The SHORT! Guide to Producing

Chapter 7Beyond Budgeting Basics

Revealing Details

Apart from the script, nothing reveals more about the fundamental nature of a short than its budget. It’s not just the bottom line that defines a project, either. The balance of expenses is just as telling. Are there lots of props, scads of extras that must be fed or multiple cameras that must be rented and supported? Every movie has special needs, requiring that we spend more in certain areas than we do in others. As we decide where to deploy resources, we are making hundreds or even thousands of choices, spending time and money here, saving it there. This is why the budget—the sum of all those choices—can be viewed as a portrait in numbers. As you become adept at reading budgets, you’ll be ...