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

Source: https://storiara.com/blog/short-form-series-budget
Last updated: 2026-09-14
Author: Spencer Kaufman, Storiara

> Budget a short-form series from quantities before rates. Count shoot days, prep and wrap days, performer work days from the day out of days, background days, locations, wardrobe looks, and episodes to edit. Multiply each by rates from your own deal memos and quotes. Then split the budget into costs that grow with shoot days and costs that grow with episodes, so you can see what an extra day or episode really costs.

This post budgets ASHFORD HEIR, the fictional 60-episode vertical series planned in [how to plan a vertical drama shoot](https://storiara.com/blog/how-to-plan-a-vertical-drama-shoot): 97 4/8 pages, eight shoot days, five locations. It doesn't hand you rates. Crew and cast rates for short-form work vary by city, by agreement, and by deal, and a rate copied from a blog post goes stale the week it's published. The method below gets every quantity right first, then shows where your own numbers go, with the one rate that can be checked against a public source worked in full.

## Start from quantities

A wrong quantity does more damage than a slightly wrong rate. Someone budgets eight days of crew and forgets two prep days for the art department, or budgets the leads and forgets that a supporting actor who works Day 1 and Day 7 might be paid for the days between.

Pull every quantity from paperwork you already have:

| Quantity | ASHFORD HEIR | Where it comes from |
|---|---|---|
| Episodes | 60 | Scripts |
| Script pages | 97 4/8 | Breakdown |
| Shoot days | 8 | Shooting schedule |
| Prep days, full crew | 2 (tech scouts, camera tests) | Production calendar |
| Wrap days | 1 | Production calendar |
| Locations | 5 | Schedule |
| Performer work days | 31 | Day out of days |
| Background days | 54 | Breakdown and schedule |
| Wardrobe looks, lead only | 11 | Story day breakdown |
| Estimated finished runtime | 90 minutes (60 x 90 seconds) | Editor's estimate from the scripts |

## Cast days from the day out of days

Cast is where holds hide. Here's the cast for ASHFORD HEIR by shoot day:

| Role | Days worked | Work days | Days between first and last not worked |
|---|---|---|---|
| Clara (lead) | 1 to 8 | 8 | 0 |
| Julian (lead) | 1 to 8 | 8 | 0 |
| Victoria (rival) | 1, 3, 4, 7 | 4 | 3 (Days 2, 5, 6) |
| Julian's father | 3, 7, 8 | 3 | 3 (Days 4, 5, 6) |
| CEO's assistant | 3, 4 | 2 | 0 |
| Clara's sister | 5, 6 | 2 | 0 |
| Grandmother | 7, 8 | 2 | 0 |
| Doctor | 5 | 1 | 0 |
| Marco (bistro owner) | 6 | 1 | 0 |
| Total | | 31 | 6 |

Add the work days: 8 + 8 + 4 + 3 + 2 + 2 + 2 + 1 + 1 = 31. The last column is the budget risk. If Victoria and Julian's father are held on the days between their work days, the production pays for up to 37 performer days instead of 31. If their agreement and deals allow a drop and pickup, it's 31. Victoria's Day 1 scene is in the penthouse and her next work day is at the tower, so removing her Day 2 hold means rewriting that scene into a tower set, which only works if the story allows it. Decide this before the deals are made, because it changes what you negotiate. The [day out of days template](https://storiara.com/templates/day-out-of-days) lays this out.

On rates: SAG-AFTRA's FAQ on the 2026 TV/Theatrical Agreement says verticals made by AMPTP member companies are covered by the Made for New Media Sideletter, which allows negotiable rates, and that the union has a separate verticals contract for independent producers. For the union's independent new media agreements, initial compensation can be deferred under the 2017 New Media Agreement, while the Special New Media Agreement has minimums that can't be deferred. The FAQ also notes that productions shooting partly or entirely outside the United States are subject to full rates and terms. Get the current terms from the union and put the negotiated numbers in the rate column.

## A worksheet by account

Group the quantities into accounts using the numbering your accountant or budgeting software uses. The [film chart of accounts](https://storiara.com/blog/film-chart-of-accounts) explains the series. Leave the rate column for your quotes.

| Acct | Line | Quantity | Unit | Rate | Grows with |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1100 | Writers, 60 episodes | 60 | episode | your deal | Episodes |
| 1300 | Director | 2 prep + 8 shoot | day | your deal | Days |
| 1400 | Principal cast | 31 work days (up to 37 with holds) | day | negotiated | Days |
| 2000 | Production staff (UPM, ADs, PAs) | See PA example below | day | your deals | Days |
| 2100 | Background | 54 | person-day | casting quote | Days |
| 2800 | Props | 5 locations | allowance | dept estimate | Locations |
| 2900 | Wardrobe | 11 lead looks + supporting | look | dept estimate | Looks |
| 3100 | Makeup and hair | 8 shoot + 1 prep | day | your deals | Days |
| 3200 / 3300 | Lighting, grip, camera package | 8 shoot + 1 test | rental day | rental quote | Days |
| 3400 | Production sound | 8 | day | your deal | Days |
| 3500 | Transportation | 8 shoot + 2 prep | day | quote | Days |
| 3600 | Locations | 5 sites, 8 shoot days + prep | site-day | location agreements | Days |
| 4500 | Editorial | 60 episodes | episode | editor deal | Episodes |
| 4600 | Music | 60 episodes | episode or license | library or composer | Episodes |
| 4700 / 4800 | Post sound, color | 90 minutes | finished minute | post house quote | Runtime |
| 6700 | Insurance | 1 | policy | broker quote | Fixed |

The last column is what makes this useful when plans change.

