Budgeting and scheduling are all-important aspects of prep that shouldn't be overlooked or fudged. The rigor required to complete an accurate, realistic budget will help you approach every other aspect of filmmaking with a more disciplined eye, especially since it involves calculation of time.
Filmmakers that self-finance their film often tend to just spend whatever they need, which can be fine for a short film being shot on a few weekends or so, but even just having a general budgetary wish list or guide is helpful and should be considered. Foreknowledge of how much you have to spend in total is one thing, but at the very least, break it down so you can start disciplining yourself because that kind of discipline goes hand in hand with time management, and poor time management can kill a long term film project.
I worked on a feature film project that is 16 years in the making at this point (yes, really) and will never be completed. Even though the filmmaker spent over 2 million dollars of other people's money (or so), his poor time management resulted in copious amounts of waste of the man hours that he was paying for, and I am fairly certain he never created an actual budget.
I have always ended up under budget on projects I produced because I don't lose sight of what's being spent where. It's a juggling act because some needs may become greater in certain departments, so you're constantly taking from one department and giving to another department as specific budgetary needs become more exposed and lucky breaks are realized.
Two very important budgeting tricks
Always add padding to every line item and always try to pay less than the budgeted amount for everything. It's very common for producers to cry poor when they book crew and rent gear. I used to get occasional calls from a line producer who would say to me, right off the bat, "they slashed our budget," which was a lie - every time. But, if she could save a few thousand on crew rates, then she had a larger buffer in case she needed it or she could resolve the project having spent less and look like a hero to the Executive Producers.
I worked with a Director/DP who would always go over on time on shoot days and his tactic was to offer to pay the crew that day if they excused the OT, OR he could mail them a check if they did not. Most crew would go for the immediate payment because who doesn't love getting paid right away? He was always prepared to dangle immediate payment knowing that he could save a grand or so on a few overtime hours of work.
I had a friend who budgeted a large project for his new boss at a production company and he was so under budget starting out that a few odd instances of loss and damage put them in the red. That should never happen. You cannot budget exact amounts for each line item - ever. He apparently had zero padding built in and really under estimated what the big city DP would require to do his job.
Put a square peg in a square hole
An important part of staying on budget is hiring department heads who understand about not spending more than they have and monitoring all spending as you go along.
If you're making a low budget film, you should not bring in people who are used to working on big budget projects, even if they're willing to work for cheap as a favor. These people are used to spending money and doing things in certain ways. Some require assistants. Some only rent from certain vendors. Some just don't cut corners or ever shop around. They may be affordable for you but their methodology is another story.
I booked a Key Grip once for a small project out of town in a major city and when I mentioned needing him to function as dolly grip, he suggested we hire his dolly grip. Now, this is completely normal in the real world, but we did not have a budget for another grip, so I had to tell him that. On that same project, I was thinking of booking local crew who worked for a friend who was a top tier DP, and the AD we already booked suggested we not do that because "they don't care about your budget," he told us.
You have to nail down appropriate personnel based on the budget. For a large commercial project I produced, I had a bunch of indie types and I noticed they were being way too thrifty, because that's what they were used to. Even though I told the props person to spend as little as possible BUT she had what she needed, she tended to shop for junk. I should have just given her a number and told her to spend all of it.
Getting down to it
As for the actual process of budgeting, you start with the "knowns," or the things that are fixed and unchangeable.
Starting with your most crucial known, you have your total budget amount, which is fixed (in most cases). That's everything you have to spend to accomplish whatever you need to accomplish, whether it's just getting the film "in the can," or completing prep, production, and post-production, or all of that plus marketing and promotion, which could include film festival costs and/or some form of promotion on social media platforms for online releases. You need to start out with a complete awareness of exactly what you want to accomplish with that amount.
Now the process of budgeting can begin and I always start with the largest or the most fixed (least changeable) line items first, in terms of cost. If there are things that just cost what they cost, with no room for negotiation, start with those, and get that stuff out of the way first. These are probably going to be things like insurance, location fees, transportation costs, and picture vehicles.
Tips and Tricks
Another important thing to keep in mind is "bundling." If the DP has their own camera package, work that into their line item if it's suitable equipment. You should be able to save money as compared to renting from a camera rental house. The advantage for the DP is they use gear they're familiar with and trust and they get the rental amount. The disadvantage for production is, if the camera breaks, then they have to approach a camera rental house cold and will more than likely not get any breaks on rental rates (unless the DP has a working relationship with them). A prior rental of a camera package from a rental house would mean an immediate replacement in a hurry at no cost in the event their camera breaks.
If the gaffer has a grip/electric package, work that into their line item. If a restaurant you want to use as a practical location can also produce a working meal for your crew, that's an incentive for them to let you work in their space, whether you can pay a full location fee or not. If one of the crew owns a house you can use as a location, then a nominal location fee could be a bonus for them (and they get to be home already at the end of a shoot day(s).
Always consider these goodwill building, cost saving synergies and try to spread the budget around to personnel who will be on the payroll when possible. It streamlines where the money is going and puts more money in the pockets of the crew, which can be a bargaining chip in the event you're offering low rates.
