A burn rate by phase
For a fictional $1,800,000 feature:
| Phase | Weeks | Spend in phase | Weekly burn |
|---|---|---|---|
| Prep | 6 | $270,000 | $45,000 |
| Principal photography | 5 | $950,000 | $190,000 |
| Wrap | 2 | $60,000 | $30,000 |
| Post-production | 20 | $340,000 | $17,000 |
The remaining $180,000 of the budget is contingency, bond, and other lines spent unevenly. A shoot week at $190,000 over 5 days is $38,000 per shoot day. That's the number a line producer quotes when the director asks for another day.
Using it during production
At the end of shoot week 3, actual spend on shooting is $612,000 against a planned $570,000 (3 x $190,000). Actual burn is $612,000 / 3 = $204,000 a week. If that pace holds for the last two weeks, shooting costs $612,000 + (2 x $204,000) = $1,020,000, which is $70,000 over the $950,000 planned. That feeds the estimate to complete and warns the producer two weeks before wrap, when there's still time to cut.
Daily hot costs explain why the burn is higher: longer days, more background, extra rentals.
Burn rate and cash
The cash flow schedule is built on planned burn by week. If money comes from a lender in drawdowns, a higher burn means the production needs its next drawdown sooner. It also drives shutdown costs: when shooting stops, some of the burn stops and some keeps running, and the part that keeps running is the cost of waiting.
Misreading the burn
Averaging the whole budget over the whole calendar, which hides the shooting peak. Leaving fringes out of daily burn. And comparing burn rates between films without adjusting for crew size, union status, and location. The film budget estimator gives a starting daily cost for early planning, but the real burn comes from your own cost report.