How To Prepare A Film Budget

Learn directly from Host Tatiana Kelly, who has produced almost two dozen independent films including The Words (Bradley Cooper and Zoe Saldana), The Catcher was a Spy with Paul Rudd, Life of a King with Cuba Gooding Jr. and more! 

"Tatiana Kelly presentation was very thorough. I have five pages of notes taht i can use later. I feel more prepared in planning a budget. Kudos!" --Sandra R

One of the most critical stages in filmmaking, once you have a script, is budgeting your film. The budget can cover everything from the inception of the project, such as writing fees and other development costs, all the way to the finished film and even film festival marketing. Whether the film is under $10,000 or over $10,000,000 the film budget must present a spending plan for every dollar to be expended on the production.

You will need to have a budget that is detailed and accurate because it will serve as the road map and your bible for the project. It is also one of the key documents of your presentation that should be in place when seeking out investments. It is really the scope of the budget that will directly affect the amount of money needed to be raised.

Creating a budget is not an easy task given that it can consist of hundreds of line items that have to be balanced across many different competing priorities. Both over and under estimating the budget can be disastrous in that you can either end up not having enough money to finish the film or you can have enough but it will be impossible for investors to recoup their financial investment.

To help you on your way to understanding budget, we've brought in producer Tatiana Kelly. Tatiana has produced almost two dozen independent films including The Words (Bradley Cooper and Zoe Saldana), The Catcher was a Spy with Paul Rudd, Life of a King with Cuba Gooding Jr., Cut Throat City, produced with Reggie Hudlin (Django Unchained), directed by RZA from Wu Tang Clan, Indie darling Wristcutters: A Love Story, and many more. 

In this Stage 32 Next Level Webinar, Tatiana will present a straightforward method of developing a working budget. She will discuss what some of the key questions are as well as the decisions that need to be made prior to embarking on a budget. There are certain primary elements of the film and the screenplay that may be necessary such as stunts or locations or cast in order to secure financing for example, and which will help start to build out the budget. She will also cover budgeting basics and review what all of the line items represent.