50k movie budget breakdown of how I would do it.

taormina said:
The pertinent question maybe "are there well known actors outside of SAG"
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See how much I know. I thought SAG was for actors who haven't done any major work and wanted exposure.

Wow, I am glad to see folks responding. I plan to feed the crew I put it in the budget. I figured if you knew ahead of time you could buy in bulk and save alot of cash.
 
Nik Manning said:
I plan to feed the crew I put it in the budget. I figured if you knew ahead of time you could buy in bulk and save alot of cash.
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Craft services is not a hot meal. You can't buy hot catering in bulk (well, not at the small scale you're talking about). Seriously, I won't say it again, but if you're not giving people one decent meal a day you're going to have an unhappy, tired crew. If you're lucky you work out some deal with a local diner, or Mom, or whatever, but for the most part... food isn't as cheap as you'd like to think.
 
SAG is really starting to crack down on the Financial Core actors. I read an article in Variety recently about how it will now be MUCH harder, if not impossible, to get back into the union after going FC than it was in the past.
 
dougspice said:
Craft services is not a hot meal. You can't buy hot catering in bulk (well, not at the small scale you're talking about). Seriously, I won't say it again, but if you're not giving people one decent meal a day you're going to have an unhappy, tired crew. If you're lucky you work out some deal with a local diner, or Mom, or whatever, but for the most part... food isn't as cheap as you'd like to think.
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Well thanks for your input but I still believe that I can provide a decent meal for around $50 a day.
 
Nik Manning said:
Well thanks for your input but I still believe that I can provide a decent meal for around $50 a day.
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Yes you can, for 10 people tops. But, do you realize that it is expected to provide at least one hot meal (think prepared, not simply bought in bulk) but also to have a "craft services" table where, at all times, you have unlimited bottled water, gatorade, nice snacks (such as bagels, energy bars, various nuts, chips and dip, fruit, veggie tray, cookies), sodas, energy drinks, gum, and other such things.

Usually this craft services table alone will run me $40 a day then hot meal on top of that.

How many cast+crew do you have? If it's over 10 or more, you can't do food for $50 a day unless your cast and crew have never done a movie before and don't know any standards.
 
Nik Manning said:
I still believe that I can provide a decent meal for around $50 a day.
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Yes it is possible…

$20.00 - 2 Lasagna Dinners from Sams
$7.50 - 2 prepared mixed salads from Sams
$3.00 - 1 Bottle of salad dressing (of course people will want a choice, always happens)
$15.00 - desert trays
$4.50 - cooked veggies…
$50.00 - total

So yes it is possible…but like others have said… you have to have a craft service table… a good craft service table like shawneous says…

So… with craft service. I’d bump up your whole meal costs to $125 a day… $75 for a meal for 10 people… and $50 bucks for craft service… figure spend another $7.50 per person for any other crew, actors or guests that come onboard for a days shoot…

Are the best way is to be honest and say hey guys and this is what I can do… and that would be if you provide a good warm meal… and a good craft service table…

Remember also lunch is 6 hours after the start of the shoot… oh gee how can I forget, bagels or some other type of small breakfast… now we just raised are budget up another $25 bucks for your ten person crew and cast…

Now we have it up to $150 a day…

Plus we haven’t gotten into second meal if you go overtime…
 
Okay I will go up to $80 a day. I just think you can feed the folks for alot less than you think If you really plan it out, but as a general quote I would say $80. I happen to be a regular at the 99 cent store. :)


Hopefully insurance is less than $5,000 for the shoot then you move cash from there to the food budget. I will update budget.
 
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To actually make this budget useful does anyone have any examples of movies that could have been shot on a 50k budget with minimal changes to the movie?

First movie that comes to mind for me is Cabin Fever. It was shot by Eli Roth for no more than 1.5 million and sold for 3.5 million. I don't think the end result will be as good but with proper planning you should be able to get close. I actually think Eli is a good director. :)

Anyone else have any ideas of movies that could be remade on a lower budget?
 
Nomis, I have seen movies listed on IMDB estimating $1,000,000, when they only had a $300,000 budget, and another saying $1,000,000 when $60k was spent. Of course, a distributor may pick up a movie, pay for the film transfers and recoup from those ticket sales before the production company see a dime. So the real cost is not alway totaled and expressed clearly.

Blair Witch was mostly shot on VX1000 to my knowledge, so after an extensive Avid edit, it required de-interlace and conversion process to 24p and cine transfer. Back then, Avid (Film Composer) was expensive to tie up for months, then the whole process to transfer to film would have cost someone. My guess is that that say $60k was spend by the production company, and then a distributor would step in during post and fund the balance, the cost of which is most likely not reflected in the IMDB budget estimate. Just thinking out loud. Someone may know the real story and inform us, although some of the info I recall reading a few years ago. :thumbsup:
 
Certainly that does NOT include the marketing costs, and probably also does not include the cost of the theatrical print. That's another reason why "budget" is a tricky thing to throw around at the low end. The movie I just made cost around $10,000. But I already owned the camera and half the crew worked for free. Someone else may be claiming to have made a feature on 16mm for $20,000... but did they get free processing? Freebies are sort of intangible and make deciphering these budgets a little more academic.
 
Here's a little trick to scheduling that helps keep a crew from being over worked and can keep your equipment rentals to 3 weeks but allow you a 20 day shoot.
You pick up gear on a friday afternoon for a shoot to start on saturday.
You work 5 days on and then take 1 day off. Repeat this same pattern and you will finish shooting on a sunday 3 weeks later and return the gear on monday. 5 on and 1 off will give you 20 shoot days.
 
ozduc said:
Here's a little trick to scheduling that helps keep a crew from being over worked and can keep your equipment rentals to 3 weeks but allow you a 20 day shoot.
You pick up gear on a friday afternoon for a shoot to start on saturday.
You work 5 days on and then take 1 day off. Repeat this same pattern and you will finish shooting on a sunday 3 weeks later and return the gear on monday. 5 on and 1 off will give you 20 shoot days.
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Pretty good schedule.
 
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