Film budgets are long works of literature, laying out, in meticulous detail, every delicate aspect of a production. The following is a real budget from a real movie. The producers gave it to us on the agreement that it remain anonymous. Though the following is real and accurate, it’s condensed; the complete printout runs to more than eighty pages—relatively small by contemporary standards. The film’s $18 million budget is on the smaller side of a major production, too.
Every film budget is written in the same way, more or less, but each has its own quirks. The project detailed below had three writers and three executive producers; an ensemble cast of six leads; seventy-three sets and fifteen wagons. The budget is separated into three main sections: in pre-production, a script is written and actors are hired; in production, various craftsmen create a world in front of the camera or support the one behind it; in post-production, the raw footage is edited into a film, sound and effects are added, etc. There are many expensive detours along the way. Mathematically minded readers may notice that certain subsections have accumulative totals that are a dollar less or more than they should be. This is how they appear on the actual budget; these small discrepancies are likely the result of estimated costs being rounded up or down.
This marks the first installment of Creative Accounting, an ongoing series that will show where the money goes for all of the major creative industries. Future issues will cover book publishing, television, fine art, theater, and music. Eventually the series will be collected into a single, indispensable volume, published by Believer Books.
—Darren Franich
Pre-Production: $6,026,014
Story & Scenario $972,450
Story Rights $350,000
Acquiring Book Rights $275,000
In order to make a film based on literary source material, you have to buy the rights to the original writing.
Extension Fee $75,000
A payment to the author when the book rights have elapsed but the producers still want to make the film
Writers $593,050
Writer 1
Story, 1st Draft $175,000
PH&W $25,375
Pension, health, and welfare
Optional Polish $15,000
The writer’s final revision of the script, usually focused on dialogue and involving minor alterations to the story
PH&W $2,175
Optional Revisions $25,000
More extensive than the polish, these rewrites often incorporate notes from the producer, the director, and the principal actors.
PH&W $3,625
Production Bonus $50,000
Cash given to the original screenwriter when script is successfully filmed
Writer 2
Story $50,000
PH&W $6,500
Optional Polish $15,000
PH&W $2,175
Optional Revisions $15,000
PH&W $25,000
Writer 3
New writers are often hired as “script doctors” to...
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