Check it out…the budget for Almost Home
Well, when the author of Shaking the Money Tree suggests that a budget would be helpful, I jump! Thanks for the suggestion, Morrie.
My back is killing me!
Please know that the budget I’ve included here made a few assumptions that turned out not to be true. For instance, while the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee did provide space in-kind, it did not offer adequate legal services, so I had to purchase my own. Thank you FKKS! And technology has changed in just 3 years, when this budget was created, so keep that in mind. By and large, though, this budget is a good reflection of our effort. And we held to its bottom line. Let me know your thoughts. And please feel free to use the comments section of this blog to ask questions or discuss the budget. Hope you find this helpful. One note. Some links remained in the budget document that I pasted. I can’t get rid of them. They go nowhere. Sorry!
Enjoy!
| Acct. | Account Name | Unit | Qty | Rate | Amount | Detail Totals |
| 1100 | PRODUCTION STAFF | |||||
| 1101 | Producer | allow | 1 | $100,000 | $100,000 | |
| 1102 | Associate Producer | weeks | 77 | $800 | $61,280 | |
| 1105 | Project Intern(s) | UWM In-kind | 0 | $0 | $0 | |
| 1106 | Bookkeeper | weeks | 77 | $90 | $6,894 | |
| 1190 | Payroll Expenses | |||||
| 1191 | Production Staff taxes & fringe | allow | 1 | $31,325 | $31,325 | |
| TOTAL 1100 DETAIL | $199,499 | |||||
| 1300 | RESEARCH & PREPRODUC | |||||
| 1301 | Plane fares | RT – persons | 2 | $350 | $700 | |
| 1302 | Car rental | days | 2 | $65 | $130 | |
| 1303 | Hotel | persons – days | 2 | $100 | $200 | |
| 1304 | Ground transportation | days | 2 | $75 | $150 | |
| 1305 | Meals | person-days | 2 | $45 | $90 | |
| 1306 | Research materials | allow | 1 | $750 | $750 | |
| 1307 | Gratuities, Misc. Expenses | allow | 1 | $250 | $250 | |
| TOTAL 1300 DETAIL | $2,270 | |||||
| 1400 | PRODUCTION | |||||
| 1401 | Cameraperson | shoot days | 84 | $600 | $50,400 | |
| 1402 | Camera w/ ultra-wide lens | months | 7 | $4,500 | $31,500 | |
| 1403 | Sound Recordist | shoot days | 84 | $325 | $27,300 | |
| 1405 | Add’l Lighting Package | allow | 1 | $2,000 | $2,000 | |
| 1406 | DVCam Stock | T-60 | 294 | $24 | $7,056 | |
| 1407 | Production supplies | allow | 1 | $1,500 | $1,500 | |
| TOTAL 1400 DETAIL | $119,756 | |||||
| 1500 | PRODUCTION EXPENSES | |||||
| 1501 | Van Rental | days | 28 | $85 | $2,380 | |
| 1506 | Tolls, Parking, Gas | days | 28 | $20 | $560 | |
| 1507 | Production Food | days-persons | 168 | $45 | $7,560 | |
| 1510 | Location Fees | allow | 1 | $1,000 | $1,000 | |
| 1511 | Gratuities | allow | 1 | $500 | $500 | |
| TOTAL 1500 DETAIL | $12,000 | |||||
| 1600 | POST-PRODUCTION PERS | |||||
| 1601 | Editor | weeks | 36 | $2,500 | $89,000 | |
| 1604 | Ass’t Editor | weeks | 40 | $650 | $25,740 | |
| 1605 | Post-production Intern | weeks/inkind | 0 | $0 | $0 | |
| 1691 | Post-production Staff taxes & fringe | weeks / union payments | 36 | 220.00 | $7,832 | |
| TOTAL 1600 DETAIL | $122,572 | |||||
| 1700 | POST-PRODUCTION EQPT | |||||
| 1701 | Avid (editing facilities) | weeks | 36 | $1,000 | $36,000 | |
| 1702 | Edit phone, office & petty cash | Months | 9 | $75 | $675 | |
| 1703 | Transcription Service | hours | 74 | $120 | $8,820 | |
| 1705 | Add’l VHS Dubs | T-120 | 150 | $7 | $1,050 | |
| 1706 | On-line Edit | hours | 32 | $300 | $9,600 | |
| 1707 | Color Correct | hours | 24 | $300 | $7,200 | |
| 1708 | Computer Animation (Photos) | hours | 4 | $250 | $1,000 | |
| 1709 | Chryon Pre-programming | hours | 8 | $100 | $800 | |
| 1710 | Sound Editing | days | 10 | $650 | $6,500 | |
| 1711 | Audio Mix | hours | 48 | $300 | $14,400 | |
| 1712 | DigiBeta stock for masters | T-124 | 2 | $180 | $360 | |
