Cost of Food?

S

sk85

Member
A big lesson that I have learned as a beginning filmmaker is to make sure you crew is well fed. I am curious about how much it costs to do that. For a small cast and crew of 20 people or less shooting 8-14 hours how much per person does food cost? I am curious about how much small indie films cost and I figured I would start with the most important thing on the budget.
 
60 packs of ramen noodle = $10. That should about cover it.

Seriously though, I have a food budget laying around somewhere from that size crew from a past shoot. I'll find it and post a breakdown in a couple days when I get the chance, I think it ended up being about $300-$400 if I remember correctly.
 
$10 per meal per person is a safe estimate, but your best bet is to call catering companies and ask them. You can probably get away with doing it for less if a PA picks up food from somewhere, depends on what you're going for. I've been involved in shoots that had huge, way over the top spreads with catering in their own kitchen on set and a high end chef working in it. I've also been given a sandwich from the grocery store for lunch. So it varies.

Also keep in mind that 8 and 14 hours are completely different shifts, and moving up to 12 hour days could double your food budget with dinner included. And you have to decide if you want to offer breakfast or just have some breakfast friendly snacks on hand. Also, don't forget snacks.
 
Patryk_Rebisz said:
$10/meal/person NEVER worked for me. I would estimate it somewhere at $15-20.
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This sounds about right to me as well. But then one can always be clever and cut costs by prepping food themselves (Oh how I've eating more than a few home prepped meals on sets, some even tasted OK) or as mentioned already hire a catering firm if you're a big crew.
 
I can get by with $10/person plus snacks when I've had to... but it never really works, at least not for long. $15-$20 is a lot closer
 
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