a quantity worksheet for a 60-episode shoot, and per-minute math.

Sep 2026

Storiara for Line Producers: Budget, Schedule, and Incentives

How a line producer can use Storiara: a budget built from the breakdown and schedule, rate tables to verify, incentive estimates, and the gaps in cost tracking.

Sep 2026

The Film Greenlight Process: How Studios Decide to Make a Movie

How a film gets greenlit: the budget, cast, and schedule package, a greenlight P&L with worked numbers, how studios and streamers weigh risk, and what kills a deal.

Sep 2026

Tier Projects: How a Film's Budget Size Sets Union Crew Rates

Union low budget agreements set crew and cast rates by budget tier. Here's how IATSE and SAG-AFTRA tiers work, what counts toward the cap, and what going over costs.

Sep 2026

VFX and Music Budgeting: How to Price Two High-Risk Accounts

How to budget VFX by shot count and complexity, with bids, supervision, and shot creep, and music by composer package, union scoring sessions, and staged licenses.

Sep 2026

What Is a Film Production Budget? How One Is Built and Used

A film production budget is the itemized cost of making a film, from rights to delivery, built from the breakdown and schedule and organized into numbered accounts.