Producing and Budgeting
Taking a film from idea to release as an independent producer in the United States: producer roles and PGA credits, options, chain of title, packaging and pitching, finance plans built from equity, pre-sales, minimum guarantees, gap and credit loans, state incentives such as those in Georgia, California and New Mexico and federal tax rules, top sheets and contingencies, labor under SAG-AFTRA, DGA, IATSE and Teamsters agreements with FICA 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 10 min
Offered by HSM University · Visual Media Foundations
This is the American version of this course. See the Canadian 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 labor 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 10 min total · final exam
- 1 The producer's role 28 min · quiz
- 2 Development: rights, packaging and pitching 29 min · quiz
- 3 Financing models 25 min · quiz
- 4 Public funding: incentives and state tax credits 25 min · quiz
- 5 Budgeting I: structure and the top sheet 25 min · quiz
- 6 Budgeting II: labor, 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 the United States: producer roles and PGA credits, options, chain of title, packaging and pitching, finance plans built from equity, pre-sales, minimum guarantees, gap and credit loans, state incentives such as those in Georgia, California and New Mexico and federal tax rules, top sheets and contingencies, labor under SAG-AFTRA, DGA, IATSE and Teamsters agreements with FICA 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.