Another cost saving tactic that some young idealistic producers are averse to is using credits as currency. Certainly getting a credit on a film is a big deal to noobs, but at a higher level, you can sometimes attract experienced crew with a credit when you're offering peanuts in pay. As long as the actual crew and personnel who are being credited don't object, an "Additional ______" can be worth something to a potential crew member when you can't pay them the going rate.
I negotiated with a line producer once who needed a stills photographer for an indie, and the pay she was offering was very low. I would not benefit from a Stills Photographer credit at that point in my career so I recommended her giving me an "Additional Cinematography" credit because that had value to me. She was somewhat aghast that I would recommend such a thing because, as she put it, I never actually did that work. Like it matters.
This approach is very common with producer credits when raising money for a film, which is sometimes why you can see as many as 20 or 30 producers credited for a film, especially "Associate Producer" credits. Some of those "producers" are very often people who put money into the project. And it's common for upper echelon people who do little more than make an introduction or lend their name to a project to have an Executive Producer credit. Them just being attached to a project can get a film its financing, an A-list cast, or distribution, and they may very well not be actually doing anything in the way of producing on the film itself.
Using Honey to Attract The Bees
When I mentioned starting the budget process with the fixed, unchangeable line items, or the large numbers, that can mean paying for certain big ticket items that can help attract other personnel lower in the budget hierarchy. For example, paying an A-list (or B-list) actor, can help you attract other actors and personnel. Of course, having an A-lister in your cast will help the film be more marketable, but the allure of an A-lister can also help draw in crucial personnel.
One particularly sketchy variant of this tactic I've seen used before by a certain cult status director was to "allow" people to work on his films for no pay. He would pay the key personnel in order to adequately shoot the film and record audio, but all the 20 year old worker bees were working for free because they were that enamored of the director and his cult films.
I recall once prepping for a PSA and the out of town producer telling us to "try and sell them on the heart of the project" when we had to book local crew with very little pay to offer them. This isn't uncommon when trying to crew up a low budget effort and gets into the realm of psychological manipulation and salesmanship.
Years ago, I was hired along with another person to find extras for a broadcast commercial. We went into an indoor soccer complex and were about to start approaching people cold, and of course I asked the woman I was with, who was the point person, what production was going to pay these people, because when you ask someone to do something for you, you usually offer them some form of payment, right? She was strangely confused and called the producer, who was evasive on the phone, but finally told her to just try and sell them on the glamor of being in a TV commercial. Subsequently, I found out that was her regular approach with extras - to just get them for free, as if it were somehow a privilege for them. Of course, this dishonest approach will only work in certain places.
Buying Instead of Renting
When heading into a film project, and either working with a completed budget or budgeting, one should always consider all avenues. That is to say, if you need to use a thing, whether a piece of equipment, scenery, a picture vehicle, props, or wardrobe, do the math before making a transaction and spending the money.
What are the options? Renting, borrowing, and buying. And with buying, there's the option to return to the store or sell the item and recoup part of your budget. It's very common with wardrobe to buy and return, and in fact some large chains have specific departments set up for wardrobe stylists who regularly buy and return clothing. Some may charge a fee, some may allow a certain percentage of a purchase to be returned and some will just accept all returns. Of course with returns, one has to budget for the time it takes someone to return the items.
Comparing rental of anything with buying and then selling after you're done should be approached with caution. There can be huge advantages in terms of cost with buying and reselling, but you have little to no support in the event the item malfunctions or breaks or is stolen. As mentioned, renting from a company means if there's an issue, you have immediate support (or should). As opposed to buying, which means you need to run out and buy a replacement or attempt a quick rental.
I DP'ed a series of commercials once that I shot on an inexpensive hacked camera. In this case, I used a camera I owned and bought a 2nd one to have as a backup in case I had any issue with the primary camera. In that case, I could just pick up the spare and keep shooting. We could have rented two cameras, but then they wouldn't be hacked, and we'd more than likely would end up paying much more in rental fees.
On a feature I coordinated once, the sound mixer needed a portable mixer. I rented what was available from an hour away, a top of the line mixer that cost us $200/day. It was overkill, and the sound mixer finally just said "get a Mackie mixer from Guitar Center," which we did and it cost us around $400. to buy. He was happy, we weren't wasting money on a piece of gear we didn't need, and production sold him the mixer when the project was finished.
One more anecdote: I built a bank set once for a stills project I was shooting and needed a nice floor. We bought $1,500. in marble tile from a home store, which probably in the end cost us a few hundred dollars in labor to buy, use, and return. We had that tile for maybe a week and it was easy to return, although we weren't even sure they'd take it all back.
If something you buy is in new condition when you want to return it and you haven't had for long, buying/returning can be a great option instead of buying/reselling or renting.
To sum up
No matter what you do, or don't do, at the very least, always add padding to every line item and always try to pay less than the budgeted amount for everything. Never budget an exact amount for anything.
