budgeting resources
A-Z Budgets

FAQs for the Feature Budget

Can I use the A-Z Feature Film Budget for my short film?

Yes. The downloadable Excel spreadsheets are suitable for both Macintosh and PC users. But there is also a specific A-Z short budget available for download.

What are all the separate worksheets?

There are a series of worksheets within the budget spreadsheet. These worksheets are there to show the funding bodies how you worked out the figures in the main budget. The worksheets are designed to help you calculate line categories, and to remember how you calculated it. For example, if you enter $2,700 for airfares in the main budget, you could then refer to the worksheet to remember how you arrived at that amount. Also it gives the funding agency more information about how you arrived at certain figures, making it easier to assess the budget.

If you only have a small amount of figures that make up a cost category, then you could enter them into the body of the budget, instead of using the worksheet. It is possible to complete the entire budget without using any of the worksheets. Except for crew wages, the worksheet figures are not linked into the main budget - if you use the worksheets, you need to enter the amounts manually into the main budget. If you use a worksheet and you want to link the total into the main budget, you can simply enter the correct formula. The exception is the marketing worksheet, which is linked by a formula to the main budget.

How do I find out what actors cost?

The award minimums and rights breakdowns are listed in the Actors Feature Film Award which can be obtained from the Media Entertainment & Arts Alliance (MEAA) and up to date rates are available on the MEAA website. Payments to actors for shooting days/weeks incur rights payments in addition to the award minimum, depending on where you want to screen the film (which media and what territories). For example, for an AFC short film, you are required to purchase Australian Television and Ancillary rights which add 40 per cent onto the award minimum daily rate. Before budgeting, you should contact the appropriate funding organisation to find out what rights they require.

To aid in the calculations, we have added a cast calculator to the cast worksheet. This is a table, that allows you to work out the fees for a cast member under the Actors Feature Film Agreement including the required rights. There are instructions for use on the page. To understand how the rights system works with cast, please read the Actors Feature Film Agreement, which outlines the obligations clearly.

The Production Budgeting and Film Management Manual (the "Satchel") has extensive sections on costing and contracting cast, see Budgeting Manual.

What are loadings?

In addition to cast rights payments, there are certain other loading obligations a production has for both cast and crew.

These include loadings for overtime, public holidays, sixth shooting day or Saturday shoot and night shoots. The obligations for these loadings are clearly described in the Actors Feature Film Agreement and in the agreement covering crew - the Motion Picture Production Agreement. Both are downloadable from the Media Entertainment & Arts Alliance (MEAA) website.

The budget contains a worksheet to help calculate the effect of loadings on the minimum rates payable.

Why are there two sections for image capture?

There are two sections for the shooting budget - a section for shooting on film and another section for shooting on video. Generally you will only use one or the other of these categories (unless you're shooting both film and video). You can either delete the whole section you don't use (ie if you're shooting on video, delete the film section) or just leave it blank.

There are also two sections for the post-production budgets - a section for finishing on film and another section for only finishing to video. You will only use one of these sections - not both. If you're doing a film finish, use the film finish section which includes a final transfer of the print to a video master for your delivery items. The video finish section is for finishing to video only. Once again, you can delete the section you don't use, from the budget and the summary page, or simply leave it blank.

Why are there two sections for post-production?

There are also two sections for the post-production budgets - a section for finishing on film and another section for only finishing to video. You will only use one of these sections - not both. If you're doing a film finish, use the film finish section which includes a final transfer of the print to a video master for your delivery items. The video finish section is for finishing to video only. Once again, you can delete the section you don't use, from the budget and the summary page, or simply leave it blank.

What if I get an error message when launching the Excel spreadsheet?

The spreadsheets have been developed for Microsoft Office 2000 and later. If you are using MS Office 98/Excel 98 you will run into an error message when launching the A-Z budgets. The error message will refer to a Unicode error and will open the spreadsheet in Read-Only mode (ie you won't be able to save changes to the downloaded version of the budget spreadsheet).

The workaround for this error is to select "Save as..." from Excel's file menu, and save the budget document with a different name. This will save a copy of the A-Z budget which you will then be able to use.