Documentary Film Budget
Surprisingly, creating a comprehensive and realistic film budget is often something that documentary filmmakers neglect to do with care. And so by operating without one they have the sense of living paycheck to paycheck, not really knowing how they're going to make ends meet. This lack of financial planning would obviously be of detriment to any film, which is why we are going to create your film budget right now!
Why You Need A Documentary Film Budget
Your Roadmap
Your budget is your roadmap, albeit a fairly fluid one, to which you will regularly update and refer, to ensure that you are keeping in check with the fiscal expenses of your documentary film. In the same way that your treatment helps support the vision and overall look and feel of your film and your film proposal gives an overview of how you plan to make that vision come to life, your documentary budget helps to give you a financial overview of what will be required to produce that vision.
Fundraising
You will need a budget to fund your film. Almost all types of funding that you’ll be seeking ( whether it be grant-based applications, individual donations or corporate sponsorships) will want to see a budget for your film. Your budget lets a potential funder know that you take the fiscal aspects of your film seriously, that you are conscious of what is required to make your film and how their contribution will impact the making of it. It gives them confidence that you have the financial competency to ensure your documentary film gets made.
You may be able to garner some smaller individual donations without a budget, but any foundation or grant-based application will always require this information. Granting organizations or any corporate contributor will need to know you have a well-thought out and realistic budget as part of your proposal or application package. When a filmmaker applies for a grant and doesn’t include a realistic and competent budget along with their application – regardless of how good the project seems or how well the rest of the application presentation is – it makes it difficult for any would-be grantor to award to that project. It’s a red flag that cautions the organization that whilst your idea for your documentary film may be a very solid one, you may not have a realistic idea of how you financially ensure the project successfully comes to fruition.
Your Peace of Mind
Something that shouldn’t be underrated is that having a budget for your film gives you peace of mind. It gives you a framework of the financial requirements you have for your film and when you will need to have obtained the funds. Once you know how much money you require you can begin to feel, talk and plan more confidently about achieving it. Having a budget is integral to you confidently developing a fundraising strategy. If you don’t know how much you need, how can you strategically and competently begin to plan where and how you’ll garner your funds and how best to go out into the world and find them?
Know Where You Can Save and Splash
By having a realistic and comprehensive film budget you permit your project to evolve in a considered and organized manner, which doesn’t sound very sexy, but will give you greater flexibility and power over your aesthetic choices and all the bells, whistles and additions you will inevitably hope to incorporate along some aspect of the journey. You will know where you can splash and where you can save and ultimately make the best choices of what is required for you to make the best film you possibly can.
What You Need
Documentary Film Proposal
Before you begin to construct your budget you should have to hand a first draft version of your documentary proposal (at least). Now is the time to financially convey all the information that you have proposed as your intention for your film. In your proposal you will have stated how your film will look and how you need to consider every aspect of how you are going to make that happen.
You will need to consider who your crew will be and what their rates will be on the project, any special effects you will need to bring your vision to life, any additional equipment you will hire, what your distribution strategy will incorporate and what you’ll require for your initial outreach and release, as is outlined in your proposal.
You will, of course, break this down as you work through your line item budget, but it is helpful if before you begin you take some time to consider and make note of some of these expenses before you begin work on inputting on the budget template itself.
Production Schedule
And going hand-in-hand with your proposal is your production schedule, which can have a huge impact on your budget. As we get into the budget template you will see that many costs are based on the duration that the required crew member or number of days at a particular location your project will require.
It’s important that you begin to breakdown who and what you require. The more detailed you can get with this the better it will be for your film and certainly your film budget.
* Where will you be shooting?
* How many days do you think you’ll be in a certain location?
* Who will you need to travel there and what will you need when there?
* What format will you use? How much of the work will you do yourself?
* Factor in any assistants and support, things that may not immediately come to mind.
* Consider the access you have to your interviewees and take into account that their schedules could fluctuate or they may not be available to you exactly when and how you want them to be.
* Consider other restrictions you may have with travel or crew scheduling.
What you will note in your draft schedule are estimates, but it’s better to be providing an educated prediction rather than one that has been given little true consideration.
Budget Template
To create a budget you will, of course, need to have a budget template with which to work.
Download here >>> IDF101 Budget Template.xlsx
Note: The IDF101 budget template is based on Robert Bahar's sample budget, the original you can find here (scroll down to find download) and an updated version you can find here (scroll down to find download). Both articles are worthy of your perusal.
Create 3 budgets: Best Case | Happy-Medium | Bare-Bones
Once you have that clarity of vision from your documentary proposal and your production schedule and have begun to form some notes you will be ready to start your budget.
And, in fact, what we try to do and recommend you do too, is when we create our film budget to not simply create one budget, but to create three. Essentially, we recommend you create a best-case, a bare-bones and a happy-medium budget.
Note: This is a recommendation, but is absolutely not mandatory. You can create one budget or two or all three, dependent on what works for you and your film project.
Best Case Budget
You can start by creating your best case budget first. This is where you get to dream big. Imagine money were (almost) no issue and you had all of the best resources at your disposal? If you could have the DoP you were hoping for, some really nice looking motion graphics, get a known name to narrate, travel to a handful of exotic locations and shoot interviews and aerials over numerous weeks. The idea here is to think up your perfect, most ideal scenario and this is what you would budget for.
Low, Bare-bones Budget
Next, we recommend you create the low, bare-bones budget. You strip out all of the fat. You lose the exotic locations and make them much more local. You do all of the interviews in a much more concise time period. You limit the production requirements and accept having very basic graphics, maybe just for lower thirds. You consider what you can get for free or at a reduced cost. You create the minimum budget that you would need in order to pull off the making of your film.
Happy-Medium Budget
And then, you move on to the happy-medium budget. This is where the two previous budgets find a middle ground. You take what is absolutely necessary to make your film and you pepper in some production value. You add in nice score. You add a few more production days where it makes sense, including time for aerials. You budget a modest graphics package and so on.
Note on Grant Funding Budget: We recommend that when it comes to grant-based applications and indeed any funding source that requires information on your budget, that you supply them with information garnered from your happy-medium budget. In effect, the other two budgets are primarily for your consideration. They can assist you in where you can pull back and equally where you may wish to extend your resources.
How to Use The Budget Template
In the following video we have provided an overview of how to enter data into your comprehensive line item budget.
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Tips and Considerations for Completing Your Budget
In the following video we have provided some relevant tips and considerations you may wish to take into account before getting your film budget underway.