Production budgeting, explained
Practical guides to how production budgets are built, tracked and reported. Written for producers, production managers, line producers and production accountants who work with these numbers every day.
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How to Build a Production Budget
A budget is not a wish list with a total at the bottom. It is a model of how a production will be made, priced line by line, and it only works if it is built in the right order.
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Above the Line vs Below the Line
The line is an accounting convention with a hundred years of habit behind it. It still tells you something useful, as long as you know what it was designed to separate.
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What Is a Production Cost Report?
The budget says what you meant to spend. The cost report says what this is now going to finish at. Only one of those numbers can still be acted on.
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How Much Contingency Does a Production Need?
The percentage is the least interesting part of the question. What matters is what contingency is allowed to cover and who is allowed to spend it.
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See it working on a real budget
Tubes connects the budget to what is actually being spent, so the cost report is a by-product of the work instead of a weekly reconstruction.