Customer Reviews

Film and Video Budgets, Second Edition

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This was one of my Film/Video Production text books last semester. It's nothing you would read cover to cover, but something you will keep coming back to. It provides 5 sample budgets from $5 million features to no budget student films and explains them all in detailed, line-item fashion, offering shortcuts and realistic advise wherever possible. If you are planning on making a movie, this book could be one of your most valuable investments.

This no-nonsense guide gives you "just the facts" about what it costs to make a film. Each chapter features a printout of a spreadsheet, and then gives you several pages of explanations as to what each item is for in the production. The book shows you every cost from legal fees to VHS screening copies (A+ for the detail). If you want to work in the video or film industry, or want to make your own films this is a good guide into what it takes to make a film. This book answers the question "why does it cost so much to make entertainment?" You get a bookkeepers viewpoint on the army it takes to make a film.

This is an outstanding source of information for preparing a detailed budget for film or video (commercials, music videos, and so on). The heart of the book consists of explaining each and every single line item you'll find on any production budget. But the book goes even deeper and covers setting up your production company, what to plan for during pre-production and what I consider to be and invaluable analysis on the subject of tape-to-film blow up which is a must for filmmakers on a tight budget but who dream of releasing their film on the big screen.

I decided to purchase this publication over "Film Budgeting". Even though Singleton's companion book "Film Scheduling" is essential to learn how to breakdown a script and "Film Budgeting" might have seamlessly taken me step by step from schedule to budget. "Film and Video Budget 4th edition" contains the most up-to-date information (it was published in 2006), presents five different types of sample budgets that range from a 5 million dollar feature, to music video to a no-budget digital feature and they can be downloaded as Excel sheets, which you can use for the projects that more closely resemble each scenario.

As if all this wasn't enough it provides useful resources for all steps of the production process and money saving tips for shoestring budgets. This is a must for independent producers starting out in the industry or producing different type or more complex shows than before.

The Devil, as they say, is in the details. This is a detailed look at how to do a budget for producing a film or video. And the level of detail covered is amazing. For instance there is a short paragraph on feeding your cast and crew. It says, 'On low-budget shows, if you don't have enough people to warrant hiring a caterer, pass around the menu from a good local restaurant. Or, if it's tighter than that, say for a student film, order in a pizza.'

Then there are the budgets. It starts with a budget for a $5 Million Feature Film project. It lists seventeen pages of budget items that include just about everything you can think of to include in a budget. From there it goes down to a $12,000 sample budget for a student film.

These budgets are discussed here with explanations of what goes into each line item. Then the budgets themselves are available for down loading in Excel format. You can take in the budget and then modify it as needed to fit your own needs. Just the sample budgets are enough to make this book worthwhile, if they keep you from forgetting some critical item it could make the difference in getting the production done or not. The explanations of the line items in the budget clearly describe what each of these mean and how they might fit into your project.

The book clearly shows that these people have been working on budgeting for such productions for a long time. They simply have the ring of 'been there, done that.'

"...The book is well-organized and easy to follow. It provides many helpful tips, suggestions, examples, and contacts to help you make the best budget for your needs. (They also have free Excel budget templates you can download.) They take a lot of things into account and recognize the diverse requirements of different projects you may encounter. And most importantly, this is one of the few budgeting books that actually looks at the financial and budgeting needs of micro-filmmakers and addresses them specifically..." -Kari Ann Morgan, Microfilmmaker.com

For both beginners and the professional, this book is considered to be the industry standard essential handbook. It guides you every step of the way with how to prepare the budgets you need. Also provided are some very excellent samples with detailed explanations about whats going on. I saw samples covering indie features, student projects, music videos, digital production and post, tape-to-film transfer, high definition, and development and marketing.

You really don't need to look anywhere else for a budgeting book.

A good book, but perhaps a little bit too basic. A very easy read, maybe aimed at the filmmaker without any experience at all with budgets. Although it didn't seem to tell me anything new, it was good as a tool to reenforce what l already knew. If you have a working knowledge of spreadsheets and want to find out how to put a budget together then this may be the book for you. lf you already have some knowledge then may be better to save the cash and just download an excel budget from somewhere like http://www.screenaustralia.gov.au/a-zbudget and just fill in the gaps.

Financial aspects of film/video projects are not always fun, but are vitally essential. In this book, Simon and Wiese give an overview of what goes into starting a production company and the basics of pre-production planning and budgeting. Next, they cover a detailed "line item" list of possible expenses you could encounter. Finally, the second half of the book goes through sample budgets for various projects ($5 million feature film, music video, documentary, student film, etc).
Although the book is long, you don't have to read the entire thing (you just choose which budget best fits your needs, and adjust it accordingly). Also, because it is organized so well, it is much less intimidating. Thus, the authors have taken a potentially boring, complicated topic and made it much more engaging and understandable.
As I said, this is not a pretty topic to deal with, but it is one that is necessary and vital to filmmaking. The only people I would recommend getting this book are those that find themselves in the role of Producer. (And for them, I strongly recommend getting this!) I produced a $6,000 movie with no model budget and that was difficult enough; the more money you're responsible for, the more guidance you need to achieve your budget. And while some may think this book is a bit more money than they want to spend. All I will say this: the cost of purchasing this book is far less than the cost of going over-budget or screwing something up due to poor financial planning ahead of time.

"If you have never put together a budget for a movie, this is the first book you should read. Not only does it provide job descriptions for all members of the production team, but also includes sample budgets for movies ranging...feature films to Digital 'no budget' feature movies and music videos. You will probably find this book on every independent producers bookshelf." -- RMS

This is one of those books that I will keep on my shelf for a long time. It's something I will refer to when putting together business plans or speculating on a project, or getting a film financed. This is a must for indie filmmakers... especially producers who want to know what they are talking about, budget-wise. - Tom Malloy, author, BANKROLL: A New Approach to Financing Feature Films