What is a typical documentary film budget?

As a rule of thumb, a lot of producers assume that a finished corporate production or high-quality YouTube video will cost about $1,000 per finished minute of footage. A 60-minute documentary will therefore cost $60,000.

How do you write a budget for a documentary?

How To Create An Accurate Documentary Budget (Top 9 Do’s and Don’ts)

Make a Treatment for Your Film.
Create a Production and Post Production Timeline.
Talk to Potential Crew Members and Vendors.
Don’t Fudge Your Numbers.
Get Clear On Your “Wish List”
Use a Professional Budgeting Template.
Budget For Contingencies.

How much does it cost to make a 30 minute documentary?

As a general rule of thumb, producers assume an average cost of $1,000 per finished minute for a short film. So, if you’re planning a documentary that is in the estimated length of 30 minutes, you can potentially anticipate an expense of $30K.

How much should I budget for post production?

Post-production is relatively the most expensive for the smallest films, with post-production for films over $5m typically being around 7% to 9% of the total budget. How the post-production budget is allocated does vary quite a bit with budget scale (we’ll come back to this shortly).

Do Netflix documentaries make money?

For the highest qualities films, a broadcast deal (HBO, TCM, Netflix, etc) can generate a nice pay-out. Learn how to sell your documentary to Netflix. Selling your film to the educational market is also an option for the right kind of film. So of course, there is the opportunity to make some money from a documentary.

How much do documentary filmmakers make?

While ZipRecruiter is seeing annual salaries as high as $80,000 and as low as $25,000, the majority of Documentary Filmmaker salaries currently range between $43,500 (25th percentile) to $71,000 (75th percentile) with top earners (90th percentile) making $76,000 annually across the United States.

What does PBS pay for documentaries?

The subscription rate for the PBS Documentaries Prime Video Channel is $3.99/month with an Amazon Prime or Prime Video subscription via Prime Video Channels and is available in the US only. Every purchase helps support public television for all.

Can you make a movie for 100000?

Making a Film on a $100,000 Budget At $100K, you have some money, but you don’t have enough money to pay full price for everything. You’re still going to be directing the movie yourself because you still can’t pay the $100K it costs to get someone from the DGA (Director’s Guild of America).

Is there money in documentaries?

Of course documentaries can make money, but maybe not much As a general rule, documentaries are not big money makers unless you’re Michael Moore. Of course there are always exceptions, but depending on your subject, there usually is simply not the mass audience for documentaries like there is with fiction films.

How do Netflix documentaries make money?

10 documentaries on Netflix that will teach you how to make more…

Generation Startup. This documentary follows six 20-somethings that move to Detroit to work for several startups.
We’re Not Broke.
Capital C.
Catching the Sun.
Inside Job.
Super Size Me.

How to estimate the budget for a documentary?

The creation of a intended production and post – production timeline can further estimate the film budget. If the proposed documentary still seem unsure or can’t be presented with full confidence, have an experienced film maker assess and help polish it. Documentary Budget Guidelines?

How to create a budget for film production?

Here is a sample template that shows what a budget plan for a feature film looks like. Even the shortest film on your list requires a thorough budget analysis. And you need to prepare this budget before you start shooting the film.

Is there a budget template for short films?

This print-friendly film budget template provides all the robustness you’re looking for in a budgeting template. Works perfectly for budgeting out short films, features, commercials, music video, and more. Learn more about the nuances of managing your productions film budget in our companion post The Essential Guide for Crafting Film Budgets.

Why do you need a preliminary film budget?

The preliminary film budget is created to raise financing and it isn’t generally detailed or extended. It often only provides the top sheet (TS) which totals the accounts and contains potential costs. Creating a preliminary budget is phase two of the pre-production workflow. The second film budget occurs once financing is secured.

What is a typical documentary film budget? As a rule of thumb, a lot of producers assume that a finished corporate production or high-quality YouTube video will cost about $1,000 per finished minute of footage. A 60-minute documentary will therefore cost $60,000. How do you write a budget for a documentary? How To Create An…