This is the hot cost for Day 4 of SALT FLATS, the 12-day feature shooting around Bakersfield. It was built the next morning from the Day 4 daily production report and the crew time cards, and it prices only the things that differed from the budget for that day. For the reasoning behind daily cost tracking, read how to manage production costs with hot costs, and for how it differs from the weekly report, see hot costs vs. cost reports.
Day 4 was a good day by the DPR's standards. All 6 7/8 pages were shot, camera wrapped eight minutes ahead of the estimate, and nothing was carried over except an insert. It still came in $913 over, and the hot cost is where that shows up.
What each block is for
The report info block says which day it covers, when it was written, and what it was built from. A hot cost that doesn't name its sources can't be checked when the invoices arrive.
Schedule vs. actual is copied from the call sheet and the DPR. It explains the money. The late first shot and the 35-minute company move were absorbed without losing pages. The double time came from early department calls (the camera assistants and hair and makeup at 6:30 AM) plus most of an hour of wrap-out at the diner. The meals line matters because catering bills per head.
Cost variances is the core of the report. Each row is a budget line that had a cost that day, with the budget for that day, the estimated actual, and the difference. Rows with no variance are there on purpose: background, stand-ins, and location fees are the lines a producer would ask about after a company move day, so the report shows they came in at budget.
The running total carries each day's result forward. After four days SALT FLATS is $2,178 over.
Known costs ahead is the part that lets someone act. Day 5 is the motel interiors, and tenting the windows for the night scenes is a 90-minute rig. If the 1st AD's 13-hour estimate holds, 25 crew each pick up an hour of double time.
How the Day 4 numbers were worked out
SALT FLATS crew have 10-hour day rates, and the budget already carries an allowance for hours 11 and 12 on every shoot day. So the hot cost only prices time past 12 hours, which California's Labor Code 510 requires to be paid at double time.
- Pull in and out times from each crew time card and subtract the 30-minute lunch. The 1st AC was in at 6:30 AM and out at 7:40 PM: 13 hours 10 minutes, less 30 minutes, is 12 hours 40 minutes, so about 0.7 hours past 12.
- Add the hours past 12 for every crew member. Fourteen people went past 12, for 10.0 hours in total.
- Price it at the average double-time rate. The crew's average base is $30 an hour, so double time averages $60, and 10 x $60 = $600.
- Add fringes: 18% of $600 is $108.
- Check the per-head items. Catering served 46 against 40 budgeted, so 6 x $20 = $120 over.
- Add anything from vendor calls. The rental house swapped the 50mm prime the 1st AC flagged and charged $85 for the courier.
- Total it: $600 + $108 + $120 + $85 = $913.
The overtime calculator handles individual time cards if you want to check a single crew member's day.
Filling in tomorrow's report
- Wait for the DPR and time cards. Start the report by mid-morning so it goes out before lunch.
- Copy the scheduled times from the call sheet and actual times from the DPR.
- Pull the day's budget for every line that usually moves: overtime, background, stand-ins, catering, location fees, and any daily rentals.
- Enter actuals from time cards, the Exhibit G for cast, the catering count, and vendor calls. When a figure is still an estimate, label it that way in the note.
- Add fringes on every labor overage.
- Update the running total.
- Ask the 1st AD and department heads what they already know about the next few days, and price it.
- Send it to the UPM and producer, and file it with the day's paperwork for the weekly cost report.
Why some hot costs get ignored
The most common is sending the report too late to change anything. The value of the Day 5 line is that the UPM can still ask whether the tenting rig can be pre-rigged by a smaller crew the night before.
Another is leaving fringes off. Overtime that looks like $600 costs $708.
Some reports compare against the wrong budget, either the whole account instead of that day's share, or a budget that doesn't include the overtime allowance. Either way the day looks worse or better than it was.
The last is ignoring cast time. On days when performers run long, the Exhibit G drives cast overtime, and that belongs on the hot cost even before payroll confirms the amount.
Where the numbers go next
Each week's hot costs feed the weekly cost report, where estimates are replaced by invoices and the estimate to complete is revised. The budget lines being compared against come from the indie film budget for the same film.
Hot costs and Storiara
Storiara's Budget module doesn't track actual costs or variances, so hot costs live in a sheet like this one. The budget's Excel export gives you the account numbers and line amounts to compare against.