Film Budgeting: Or How Much Will It Cost to Shoot Your Movie?

by Ralph S. Singleton

Book Overview

Using Coppola's screenplay, The Conversation as the primary example, the philosophy and mechanics behind motion picture budgeting are explained. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0943728657
• ISBN13: 9780943728650
• Release Date: January 1996
• Publisher: Lone Eagle Publishing Company
• Length: 465 Pages
• Weight: 1.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.2" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

THE industry standard for budgeting...

This book has been around for a long time, but it is still the definitive work on film budgeting. Whether you're working on a $50,000 indie or a $20,000,000 feature, this book lays out in detailed yet readable form the proper steps to accurately forecasting the budget of your feature. One of the most powerful aspects of this budgeting system, which makes it the industry standard, is that a full line budget gives you an individual line code for every single expense. This makes tracking your expenditures significantly less complicated. You should be aware that this book is part two of a pair. The first part, 'Film Scheduling' shows you how to break down your script to get a shooting board, daily call sheets and the all important "actors' day out of days" - you need these calculations to feed into the budget.

WRITTEN BY A PRO

Author Ralph Singleton knows his stuff. He is not a "wannabe" producer (check out his credits on the IMDb!). Do what I did--take the complete 'do-it-yourself course' with the Scheduling book, Workbook and Forms book. Computer budgeting software is great -- but this book actually teaches you HOW to budget -- not just put numbers in columns.

An excellent guide for new and experienced producers.

I used this book in the recent shooting of a feature film, and found it and the separately-available workbooks very helpful. The workbooks use examples from an actual film budget ("The Conversation"); the text is clear, compelling, accurate and up-to-date. Best of the "how to" film production books I have seen and used.