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

Source: https://storiara.com/blog/how-to-read-a-film-cost-report
Last updated: 2026-09-14
Author: Charles Hirschhorn, Storiara

> A film cost report shows, for every budget account, the budget, costs to date, open purchase orders, estimate to complete (ETC), estimated final cost (EFC), and variance. EFC equals costs to date plus open POs plus ETC, and variance is budget minus EFC. Read the total variance first, then how it moved since last week, then the accounts driving it, and check whether each ETC reflects the remaining schedule.

## A sample report, week 3 of 5

NORTHBOUND is a fictional feature with a $1,450,000 budget: $1,320,000 in accounts and $130,000 in contingency. This is its cost report at the end of shoot week 3 of 5, condensed to the accounts that matter this week. All figures are illustrative.

| Acct | Description | Budget | Cost to date | Open POs | ETC | EFC | Variance | EFC last week | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1400 | Cast | $160,000 | $92,000 | $0 | $74,000 | $166,000 | ($6,000) | $164,500 | $1,500 |
| 2000 | Production staff | $118,000 | $64,500 | $0 | $51,000 | $115,500 | $2,500 | $116,000 | ($500) |
| 2500 | Set operations (grip) | $82,000 | $49,800 | $6,000 | $34,000 | $89,800 | ($7,800) | $86,200 | $3,600 |
| 3200 | Lighting | $95,000 | $52,300 | $9,000 | $31,500 | $92,800 | $2,200 | $93,400 | ($600) |
| 3300 | Camera | $112,000 | $58,900 | $18,000 | $38,500 | $115,400 | ($3,400) | $113,900 | $1,500 |
| 3500 | Transportation | $70,000 | $38,200 | $4,500 | $25,000 | $67,700 | $2,300 | $68,100 | ($400) |
| 3600 | Locations | $185,000 | $121,400 | $15,000 | $62,000 | $198,400 | ($13,400) | $191,200 | $7,200 |
| 4500 | Editorial | $90,000 | $6,000 | $0 | $84,000 | $90,000 | $0 | $90,000 | $0 |
| 6700 | Insurance | $34,000 | $34,000 | $0 | $0 | $34,000 | $0 | $34,000 | $0 |
| | All other accounts | $374,000 | $151,300 | $21,700 | $196,000 | $369,000 | $5,000 | $369,000 | $0 |
| | **Total before contingency** | **$1,320,000** | **$668,400** | **$74,200** | **$596,000** | **$1,338,600** | **($18,600)** | **$1,326,300** | **$12,300** |
| | Contingency | $130,000 | | | | | | | |

Two formulas run the whole report. EFC = cost to date + open POs + ETC. Variance = budget - EFC, with parentheses meaning over. For locations: $121,400 + $15,000 + $62,000 = $198,400, and $185,000 - $198,400 = ($13,400). For the total: $668,400 + $74,200 + $596,000 = $1,338,600, and $1,320,000 - $1,338,600 = ($18,600).

## What each column is telling you

The budget column holds the locked budget for each account. It should not change week to week. If money is moved between accounts, a good report shows it in a separate transfers column, so the original budget stays visible.

Cost to date is everything posted to the ledger: paid invoices, payroll, and petty cash envelopes coded to the account.

Open POs are commitments. A [purchase order](https://storiara.com/glossary/purchase-order) for the lighting package that hasn't been invoiced is still money the show owes, so it counts toward EFC now, not when the invoice lands.

ETC, the [estimate to complete](https://storiara.com/glossary/estimate-to-complete), is the judgment column: what the account still needs from today to delivery, after the POs. It's the only number on the report that someone has to think about, and it's where reports go wrong.

EFC and variance follow from the arithmetic. The last two columns, last week's EFC and the change since, turn a single report into a trend.

## Read it in this order

1. The bottom line. NORTHBOUND is projecting $18,600 over its account budget. Against $130,000 of contingency, that's a draw of 14.3% of the reserve, leaving $111,400 if nothing else changes.
2. The change column. The projection got worse by $12,300 in one week. A show that was $6,300 over last week and is $18,600 over now is moving the wrong way, and that trend deserves more attention than the size of the number.
3. The accounts driving the change. Locations moved $7,200 and grip moved $3,600. Those two explain $10,800 of the $12,300.
4. The notes. Every significant variance should have one.
5. The ETCs on the accounts with the most schedule left.

