Budget
From ForcaWiki, the simple encyclopedia
| In one sentence | An estimate of what a movie will cost to make, or, once filming is done, a final statement of what it actually cost. |
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| Category | Film and Television |
| Related | Negative Cost, Costs, Line Producer |
Imagine planning a class trip by writing down how much you expect everything to cost before you leave, and then afterward writing down what everything actually cost once the trip is over. Both lists could fairly be called the trip's "budget," just at two different moments in time.
A movie's budget works the same way. Sometimes it means a forward looking estimate of what the film's Negative Cost will be, made before filming starts. Other times, especially once the movie is finished, it means a backward looking statement of what the negative cost actually turned out to be.
Fun facts
- A Line Producer is usually the person most responsible for building the original budget estimate and then tracking it closely once filming begins.
- A movie's final budget can end up quite different from its original estimate, for better or for worse, depending on how smoothly filming goes.
- Because the same word covers both the estimate and the final number, it is always worth checking which one a person actually means.