Working Expense List

Raditude

Raditude

This is a preliminary expense list for my Independent Film “New Lease on Life”. It's just a list, and doesn't include the dollar value, as I haven't researched everything yet. I have yet to finish the script, so there may be more things that are added at a later date. Once I have my script, and a final list of expenses, I want to use this as a basis for receiving funding through KickStart. Beware, it may be overly detailed.

Does anyone have any comments or suggestions?

Expense List for Film: “New Lease on Life”

Location:
____Hospital Building Rental / Clearance
____Court Room Rental / Clearance
____Rental Car for scenes involving car
____Amusement Park Tickets and Clearance to film there
____Admission to Brookville Lake

Daily:
____$25 - $50 Stipend per day, per main actor and crew member
____Meals (Pizza and Fast Food)

Travel:
____Gas
____Rental Car for travel
____Insurance

Props:
____Prop ID Cards
____Birthday Cake
____Drug Paraphernalia

Wardrobe:
____Hairpiece
____Powder
____Makeup
____Doctors Outfit

Production:
____Song Rights
____Film Festival Entry Fees
____DVDs
________DVD Media
________DVD Boxes
________DVD Print
________DVD Insert

Paper and Printing:
____Flyers
____Casting Calls
____Scripts
____Treatments
____Memos
____Time Sheets
____Expense Reports
____Contracts

Equipment:
____Batteries:
________Camera
________Lights
________Audio

Legal:
____Lawyer
________Writing Initial Actor Contract.

Cast, Crew, and VIP Rewards:
____Co-Star:
________Dinner or Gift Card
____Private Screening:
________Banquet Hall (Beef & Boards, Indianapolis???)
________3 Handy-Cams and Tripod
________Catering
________Invitations
________Gift Basket:
____________Team ComRad Shirts
____________Team ComRad Beanies
____________DVDs
________________DVD Media
________________DVD Boxes
________________DVD Print
________________DVD Insert


KickStart Donation Rewards:
____Team ComRad T’Shirts
____Team ComRad Beanies
____Autographed Film Treatment
____DVDs
________DVD Media
________DVD Boxes
________DVD Print
________DVD Insert
____Postage/Shipping – Insurance
____Invitation to Private Screening
____Video Highlights from Private Screening

Miscellaneous Expenses:
____First Aid
____Equipment
____Over Budget
____KickStart Fee
____Public and Contractor Liability Insurance
____Tax Services
 
Last edited:
Sort by date Sort by votes
On the subject of expenses, I would like to keep these expenses and money separate from my own own money, especially for tax purposes.

Should I legally start a business to do this? I already planned to get a business bank account.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
I would separate the expenses between production costs and distribution/promotion costs. That way, you can concentrate on getting the film made before you worry about DVD boxes and festival entry fees.

And since you're doing this as a business, you may also want to look up above-the-line and below-the-line costs, and further separate them as such.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
This is a very very bare checklist for equipment. If this were for me, I'd add additional areas such as camera accessories, stabilizers/tripods/steadi-cams, jibs/crane/dollies, camera lenses, etc.



Equipment:
____Batteries:
________Camera
________Lights
________Audio
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
DeJager said:
This is a very very bare checklist for equipment. If this were for me, I'd add additional areas such as camera accessories, stabilizers/tripods/steadi-cams, jibs/crane/dollies, camera lenses, etc.



Equipment:
____Batteries:
________Camera
________Lights
________Audio
Click to expand...

I'll have my own equipment. This is a working list, so there may be things that I will have to add later.

Alcove Audio said:
You really ought to consider real pay for your key crew, at least the DP and PSM. They will probably come with their own gear.
Click to expand...

This will be a low budget film, 1 camera setup. I will be doing the job of DP, PSM and much of the crew myself.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Alcove Audio said:
How are you going to run the camera, direct and swing the boom all by yourself?
Click to expand...

And possibly act in the film...

