Producing and Budgeting
Taking a film from idea to release as an independent producer in Canada: producer roles and credits, options, chain of title, packaging and pitching, finance plans built from equity, pre-sales, minimum guarantees, loans and treaty co-productions, Telefilm, the CMF, CAVCO certification and federal and provincial tax credits, top sheets and contingencies, labour under ACTRA, DGC, IATSE and NABET agreements with CPP, EI and other fringes, breakdowns, stripboards and day-out-of-days, prep, permits, insurance and completion bonds, cost reports and cash flow, post-production and deliverables, sales, windows, festivals and the recoupment waterfall, ending in a production package for a low-budget feature.
FILM-410 Year 4 3 credits 12 lessons · 5 h 11 min
Offered by HSM University · Visual Media Foundations
This is the Canadian version of this course. See the American version.
What you'll learn
- Explain the producer's creative, financial, managerial and commercial responsibilities across development, financing, production, post-production and distribution, and compare independent, studio and streamer production models.
- Manage development by securing rights through options, protecting the chain of title, developing scripts with writers, packaging talent and pitching projects with honest comparable titles.
- Design a finance plan that combines equity, pre-sales, minimum guarantees, loans, deferrals, co-production and public sources, ordered as a capital stack, and stress-test it for missing sources.
- Estimate public funding and production tax credits on qualifying spending, applying certification, caps and assistance rules, and date every figure against current program guidelines.
- Build a feature budget from units and rates, read and present a top sheet, and protect an appropriate contingency, insurance and financing costs.
- Budget cast and crew labour accurately under collective agreements, including overtime, turnaround, meal penalties, fringes and later use payments.
- Break down a screenplay in pages and eighths, build a stripboard schedule and day-out-of-days report, and evaluate a schedule's pace, cast holds, company moves and risks.
- Plan pre-production and run a shoot, including hiring under deal memos, locations and permits, insurance, the completion bond, safety obligations and daily reporting.
- Control costs with purchase orders, cost reports and hot costs, forecast estimated final cost, manage cash flow and prepare for audits and reporting to financiers.
- Manage post-production schedules, budgets, music and effects clearances, deliverables, quality control and acceptance.
- Plan distribution and festival strategy, explain sales agents, territories, windows, theatrical and streaming deals, and calculate returns through a recoupment waterfall.
- Assemble and defend a production package for a low-budget feature, with a schedule, budget, incentive estimate, finance plan, cash flow, risk register, safety plan and distribution plan.
Course content
12 lessons · 5 h 11 min total · final exam
- 1 The producer's role 28 min · quiz
- 2 Development: rights, packaging and pitching 30 min · quiz
- 3 Financing models 25 min · quiz
- 4 Public funding: Telefilm, CMF and tax credits 26 min · quiz
- 5 Budgeting I: structure and the top sheet 25 min · quiz
- 6 Budgeting II: labour, unions and fringes 26 min · quiz
- 7 Scheduling and breakdown 25 min · quiz
- 8 Pre-production and production management 26 min · quiz
- 9 Production accounting and cost control 25 min · quiz
- 10 Post-production management and deliverables 25 min · quiz
- 11 Distribution, sales and festivals 25 min · quiz
- 12 Capstone: a production package for a low-budget feature 25 min · quiz
- E Final exam 20 questions
Requirements
Recommended background. You can start any course at any time.
Description
Taking a film from idea to release as an independent producer in Canada: producer roles and credits, options, chain of title, packaging and pitching, finance plans built from equity, pre-sales, minimum guarantees, loans and treaty co-productions, Telefilm, the CMF, CAVCO certification and federal and provincial tax credits, top sheets and contingencies, labour under ACTRA, DGC, IATSE and NABET agreements with CPP, EI and other fringes, breakdowns, stripboards and day-out-of-days, prep, permits, insurance and completion bonds, cost reports and cash flow, post-production and deliverables, sales, windows, festivals and the recoupment waterfall, ending in a production package for a low-budget feature.
Part of the Film & Photography stream, typically taken in year 4.