A budget answers two questions before anyone spends real money: can this script be shot for the amount we can raise, and if so, where does every dollar go. The first version is almost always off, and that's fine, because its real job is to show the producer and financiers which assumptions drive the total so they argue about the right things.
The three layers of a budget document
Every professional film budget has the same three layers, whether it lives in Movie Magic Budgeting, Showbiz, a spreadsheet, or a film budget template.
The top sheet is one page. It lists each account by number and name with a subtotal, groups the accounts into sections, and ends with contingency, any completion bond, and the grand total. Financiers, bond companies, and studio executives often read nothing else. The top sheet explained goes through it line by line.
The account level groups related costs. Most US budgets use a four-digit chart of accounts: the 1000s for above-the-line, 2000s and 3000s for production, 4000s for post, and 5000s or 6000s for insurance, legal, publicity, and general expense. The exact numbers differ between software and studios, which is why a budget prepared for one financier sometimes has to be re-coded for another. The film chart of accounts post compares the common layouts.
The detail level is where the budget is actually built. Each line has a description, an amount, a unit, a rate, a multiplier, and a fringe code. A single line looks like this:
| Acct | Description | Amount | Units | X | Rate | Subtotal |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3310 | 2nd assistant camera, prep | 3 | days | 1 | $325 | $975 |
| 3310 | 2nd assistant camera, shoot | 4 | weeks | 1 | $1,625 | $6,500 |
| 3310 | 2nd assistant camera, wrap | 1 | day | 1 | $325 | $325 |
Nobody types a total by hand. Totals roll up from detail to account to top sheet, and fringes are calculated from the codes on each labor line.
What goes above the line and below it
The line on the top sheet splits costs into two groups that behave differently.
Above-the-line covers the people and rights that define the film creatively: the underlying rights and screenplay, producers, the director, and principal cast, plus their travel and perks. These costs are mostly negotiated deals and are largely fixed before prep starts. A director's fee doesn't change because the schedule went from 22 days to 24.
Below-the-line covers everything needed to physically make the film: production staff, camera, grip and electric, art, wardrobe, hair and makeup, sound, locations, transportation, catering, and stage or facility costs. These costs scale with the schedule. Add a shoot day and you add a day of crew, rentals, meals, and locations.
Post-production (editorial, VFX, music, sound, color, deliverables) and "other" costs (insurance, legal, publicity, general office) are usually shown as their own sections below the line. Edge cases, like whether a casting director or stunt coordinator belongs above or below, are covered in above-the-line vs below-the-line.
How a budget is built from the script
A budget that isn't tied to a breakdown and a schedule is a guess with account numbers. The working order on most shows:
- Break down the script. Tag every cast member, background count, prop, vehicle, animal, stunt, effect, and location scene by scene. The script breakdown is the source data for most below-the-line lines.
- Build a schedule. Board the scenes into shoot days. The number of shoot days, company moves, nights, and weeks per location become multipliers across the budget. See what are shooting schedules.
- Generate a day out of days. The day out of days gives each actor's work, hold, and travel days, which is what cast lines are priced on.
- Set globals. Prep weeks, shoot weeks, wrap weeks, number of shoot days, and hours per day are entered once and referenced by every crew line, so changing the schedule updates the whole budget.
- Price the lines. Use union minimums where agreements apply, real quotes for rentals and locations, and deal memos once people are hired.
- Apply fringes. Payroll taxes, workers' comp, payroll fees, and union pension and health contributions sit on top of wages.
- Add contingency and bond, then check the total against the money available.
Then you go around again. The first pass usually comes in over the number, and the producer and line producer start trading: fewer days, fewer locations, a smaller background count, or cutting the night exterior that needs a condor and a generator.
A worked example: a 20-day feature
Here's a simplified top sheet for a contemporary drama shooting 20 days in one city, non-union crew, cast under the SAG-AFTRA Low Budget Theatrical Agreement. The numbers are illustrative, built for this example.
| Acct | Section / account | Total |
|---|---|---|
| 1100 | Story and screenplay | $40,000 |
| 1200 | Producers | $60,000 |
| 1300 | Director | $50,000 |
| 1400 | Cast | $118,000 |
| Total above-the-line | $268,000 | |
| 2000 | Production staff | $68,000 |
| 2200 to 3100 | Art, props, wardrobe, hair and makeup | $92,000 |
| 3200 to 3400 | Lighting, grip, camera, sound | $150,000 |
| 3500 to 3600 | Transportation, locations | $105,000 |
| Catering and craft service, fringes, other production | $110,000 | |
| Total production | $525,000 | |
| 4400 to 4900 | Post-production | $140,000 |
| 6500 to 6800 | Insurance, legal, publicity, general | $62,000 |
| Total above and below the line | $995,000 | |
| Contingency at 10% | $99,500 | |
| Grand total | $1,094,500 |
Above-the-line is $268,000 / $995,000 = about 27% of the pre-contingency total. That share is a useful sanity check. On a star-driven film it can be half the budget or more; on a micro-budget it can be close to zero because fees are deferred.
The cast line shows how agreements feed the numbers. SAG-AFTRA's 2026 Low Budget rate sheet sets the performer day rate at $834 and the weekly rate at $2,896, with pension and health at 22% of gross. If the day out of days shows two leads on 4-week runs and 60 day-player days:
- Leads: 2 x 4 x $2,896 = $23,168
- Day players: 60 x $834 = $50,040
- Wages subtotal: $73,208
- P&H at 22%: $73,208 x 0.22 = $16,105.76
That's $89,313.76 before overtime, payroll taxes, and any overscale deals for the leads, which is how the account gets to $118,000 once those are added.
