A sample top sheet for a small feature
Here is what the page looks like for a fictional 18-day feature. The numbers are illustrative, but the structure is the standard one.
| Acct | Category | Total |
|---|---|---|
| 1100 | Story and rights | $25,000 |
| 1200 | Producers | $60,000 |
| 1300 | Director | $40,000 |
| 1400 | Cast | $95,000 |
| Total above-the-line | $220,000 | |
| 2000 | Production staff | $58,000 |
| 2200 to 3700 | Art, camera, grip, electric, sound, locations, transport | $412,000 |
| Total production | $470,000 | |
| 4500 to 5000 | Editorial, music, post sound, VFX, deliverables | $110,000 |
| 6500 to 7000 | Insurance, legal, accounting, general | $48,000 |
| Total below-the-line | $628,000 | |
| Total above and below | $848,000 | |
| Contingency (10%) | $84,800 | |
| Grand total | $932,800 |
Contingency here is 10% of $848,000. If a lender asked for a completion bond, its fee would appear as another line between contingency and the grand total.
Reading it the way a financier does
People who fund films look at ratios before they look at lines. How much of the money is above-the-line? Does the post total look realistic for the delivery requirements? Is there a contingency at all? A top sheet with a $95,000 cast line and an 18-day schedule tells an experienced reader roughly which SAG-AFTRA agreement you are probably on, so the two need to agree.
Mistakes that make a top sheet useless
The top sheet has to be generated from the detail. If someone edits a category total on the summary page without changing the lines underneath, the budget no longer adds up, and a production accountant will find it the first time they build a cost report. Other common problems: account numbers that don't match the chart of accounts your accountant set up, category totals that leave out fringes while the grand total includes them, and a missing date or version number, which matters once the budget is revised.
Where it connects
The top sheet is the summary of the full production budget, and once financing closes it becomes the "budget" column in every weekly cost report. You can start from the budget top sheet template, and the film budget top sheet explained post goes through each category in more detail.