Film Budget

If you are making your first short/ feature film, this budget statement will help you in arriving at the cost of your project. This budget does not include Office cost, publicity, interest charged and miscellaneous expenses. You may add contingency of anything from 2% to 5% of the total budget.

ITEMS OF COST

A. STANDARD COST

A1. TECHNICIAN COST
- Story
- Screenplay
- Dialogue
- Lyrics
- Director
- Music Director
- Cameraman
- Choreographer
- Art Director
- Production Manager
- Editor
- Costume Designer
-Action/ Stunts Director
- Special Effects
- Assistants
- Others, if any

SUB TOTAL A1

A2. MATERIAL COST
- Raw Film (Negative)
- Raw Film (Positive)
- Sound (Negative)
- Dupe (Negative)
- Still Materials
- Audio Tapes
- Video Tapes
- Make up Materials
- Wardrobe Materials
- Ornaments
- Misc materials
- Others, if any

SUB TOTAL A2

A3. STUDIO EXPENSES
- Studio Rent
- Sets
- Properties
- Electricity
- Others, if any

SUB TOTAL A3

A4. RECORDING, DUBBING AND MIXING EXPENSES
- Recording Studio Rent
- Playback Artists
- Dubbing Theatre Rent
- Dubbing Artist
- Orchestra
- Special sounds
- Others, if any

SUB TOTAL A4

A5. EQUIPMENT COST
- Camera(s)
- Lights
- Recording & Playback Equipment
- Tracks and Trollys
- Crane
- Rigs
- Stabilizers
- Smoke Machines
- Others, if any

SUB TOTAL A5

A6. EDITING
- Room Rent
-Leader
- Reverse Track
- Video Cassettes
- Others, if any

SUB TOTAL A6

A7. CENSOR
- Censor Scripts
- Fees
- Projection Charges
- Others, if any

SUB TOTAL A7

1.TOTAL STANDARD COST (SUM A1 TO A7)

B. NON STANDARD COST

B1. CASTING

B2. SHOOTING EXPENSES
- Location Hiring
- Permissions
- Transport
- Lodging
- Mess/ Food
- Hospitality
- Labour
- Others, if any

SUB TOTAL B2

2.TOTAL NON STANDARD COST (SUM B1 TO B2)

TOTAL BUDGET(1+2)

Postmortem: Rang De Basanti

‘Rang De Basanti’ could easily have been a welcome relief from the present lot of bollywood films. However, the director Rakesh (or Rakyesh) Mehra and story writer Kamlesh Pande fall short of exploiting the full potentials of the subject.

But to their credit, the treatment is refreshing. Instead of the usual lanes and allays of Mumbai you see Delhi in all its grandeur. The ‘north Indian ness’ of the characters adds to the novelty factor. What a change from the almost homogenous mumbaiya characters!

The film makes an impressive beginning.. It depicts the story of an English girl who, inspired by her great grandfather’s memoirs, comes to India to make a film on Bhagat Singh and Chandrashekhar Azad. Using ‘film within film’ format to great effect, issues of patriotism and communal harmony are raised convincingly. Superbly shot, it once again reveals the directors technical finesse(after ‘Aks’). The film moves from one sequence to the next smoothly and when the first half is over, you are pining for more.

Alas, the party doesn’t last in the second half. The film takes a creepy turn. Those playing revolutionaries kill a Minister to avenge the death of their friend. The whole event runs parallel with the ‘Kakori conspiracy’. And you can see that there is no connection between the contemporary and the historical. The juxtaposition, in fact ,is jarring .

However, despite all its failings, the film is visible in a clutter of newly released films. If not for anything , it should be watched for the youthism and idealism it portrays .

Film Financing in India

The business of filmmaking got industry status long back but bank’s are still shy of financing films. There are two main reasons for this, one- bank’s don’t much understand filmmaking. Filmmaking has always been considered an esoteric fusion of art and technology and very few privileged people have access to it. It is but natural that banker’s are far removed from the whole activity of filmmaking. The second reason is that the risk perception of banks is very high. The fact that virtually no filmmaker can guarantee success of a film is not helping matters. Even then a prudent appraisal of a film project can enable a bank to make wise decisions. This will increase the bank’s finance to film industry and will benefit both the sectors.

