Don't Forget this in your Budget

I've learned the hard way through experience that, regardless of your budget, there are certain things that you should ALWAYS include in your film's budget from the very beginning. When seeking investments/investors or when raising funds, you should keep these items in mind.

Failure to include these things in your budget from the beginning will result in a lot of headache and/or credit card debt. Neither of which is fun.

Don't Forget about Delivery Formats

What is your target delivery for the film? Are you delivering to television networks? Are you ONLY going to DVD? Are you doing a theatrical run?

If you going to ONLY DVD, you may want to reconsider, there's quite a bit of money in the television market. Going to DVD will require the upfront cost of replicating DVDs.

If you're going to TV, you'll need to make a couple HDCAM or HDCAM SR masters. (HDCAM SR is full high definition and includes 12 channels of audio). There are a number of places that can do this for you straight from a hard drive.

Typical Cost for HDCAM SR Transfer from Hard Drive could be anywhere from $450 to $1,000 per copy (including tape stock).

If you're going to theaters, you should consider whether you're going to digital theaters or 35mm film theaters. The majority of the theaters are still in 35mm film, however, more and more are switching over to digital. If you plan on going only to digital theaters, you should note that not all theaters have digital projection and a lot of theaters with digital projection have their digital screens booked to bigger name movies (especially the 3D ones).

A 35mm film-out can run you anywhere from $30,000 to $40,000 plus anywhere from $1,000 to $2,000 for each additional copy. (Check Fotokem)

While with digital theaters, as you may have the option of providing an HDCAM SR master to some, most may require a DCP (Digital Content Package). Basically, it's a hard drive formatted in a specific way containing the film. For LOGAN, I had a place in London create my DCP, including express shipping from the U.S. to London and back, it was still less than $3,000, which is pretty cheap. You can check out their site at http://www.expressdcp.com/

Some major film festivals may also require an HDCAM or HDCAM SR format for screening your film.

Don't Forget about DVD Artwork

Not all filmmakers, directors, and producers are as talented when it comes to designing DVD box cover art which is appealing to the consumer as some who make that their profession.

When producing Completing Kaden, I was working with a distributor who was approaching many buyers regarding the DVDs. Fox Faith liked the show but they didn't like the DVD cover. For that reason, they wouldn't buy it. Lesson learned.

If you aren't amazing at designing stunning DVD wraps, you'll definitely want to consider hiring someone to do that for you.

If you are self-distributing your DVD, you'll want a cover that will sell and that will be appealing to the buyers who pick what their stores sell.

If you are going with a DVD distributor, they'll probably want a cover that sells and may charge you to hire someone to do it anyway.

I'd recommend budgetting around $5,000 to hire someone to do this, BUT wait until you have a distributor on board before you actually have this designed as some will want changes.

The last thing you want is to blow $5,000 on someone to design a cover and then have a distributor come along and say, "we love the film but hate the cover, it'll cost you $5,000 to hire someone to redesign it".

Don't Forget about Marketing, Festivals, and Stuff

Even if you plan on sending a letter to 1,000 organizations asking them to support your project, that's still marketing expenses. You have paper, envelopes, stamps, printer ink. It adds up. This could run easily close to $1,000.

If you're looking for distribution, you should have Sell Sheets professionally printed, you should prepare nice screener DVDs, you'll have pay for envelopes, cover letters, and postage. You may even need to attend a couple film markets for a day or two. This type of scenario could easily cost you close to $3,000 or more. Check out the American Film Market.

If you're planning on submitting to film festivals, don't forget that each festival (well, most festivals) have a submission fee and could cost you anywhere from $15 to $120 to submit your film. This adds up quickly. Plus, there's postage, screening DVDs, and delivery formats.

If you're planning a theatrical run, you should budget quite a bit more, and HAVE IT IN YOUR BUDGET FROM THE START! Anywhere from $10,000 to $100,000 PER MARKET that you are releasing in depending on the number of screens you're showing on, the stars in the film, and how many people you hope to bring to your showings.

Premiere Expenses

Yes, the Red Carpet premiere where you show off your work. Work this into your budget. And despite popular belief, the premiere is NOT for all the cast and crew and extras. The premiere is for the influential people in the town, the press, the reporters, and then the cast and crew. When people get an invite to a premiere ahead of time, they feel important. If they like the film, they'll tell others about it.

When budgetting your premiere, don't forget about theater rental, red carpet rental, limos, promotions and publicity, posters for an autograph signing, travel expenses for actors, etc. You could easily budget $5,000 or more for a premiere.

Did you find this
article helpful?

Order my book!

197 pages of film
making advice from
first-hand experience.
I made mistakes so that
you don't have to.