DIY Feature budget examples

djkarn105

djkarn105

Well-known member
I'm posting this here because I don't think the business / post-production area of the board gets as much traffic, feel free to move it if you see fit mods.

I'm trying to put together a budget for a DIY feature to see if it is feasible to make a film based on a short I shot last year.

A bit of background, I co-wrote and directed a short family drama centered around 3 generations of women. I feel very good about the casting, all local / semi-professionals, and their dynamic. This will be my first feature, I've written and directed 3 shorts since film school alongside a whatever freelance work and my day job at a post house. Most of the film takes place in a family home in the SF Bay area which I have access to for free. I also have a group of friends / filmmakers who I know will be willing to work on the project for low / deferred rates whos abilities I am confident in and with whom I regularly collaborate.

So the question is, I know on a logistical level what I need to get this done and how much money I will need to cover that but what else? I know we should probably have production insurance, where can I find out more info about that. Do I really need location permits for EVERY location we shoot in even if I'm just stealing exteriors and closeups of the actors with minimal to no dialog and the location is not identifiable? (for example the opening shot is of the main character picking up her suitcase from an airport luggage conveyor.) I've read in some places that even with the SAG ultra low budget agreement you can have all the money the film brings in eaten up by residuals.

I'm just trying to figure out if we can get this film made for the amount being proposed by an initial investor. I feel like, if we can at least get it in the can we can ride the exposure we get from the short playing festivals for finishing funds.

Also feel free to PM me if you'd rather not discuss your experiences publicly.
 
I would say any film with $65k or less is DIY film. So is there a reason why you don't throw a number out to the board?
 
Well it's still purely in the speculation phase but I will say it is less that $65K. Ultimately I'm not interested in numbers so much as line items I might be missing aside from gear, food and paying people.
 
Off the top of my head...

Crew, cast, props purchase/rental, wardrobe, makeup expendables, insurance (generally calculated at 3% of the below-the-line costs), legal, craft, catering meals, camera/light equipment rental, camera expendables, sound expendables (batteries, etc), permits (for city/parks,etc), location fees. If you have kids you need a child welfare worker on set and have limited # of hours per day you can shoot.

SAG really doesn't add much overhead but you'll probably have to give them a deposit. For a $50K short we had to give them a deposit equaling 50% of the SAG total cost, which we received back about a month after we wrapped.

You need to make sure you not only have production insurance but workman's comp as well or you can be screwed if anyone gets hurt. We used a payroll service (PayReel) and paid everyone at least minimum wage so they would receive workman's comp. PayReel is the employer of record so if one of the people later files a claim you (prod company) are protected.
 
I don't know anyone who's a pro who can donate 20-30 days of their work to a feature-lenght films. So most likely i wouldn't really depend on that to happen on your film. Rather think small and smart with your limited $. Pay everyone some nominal rate. In that sense rather then to think in terms of "favors"- there is no such thing in film business, think in terms of how inexpensively things can be made for and still tell the story. Having done way over 100 productions (many of which were low budget) i can tell you that the smallest you gonna spend is $1500-2000/day. The smallest amount of crew that will allow your set to run efficiently will be: director, producer (or prod manager), DP, AC, 2x GE, sound, PA. I know someone is gonna chime in trying to prove that there were exceptions where films were done for less, but they are just that - "exceptions" - you should not depend on magic luck but rather try to control whatever little you can control with your limited means and hope for the exceptional magic to happen in front of the camera rather then behind (by, say, expecting your crew to work for free).
 
Thanks Patryk for your input but I think you're sort of missing my original question. Beyond paying people for their time, gear and food, what else do I need to account for in my initial budget. Snazzy Flapper mentioned having a workman's comp clause in the insurance which is something I didn't think about. I also didn't know about the required SAG deposit which is an upfront cost that will have to be accounted for. That's the kind of stuff I'm trying to figure out and if anything, what will affect how I might change the script in order to get things done cheaply. If, for example, it turns out that I absolutely have to have a location permit to shoot the 30 second scene at the airport and that's going to cost $2000 I'll probably cut that.
 
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