Feature Film Budgeting: A Step-by-Step Manual

by Ken Goldberg

Overview

Feature Film Budgeting: A Step-by-Step Manual is a step-by-step guide to film budgeting in the $600k to $6.5 Million range. Be it the film student, Line Producer, 1st Assistant Director, or script writer, all will benefit from the easy-to-follow steps on how to create a film budget.

This book walks the reader through how to:

- find current and future salary rates for every Hollywood Guild
- determine Prep and Wrap periods for all crew members
- navigate the Guild contracts for easy understanding
- analyze salary rates and how they were arrived at
- simplify the application of fringe rates (tax percentages).

Additionally, sample budgets are presented to reinforce knowledge gained in each chapter through a comprehensive breakdown.

Notably, this manual covers films budgeted in the $600,000 to $6.5 Million range. This allows the reader to focus and excel at those budget levels before moving on to higher budget levels.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9798765102954
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	01/25/2024
Pages:	360
Product dimensions:	7.05(w) x 10.05(h) x 0.75(d)

About the Author

Ken Goldberg is an Independent Scholar living in the USA, who has worked on creating film budgets for many years. He has 25 years of Film Production experience, moving up from ranks of Production Assistant to Script Supervisor to Line Producer/Production Accountant, on films such as All In (2006) Producer/Director - Nick Vallelonga and Rock N Roll Zombie Apocalypse (2018) Writer/Producer - David A. Lockhart; and Consent: A Hollywood Love Story (2019) Writer/Producer Shelly Pack.

Table of Contents

In Memory Of
Preface
Acknowledgments
How to Use this Manual
Key

1. Above-the-Line
1000 DEVELOPMENT
1100 STORY, RIGHTS, AND CONTINUITY
1200 PRODUCERS
1300 DIRECTOR
1400 CAST
1500 A-T-L TRAVEL AND LIVING
1600 A-T-L FRINGES

2. Production
1700 PRODUCTION STAFF
1800 EXTRAS
1900 ART DEPARTMENT
2000 SET CONSTRUCTION
2100 SET OPERATIONS
2200 SPECIAL EFFECTS
2300 SET DRESSING
2400 PROPS
2500 WARDROBE DEPARTMENT
2600 MAKE UP & HAIR DEPARTMENT
2700 ELECTRIC OPERATIONS
2800 CAMERA OPERATIONS
2900 PRODUCTION SOUND
3000 LOCATION DEPARTMENT
3100 TRANSPORTATION DEPARTMENT
3200 PICTURE VEHICLES & ANIMALS
3300 PRODUCTION FILM AND LAB
3400 TESTS
3500 B-T-L FRINGES

3. Post-Production
3600 FILM EDITING
3700 POST-PRODUCTION FILM & LAB
3800 POST-PRODUCTION SOUND
3900 DELIVERABLES
4000 MUSIC
4100 TITLES, VFX, OPTICALS, INSERTS
4200 TOTAL FRINGES

4. Other Expenses
4300 INSURANCE
4400 LEGAL FEES
4500 PUBLICITY
4600 GENERAL EXPENSES
4700 HEALTH & SAFETY (COVID COMPLIANCE)
4800 CONTINGENCY
4900 COMPLETION BOND
5000 TOTAL FRINGES

Globals
APPENDIX A: “2022 Theatrical Rate Sheet”
APPENDIX B: Sample Budget #1 - $5,076,507
APPENDIX C: Sample Budget #2 - $2,889,140
APPENDIX D: Sample Budget #3 - $698,307

Glossary
End Notes
Index

Editorial Reviews

A super-detailed resource for anyone who wants an in-depth explanation of film budgeting line items.” —Kim Adelman, Instructor, Low Budget Filmmaking, UCLA Extension, USA

“Feature Film Budgeting; A Step-by-Step Manual is your meticulously detailed roadmap to creating a movie budget. Author Ken Goldberg throws open the curtains for beginners on an often-overwhelming task of movie budgeting, taking you through each line item, one at a time. With precise instruction, color-coding and sample budgets as examples of how the process works, readers with movie budgeting software will understand terminology, how to source pay rates, start and finish a complete movie budget.” —Paula Landry, Filmmaker/Author/Entrepreneur, Media Management School for Business, Metropolitan College of New York, USA

From the Publisher