The report's notes page for this week might read:

```
3600 Locations: Motel location lost Day 11; replacement site fee +$4,800,
     added prep/wrap day +$2,400. Approved by producer 9/10.
2500 Grip: Additional rigging crew for Days 12-13 night exteriors, +$3,600.
1400 Cast: Day player carried 1 extra day (weather), +$1,500.
```

If the notes don't explain the change column, ask before you do anything else.

## Checking the estimate to complete

Test the ETCs against what's left on the [shooting schedule](https://storiara.com/glossary/shooting-schedule), not against the budget. A quick check is the burn rate. After 3 of 5 shoot weeks, 60% of shoot days are done. Cost to date is $668,400, which is 49.9% of the $1,338,600 EFC. That's plausible: the insurance premium is already fully paid, but nearly all of editorial ($84,000 of ETC) and the wrap costs are still ahead. If cost to date were already 70% of EFC with two shoot weeks and all of post still ahead, the ETCs would be too low.

Account by account, look for these patterns:

- ETC exactly equals budget minus cost to date. Editorial shows $90,000 - $6,000 = $84,000. That's reasonable here because the edit hasn't started, but if every production account had this pattern, nobody has done an estimate; they've subtracted.
- An ETC that doesn't change while the schedule does. If two night exteriors were added to week 5, grip, lighting, and transportation ETCs should all move.
- Open POs counted twice. Camera shows $18,000 in open POs for the camera package. If the ETC of $38,500 also includes the remaining package weeks, the account is overstated by up to $18,000. The ETC should cover only what the POs don't.
- A negative ETC. It means costs to date plus POs already exceed the accountant's estimate of the final cost, which is a data-entry error or a sign that an account has closed over budget without anyone saying so.

## Red flags on this report

Locations is the account to watch. It's $13,400 over and moved $7,200 this week. The motel loss explains most of it, but with 2 weeks left, the line producer should confirm that the remaining sites are signed, with certificates of insurance delivered, before next week's report.

Grip at ($7,800) is 9.5% over its $82,000 budget. The added rigging crew is a known, approved cost. What to watch is whether the night exteriors in week 5 carry more overtime than the ETC assumes. The daily [hot cost report](https://storiara.com/templates/hot-cost-report) will show that before the weekly report does, and the [overtime calculator](https://storiara.com/tools/overtime-calculator) can price a longer day ahead of time.

Cast at ($6,000) is small but driven by weather. If weather is still in the forecast, the cast ETC should include at least one more carried day.

## Who reads the report and what they do with it

The producers and the [line producer](https://storiara.com/roles/line-producer) use it to decide what to cut or move. Financiers use it to judge whether the picture will finish within the money. On bonded films the guarantor gets it too. Film Finances, for example, requires daily shooting progress reports and weekly cost updates during production. The [production accountant](https://storiara.com/roles/production-accountant) owns the report, and the ETC meeting with the line producer is where its numbers get made.

For how daily costs feed this report, read [hot costs vs cost reports](https://storiara.com/blog/hot-costs-vs-cost-reports). For the account structure behind the rows, see [film chart of accounts](https://storiara.com/blog/film-chart-of-accounts).

Storiara's budget module builds the budget and exports it to Excel, which gives an accountant the budget column to start from. It doesn't track actuals, purchase orders, or variance, so the weekly cost report itself is produced in accounting software.

## Frequently asked questions

### What does EFC stand for on a cost report?

Estimated final cost: what an account is expected to cost when the picture is finished. It's costs to date plus open purchase orders plus the estimate to complete.

### What's the difference between a cost report and hot costs?

Hot costs are a daily snapshot of the costs that move with each shoot day, mostly labor and overtime. The cost report is weekly, covers every account in the budget, and includes commitments and the estimate to complete.

### Why is the variance negative on my cost report?

Most cost reports show variance as budget minus EFC, so a negative number (often in parentheses) means the account is projected to go over budget. Check the report's legend, because some accountants reverse the sign.

### Who prepares the weekly cost report?

The production accountant, working with the line producer or UPM on the estimate to complete for each account. Financiers and completion guarantors usually receive a copy each week.

## Sources

- [Film Finances: Monitoring (daily shooting progress reports and weekly cost updates)](https://www.filmfinances.com/services/monitoring)