## One line worked in full: set PAs in California

Here's a line with a rate you can check. Suppose ASHFORD HEIR shoots in California, is non-union, and pays three set PAs the state minimum wage, which the Department of Industrial Relations lists as $16.90 an hour from January 1, 2026. (Several California cities have higher local minimums, so check where you shoot.)

California's wage order for the motion picture industry requires time and a half for hours over 8 in a workday, up to 12, and double time after 12. The schedule plans 12-hour days, so budget each PA day as:

- 8 hours at $16.90 = $135.20
- 4 hours at $25.35 = $101.40
- Total per day = $236.60

Three PAs for eight shoot days is 3 x 8 x $236.60 = $5,678.40, before payroll taxes and fees. An office PA for 2 prep days, 8 shoot days, and 1 wrap day at 8-hour days is 11 x $135.20 = $1,487.20. If the office PA's shoot days run 10 hours instead, each of those 8 days becomes $135.20 + 2 x $25.35 = $185.90, and the line goes up by 8 x $50.70 = $405.60.

The same order requires a meal period within six hours of the start of work and a one-hour premium at the regular rate for each workday a required meal period isn't provided. Budget a little for those on a compressed schedule, because a vertical day with 24 scenes is exactly where lunch slides. Add fringes from your payroll company's quote. The [film budget fringes](https://storiara.com/blog/film-budget-fringes) post explains what goes in them.

## What one more day costs

Now split the finished budget into two piles. Every line marked Days in the last column is a day cost. Add those lines and divide by eight to get the cost of one shoot day.

Even the PA line shows how this adds up. Three set PAs alone add $709.80 per extra shoot day. Crew, camera and lighting rentals, locations, catering, and transportation all add to the same figure. When the producers of ASHFORD HEIR compared the 8-day plan to a 10-day plan, the comparison came down to two times that daily figure, plus two more days of holds for anyone not dropped.

Episode costs behave differently. Writing, editing, music, and post sound follow episodes or runtime. Adding ten episodes to the same eight shoot days raises pages per day and those episode lines, but not the day lines, as long as the days can hold the pages. That's the budget case for tight writing: an episode that fits into existing sets costs mostly post.

## Cost per episode and per finished minute

Platforms and financiers often ask for these. Once you have a total budget B:

| Measure | Formula | ASHFORD HEIR |
|---|---|---|
| Cost per episode | B / 60 | B / 60 |
| Cost per finished minute | B / runtime in minutes | B / 90 |
| Cost per shoot day | B / 8 | B / 8 |
| Cost per script page | B / 97.5 | B / 97.5 |

The runtime is an estimate until picture lock. If the cut averages 75 seconds per episode instead of 90, runtime drops to 75 minutes and the cost per finished minute rises by a fifth (90 / 75 = 1.2), even though nothing was spent differently. Say which runtime the figure is based on.

## Contingency and the lines people forget

A short schedule has little room to absorb a lost day, so carry a contingency line after the subtotal. Choose the percentage with the producers and any financier. [Film budget contingency](https://storiara.com/blog/film-budget-contingency) covers how it's set and when it's released.

Lines that often go missing from short-form budgets: fittings and rehearsal days for cast, the tech scout (crew paid, vans, meals), background wardrobe changes on days like the wedding, stunt coordinator and safety for a single stunt, a studio teacher if a minor is cast, deliverables such as captions and multiple aspect ratios if a platform asks for them, and music licensing terms that cover every platform you plan to post on.

## Building it in Storiara

Storiara's budget starts from a setup wizard (production type, union tier, shoot days, prep and post weeks, contingency, and an optional completion bond) and builds a top sheet and line items from the project's cast, crew, equipment, locations, and assets, filling gaps from built-in tier tables. Cast paid days come from the Day Out of Days. You can edit any line, sync again from the story data without losing manual edits, and export the budget to Excel. Enter your own negotiated rates rather than relying on the built-in tables for union figures.

## Frequently asked questions

### What's the biggest cost driver in a vertical series budget?

Usually the number of shoot days, because crew, equipment rentals, locations, catering, and transportation are all paid by the day. Episode count drives post-production and some above-the-line costs, but a series with twice the episodes shot in the same number of days doesn't cost twice as much to shoot.

### How do you calculate cost per finished minute?

Divide the total budget by the total runtime of the finished episodes in minutes. For 60 episodes averaging 90 seconds, runtime is 90 minutes, so the cost per finished minute is the budget divided by 90.

### Are SAG-AFTRA rates fixed for vertical series?

Not always. SAG-AFTRA says vertical programs for AMPTP companies are covered by the Made for New Media Sideletter, which allows negotiable rates. Under its independent 2017 New Media Agreement, initial compensation can be deferred, while the Special New Media Agreement has minimums that can't be. Check current terms with the union.

### Should a short-form series budget include contingency?

Yes. Short schedules have little room to absorb a lost day, and a single added shoot day can be a large share of a small budget. The percentage is a decision for the producers and any financier, and it's shown as its own line after the subtotal.

## Sources

- [SAG-AFTRA: How are terms for verticals (micro-dramas) treated under the 2026 TV/Theatrical Agreement?](https://servicesagaftra.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/2825)
- [SAG-AFTRA: What is the minimum pay scale for New Media productions?](https://servicesagaftra.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/990)
- [California IWC Order No. 12-2001, Motion Picture Industry](https://www.dir.ca.gov/iwc/IWCArticle12.pdf)
- [California DIR: Minimum wage frequently asked questions](https://www.dir.ca.gov/dlse/faq_minimumwage.htm)