How to upload an existing budget

If the budget is already done, you don't want an app re-estimating it. Upload an existing budget takes a Movie Magic Budgeting file with figures in it and keeps every line, fringe, global, group, and charge as it is. There are no setup questions. Storiara reads the setup from the budget itself.

Use this when a line producer hands you a locked budget and you want it in the project for the cost report, incentive tagging, and funding estimates.

Steps

1. Save the budget from Movie Magic Budgeting 10 as a .mmbx file.
2. In Storiara, open Budget under Financing. The page says No budget yet.
3. Click Upload an existing budget and choose the file.
4. Wait for the Budget imported message. It gives the grand total and lists what was read from the budget.

The budget opens in the grid straight away.

What is read from the budget

The message after import has two parts. "Setup read from the budget" lists what Storiara found in the file: shoot days, prep weeks, post weeks, the contingency percentage (or no contingency), a completion bond if there is one, and whether the budget carries guild fringes. "Assumed, check in Reconfigure" lists anything it could not find and filled in, for example shoot days taken from the project's schedule when the budget has no shoot-days global.

Say you upload "Night Shoot Locked v4.mmbx". The message might read: grand total $17,240,000, setup read from the budget: 38 shoot days, 10% contingency, a completion bond, guild fringes. Assumed: 8 prep weeks, 20 post weeks. Open Reconfigure if those two are wrong for your show.

Totals

Storiara recalculates the file with the same rules Movie Magic Budgeting uses, including fringe cutoffs, globals, group exclusions, and charges, so the grand total here should match the one you saved.

What you can and can't do with it

• Edit it in the grid, apply fringes and groups, and export it back with Export .mmbx.
• Tag it for incentives with Auto tag. Tagging does not change any number. See how to tag a budget for incentives.
• Track actuals, purchase orders, and petty cash against its accounts on the other tabs.
• There is no Sync button. Sync re-runs Storiara's estimates, and an uploaded budget has none. If you later want estimates added, open Reconfigure and turn on Fill in estimates. A review shows what would be added before anything is saved.

If it doesn't work

• That budget is empty means the file has accounts but no figures, so there is no setup to read. Use Upload a template instead, which fills the chart with estimates. See how to upload a Movie Magic template.
• Could not read the budget means the file is not a .mmbx Storiara can open. Save it again from Movie Magic Budgeting 10.
• The project already has a budget? The three start buttons only show with no budget. Use Import .mmbx in the grid toolbar to replace the current one. It confirms first and shows the stored and recalculated totals.

The Budget guide covers the rest of the page, and the top sheet entry explains how the summary is laid out.