Schedule and Budget Breakdown

[Indiefilming]

My partner and I are looking to do a schedule and budget for our locked script before we write a business plan and approach 2 investors we know and start our kickstarter campaign.

I have never done a schedule or budget before. I'm up for hunkering down and learning. Would it be more cost effective and prudent to hire an experienced line producer to do a schedule and budget than to pay the $800 for the Movie Magic Scheduling and Budgeting programs and DIY? Is it quite a steep learning curve?

Also, are schedule and budget constantly fluxuating during pre-production so DYI might really make some sense for the low budget indie?

Thanks!

 

[kjones]

Indie-

jax_rox's experience jives with mine, I would hire an AD (not necessarily paid if you wow them with your script).

In the past as AD, I've found it goes back and forth. Budget, then schedule. Then after a hard look at the schedule, there's another look at the budget to see what can be added or needs to be cut, etc. It's not always a sequential thing, and that's the way of film: depends on the project.

I do think an investor will want to know your budget, and get *confidence* from your schedule that you won't run over your shoot dates. A good AD can a wonderful thing to lean on in pre-production and during the shoot.

Best of luck with your project, you're thoughtful and will be fine.

 

[Boxt]

Thanks you all for responding.

Any idea, ball park, how much to hire someone for both scheduling and budget? E.g. we may need a gun wrangler and I know it's considerable $$ I just don't know how much and for how long we'll need one.

Also, I suspect scheduling is something that fluxuates so I'm wondering if the expense of hiring someone could climb quickly.


Thanks WeightOnWheels- www.scenechronize.com looks fantastic though I'm confused how to use it so I guess I'm at the very beginning of the learning curve. Does Scenechronize help with budgeting after scheduling?

Indie, you don't need an AD to do the schedule at this stage. You need a Line Producer to BOTH the schedule and the budget at this stage. The LP will do a schedule based on lolcation, set, any other schedule contingencies known at this time. The AD will refine it later to accommodate set-ups and actor avaiabilities but that won't be until prep.
The LP's budget and schedule is the one you take to investors. I don't know where you are based so I cannot advise on cost except for the UK, where you can do this for between 1-3K. The advantage of using an LP is that a) the product will be thorough and reliable b) it will inspire confidence in investors c) you don't have to buy software and spend time learning it and d) the LP does not have to rely on rate cards for pricing line items as he/she will have established relationships with vendors and will be used to getting a regular discount price.

 

[Boxt]

Indie,

You get a producer first. Some may have come the Line Producer route which would be handy because they can do the schedule and budget. Producers are not supposed to get paid until you are greenlit unless they are attached or on a deal with a studio/mini-major. On an Indie they should definitely wait until green light. If you can't find someone then you may have to pay or an LP. Sometimes, they might defer until you get the money if you bump their credit to co- or exec - producer.