There won't be a boom, there will be a single handheld DSLR camera. I'll direct and shoot. And then if I chose to act and am in the scene, I will have my assistant photographer shoot the scene. It will take a lot of work conveying what I want to the assistant photographer, but I believe I'm up for the task.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Well, it's a good thing you budgeted for Team ComRad beanies and t-shirts. Because without good audio, all you're coming away with is the t-shirt. You can go ahead and scratch "film festival entree fees" of your list of expenses. No need to waste your money on that one.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Wow, you guys are so negative.

By the time this film is started, I will have my own camera and audio setup. For this film, I will be pushing for perfection, so it will have good sound and camera work.

Your negativity has been recycled into motivation, and I'll prove you wrong.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Raditude said:
My microphone will be mounted on my camera rig. Most shots will be within 6 feet of the subject, and all that require sound will be indoors.
Click to expand...

Sorry if reality sounds negative, but if you are shooting an actor from the side the mic will be pointed at the actors ear, not their mouth, and the sound will have a lot more "room" than dialog.

I do audio post for a living. I've worked on dozens, maybe hundreds, of shorts that used camera mounted mics (even good mics), and the sound is usually pretty bad, and there is only so much even a talented dialog editor can do unless you want to replace the dialog with audio from other takes or do ADR.

Poor production sound has killed more otherwise solid projects than for any other technical reason.

Your project will only look as good as it sounds, because "Sound is half of the experience."
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Nobody is being negative for the sake of being negative.

Camera mounted audio is generally pretty terrible, there's a reason why no pro's do it that way in the narrative world. If you see a mic on a camera in a behind the scenes phot, it's purely or reference audio. The real-deal recording is done through a mixture of boomed mics and/or hidden lapels, sometimes even more than that.

Remember, you asked for suggestions, not agreement.

The overall budget does seem anode mix of broad and specific. I'd either break it out more so everything is ultra specific, or condense a few categories like your printing costs.

Though I do agree with CF. It's all a moot point with crap audio. You have a lot of "luxury" expenses in there for a low budget film, nixing those in favor for talented few will go a long way.

Again, a comment (you asked for those too): manning every technical position while directing and acting sounds like project suicide. Wear less hats, no matter how experienced you are or how much you plants focus, you're going to miss the finer details that differentiate between amateur and pro, moderate and good because your focus is being demanded in other big picture departments.

Good luck man!
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Raditude said:
Wow, you guys are so negative.

By the time this film is started, I will have my own camera and audio setup. For this film, I will be pushing for perfection, so it will have good sound and camera work.

Your negativity has been recycled into motivation, and I'll prove you wrong.
Click to expand...

I know how you feel. In fact I'm sort of smiling to myself thinking about the time I was planning my first project thinking, "man.... these filmmakers suck giant hairy...." I didn't listen to them. But it was a mistake. In many ways it was a great benefit, because now when I learn something I look back at that time and compare it to what I was doing back then and the learning is a bit more solid I think.

But these guys are telling you what they're telling you to steer you in the right direction. But I'm sure you won't listen to everything they say. If we weren't hard headed, we wouldn't be planning films. But listen to them about audio. Instead of getting audio gear, rent a guy with audio gear. If you want youtube stuff, do whatever you like. But if you really want it to be a proper film and achieve "perfection" as you say, you need professional audio, not independent film audio. Independent film video you'll get away with, not audio. When video is not right, we may convince ourselves that it was some effect and not think about it. When sound is not right, your ears will know.

Alcove here likes to say that sound is 50% of the experience. I think he's being generous. Sound is 60% if not more of the experience. I can frighten you with a dark screen and just the right sounds. Sound is key. Sound is too important to spend your money buying equipment you won't be able to learn how to use effectively. Too bad they don't talk about sound enough in filmmaking books and classes.

Again. Don't take the advice here negatively. You have nothing to gain by getting angry. Nobody here has anything to gain by trying to make you fail. And most importantly Sound is Everything. Don't buy audio gear. Spend the money on an audio guy with gear.

Cheers,
Aveek
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top