| 1713 | Online Layoff to Digibeta | T-124 | 2 | $180 | $360 | |
| 1714 | Digibeta Copies from Master Digibeta | T-124 | 8 | $180 | $1,440 | |
| 1715 | Misc dubs, preview copies, etc | allow | 1 | $250 | $250 | |
| 1716 | VHS cassettes of final film | dubs | 100 | $7 | $700 | |
| 1717 | Edit Room Computer | allow | 1 | $2,000 | $2,000 | |
| 1718 | Graphic Opening Sequence | allow | 1 | $15,000 | $15,000 | |
| 1719 | Closed Captioning | hours | 2 | $1,600 | $3,200 | |
| 1720 | Plane Fares | trips | 7 | $350 | $2,450 | |
| 1721 | Ground Transportation | trips | 7 | $150 | $1,050 | |
| 1722 | Meals | trips | 21 | $65 | $1,365 | |
| TOTAL 1700 DETAIL | $114,220 | |||||
| 1800 | LICENSING | |||||
| 1801 | Original Music Score (incl. production) | allow | 1 | $15,000 | $15,000 | |
| 1802 | Music Cue Licensing | allow | 1 | $8,000 | $8,000 | |
| 1803 | Archival Footage Licensing (incl. transfers) | allow | 1 | $1,500 | $1,500 | |
| TOTAL 1800 DETAIL | $24,500 | |||||
| 2000 | PROFESSIONAL SERVICES | |||||
| 2001 | Legal | UWM In-kind / allow | 1 | $0 | $0 | |
| 2002 | Publicity | allow | 1 | $9,000 | $9,000 | |
| 2003 | Insurance (E&O) | allow | 1 | $6,000 | $6,000 | |
| TOTAL 2000 DETAIL | $15,000 | |||||
| Subtotal | $609,817 | |||||
| Outreach Grand Total | $262,048
$887,038 |
Brad, thank you so much for posting this budget. It really helps to see an actual, realistic, fairly recent one! I now feel that the budget I have created, which includes international travel locations, is not out of line. Being that this is my first documentary, I was a little concerned about that “total” line but this has reassured me that I am being realistic as well as thorough in accounting for everything.
Thanks again!
Stefani L. Weiss
February 23, 2009 at 9:58 am
I studied your posted budget, because I’m new to the trade, and want to learn from what others are doing. I’m an Executive producer and director at Red Fortress Entertainment and Liechtenstein Films. In 08, we did two shorts and one feature drama. I’ve read about the documentaries you have done, and they are similar to and idea I have. I’m preparing to go into the Arab world and to make some docs that will surprise people and help bust down the stereotypes so many people have of Arabs. If you would like to contact me, please send an invite on Linked In, or simply e-mail. I’d love to have some dialog on how you did your project on Arabs and other groups.
Carolina
February 23, 2009 at 7:07 pm
Thanks for providing a “succesful” proposal and budget for your project. We need more sharing like this.
Cortney Hamilton
February 23, 2009 at 10:19 pm
Brad, you’ve been extremely generous in sharing information with the documentary filmmaking community, through this blog and Doculink. We at Tallgrass Films truly appreciate it.
We’re planning a series of “production war stories” on our blog in hopes that our stories will also be helpful to other filmmakers.
What's the Matter with Kansas?
February 24, 2009 at 3:36 pm
Great to hear from you all at Tallgrass. Please let me know when you put up your “war stories” so that I might link to them on my blog. Good luck in the wars!
Brad Lichtenstein
February 25, 2009 at 10:54 am
Thanks for posting this Brad! And thank you for giving such a great nod to my Dad – Morrie Warshawski! He’s actually consulting with me now on a documentary we are trying to finish about Rwandan filmmakers (www.inflatablefilm.com). I’m just starting to fill out the ITVS application and this budget helps a lot – thank you.
Leah Warshawski
July 5, 2009 at 10:20 am
Brad:
I’m so glad you were willing to do this – it’s great to have more transparency in the field – it helps everyone out. I know this budget will be of assistance to lots of ITVS hopefulls. Thanks!
Morrie
Morrie Warshawski
July 5, 2009 at 10:51 am