I love creating budgets. I find it relaxing. Numbers don’t lie and it’s a great pre-visualization tool for any production. Budgets are one of the first steps in the development/prep stage for your project. When you do the first draft of any budget, you can’t know every answer or detail yet and many line items will be guesses. But there are 5 things that you really need to know or else you won’t get very far in creating a budget. 1. Create a tentative schedule Make sure to do a script breakdown and then put together a draft of a realistic schedule that includes pre-production, production and post-production/delivery. If you…
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Use the “sharing economy” for your film
Producers are always mindful of how best to stretch the budget to accommodate the creative vision and practical requirements for any film production. The sharing economy is especially helpful in several areas of film budget to maximizing your money. Below is a breakdown of how to use it for some of the key budget line items: Vehicles, Locations/Spaces and Art department materials. Vehicles Car rental companies have been around for decades and have epitomized the sharing economy way before it was even a word. The best known companies in the U.S. are Avis, Hertz, Budget and Enterprise. They all have memberships and rewards programs and I highly recommend you take…
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What the hell do they do? Producers
This is the first in a series of posts that will define and highlight different job positions in the film industry. We are starting this monthly series with the Producer job because a) it’s the focus of this whole website and b) it’s probably the job that the most people can’t really explain what the hell they do! The simple answer I often give is Producers make it all happen. Without a producer you really can’t get a project done. Have you ever tried to make a film without a producer? It doesn’t work. I guess I’m a little biased but I’ve watched directors try to direct and produce and…
