Film Budgeting – Under-Budgeted and Over-Scheduled
We often hear about feature films going over-budget and over-schedule. The studio in most cases blames the producer, who then passes the blame over to the director, the stars or the cinematographer. There are without question, cases in which these individuals do contribute to the problem, but that doesn’t come close to explaining why most pictures go over-budget and over-schedule. The truth is that most films are under-budgeted and under-scheduled to begin with. This is easily understood by anyone who has ever attempted to get a film ‘off the ground’ or in other words, financed. If you can convince investors or a studio that you can make a picture for less money, in less time, it will be much easier to finance. Consequently, producers often find themselves in the uncomfortable position of whittling down their budgets unrealistically or rationalizing that they can really do it for less in order to make their project more appealing to potential sources of financing, but they...