Fringes, the line first-timers miss
Every wage in the budget carries employer costs on top. Some are fixed by federal law. The IRS sets employer Social Security at 6.2% (up to the annual wage base) and Medicare at 1.45%, and FUTA works out to 0.6% on the first $7,000 of each employee's wages after the usual state credit. State unemployment, workers' comp, and payroll company fees vary by state, payroll company, and job classification, so get a quote rather than copying someone else's rate.
On a $1,625 week for that 2nd AC, the federal pieces alone are $1,625 x (0.062 + 0.0145 + 0.006) = $1,625 x 0.0825 = $134.06. Add a state and comp load, and the real cost of the week is well above the rate on the deal memo. Union crew add benefit contributions: under IATSE's 2023-2025 Low Budget Theatrical Agreement, those contributions are set per day worked (on the agreement's general schedule, $137 a day in 2025 for Ultra Low and Tier One productions), and they differ by tier. Film budget fringes covers state rates and fringe setup in detail.
Budget size decides which rules apply
Budget levels in the US are defined less by custom than by union thresholds, because the total budget decides which agreement a production can sign and what everyone gets paid.
| Budget | What it usually triggers |
|---|---|
| Up to $300,000 | SAG-AFTRA Ultra Low Budget Agreement; day performers only |
| Under $700,000 | SAG-AFTRA Moderate Low Budget Agreement |
| Under $2,000,000 | SAG-AFTRA Low Budget Theatrical Agreement; background covered in applicable zones |
| Up to $15,000,000 | IATSE Low Budget Theatrical Agreement tiers (Ultra Low up to $3M, then Tiers 1A, 1B, 2, and 3) |
| Over $15,000,000 | Full IATSE Basic Agreement and local agreements |
The SAG-AFTRA figures come from its 2026 rate sheets; the diversity incentives raise some caps. The IATSE tiers come from the 2023-2025 agreement text, which excludes the completion bond premium and a contingency of up to 10% from production cost when setting the tier. Both unions can audit final costs, and going over a tier can mean retroactive pay. The tier projects post shows that math.
This is why "what's the budget" is also a labor question. A film at $1.9 million and one at $2.1 million can have very different cast costs.
From first estimate to final cost
A budget goes through recognizable stages, and it helps to label which one you're looking at.
The preliminary budget comes from a script read, a rough day count, and comparable films. It's used to decide whether to option the script or pitch the project, and it can move a long way once the script is broken down.
The breakdown budget is built from a full breakdown and a board. This is the version packaged with a finance plan and sent to investors, sales agents, and bond companies.
The locked budget is the version approved at greenlight. It's the baseline every later report is measured against. Changes after this point go through the producer and usually the financier. See locked budget.
Once money is being spent, the production accountant tracks actuals, commitments (purchase orders and deal memos not yet paid), and an estimate to complete for every account. The weekly cost report puts those next to the locked budget and shows the projected overage or savings. Daily hot costs catch labor overruns between reports; how to read a film cost report walks through the columns.
After post and delivery, the actual cost becomes the audited number used for incentive claims, union tier checks, and recoupment.
Who owns which part
The producer owns the total and the trade-offs. The line producer or UPM builds and defends the detail, and on most indies also negotiates crew deals and rentals against it. Department heads get their own department budgets once hired (the production designer, costume designer, and transportation coordinator will often redo their accounts from their own breakdowns), and the line producer folds those back in. The production accountant keeps the books, codes every invoice and check to an account, and produces the cost reports. On a bonded film, the completion guarantor reviews the budget and schedule before closing and watches cost reports during production.
On a small film, one person may do all of this. The functions still have to happen.
Mistakes that break budgets
The most common is pricing from the rate you hope for. If the gaffer's quote is $650 a day and you budget $500 because you think you can negotiate, the gap shows up in week one.
Next is forgetting the days nobody shoots: prep, wrap, travel, rehearsal, and cast hold days. A 20-day shoot can easily carry 10 prep days for the camera department and several weeks for art.
Fringes get applied to the wrong lines. Rentals, kit fees, and per diem aren't wages. A blended fringe applied to everything overstates the budget, and a missing fringe understates it.
Post gets treated as whatever's left. Deliverables, E&O insurance, music licensing, and the final mix are often priced after picture lock, when there's no money left.
Incentives get budgeted at face value. A 25% credit on a $1 million budget isn't $250,000 of cash. Not every dollar qualifies, credits may sell at a discount, and the money arrives months after wrap. Film rebates vs tax credits covers the net math.
And some budgets carry no contingency at all. Ten percent of $995,000 is $99,500, which on a real shoot might cover a lost location, two weather days, and a grip truck that died on the 405. Without it, those costs come out of post.
Where Storiara fits
Storiara's Budget module builds a first-pass budget from the project's script breakdown, schedule, and cast and crew data. It uses the rates you enter on cast, crew, equipment, and locations and fills gaps from built-in rate tables, then lays the result out as a top sheet with above-the-line, below-the-line, post, and other sections, four-digit account codes, a fringe column, and a contingency you set (10% by default). You can edit lines and export the budget to Excel. It doesn't track actual costs, so cost reports still come from your accounting system.
Related reading
For a hands-on walkthrough of filling in accounts, read how to use a film production budget template. The film budget estimator gives a quick range from a page count and day count, and the film budgeting learning path collects the rest of our budgeting guides. If you're building a finance plan around the number, start with critical assumptions.