Almost every bank already has a broad guidelines set out for film financing. Apart from these guidelines and procedures, there are several aspects of film production and distribution which a bank should look into :

Configuration of Budget : In big and medium budget films the major portion of the budget is allocated to remuneration to main cast and technicians, shooting at foreign locations, erection of set pieces and special effects. These are therefore the areas where bank’s will have to verify the actual expenses incurred by the producers. In small budget films, the main item of expense is the equipment hiring and raw stock cost and these areas need to be looked into. For example, bank can arrive at the stock ratio of a film by dividing total stock to be purchased as per the budget, by the final screen time of the film. For a low budget film, a stock ratio above 6 is alarming. But for medium and big budget films, stock ratio can be more than 10, because raw stock for them is one of cheapest item of expense. Similarly lighting and other equipment hiring cost for low budget films should be considerably lower than medium/ big budget films, even though it is one of their significant expense.

Budgeted and real value: Human resource is the biggest asset of any organisation and this is perhaps more true for film industry than any other industry. Personal relations play a big role in this sector. Friends (and relatives), many a times, work for far less than their market price. Bank’s need to factor in these concessions and discounts to arrive at the true value of a film project. On the other hand, high remuneration to actors or main technicians need to be justified by the producer.

Funding Risk : If producers get the balance payment from distributors at the time of release of film, they make a ‘table profit’ and can square off accounts with bank even before the film is released. However, the bank’s risk increases if the producers themselves are releasing the film in some/ all territories. Also, not all films make a table profit. Big budget films depend on the collections of the film to recover investment and generate profits.

Distribution Strategy : The distribution of films is no longer the simple affair which it was earlier. The rising income of middle classes, rapidly changing value systems and multiplexing of theatres has made it pertinent for film distribution business to go in for segmentation of market. New distribution medium like internet are increasingly becoming important and cannot be overlooked any more. And then there are films which are directly released on DVD, without going in for the traditional theatrical release. A banker will have to use his discretion to find out if the distribution strategy suits the films profile.

- Ashwinikumar Walde, Financial Analyst, Punjab National Bank

My tryst with bollywood

Sometimes in the fag end of 1999 I was trying to get an entry into the big bad world of Bollywood. I was staying in Pune and I didn’t knew a single person who was even remotely connected to Hindi film industry. A film directory bought from a bookshop at Dadar railway station was my sole help in the mission. My expectations were modest. Me, a management grad, was ready to work for a pittance. I was not even looking for a particular work profile. Gaining entry as an assistant director was preferable but I soon realised that I was asking for the sky. Most of the directors had more assistants than they required. Plus there were the apprentices. Its not easy to become an assistant director in Bollywood. You need to know somebody who can make things move for you. I had no such luck.

But favors come from unlikeliest of places. Tanuja Chandra, an assistant to Mahesh Bhatt had made a fairly impressive debut . I had sent her my resume and also called her up a few times. My phone calls were generally answered by a firang voice, who, as I later learnt, was her novelist brother Vikram Chandra. One day I could talk to Tanuja and she called me to Mukesh Bhatt’s ‘Vishesh Films’ office.

Of all the places that I went to, my visit to Mukesh Bhatt’s office is memorable. I board a morning train from Pune and by afternoon I am in the Juhu office of Vishesh Film Pvt Ltd. A flat displaying the nameplate of Mukesh Bhatt is the office. Contrary to what I expect, no one stops me. No one cares because there are already too many people in the reception area. Wannabe actors have taken up the whole place. Some of them have their photographs with them. Somebody, who is probably the casting director, politely collects all the photographs with bio data. A group of people are chatting away at the reception. Some of them are familiar faces, those who do bit roles in films and television.

I introduce myself to the receptionist. She informs Tanuja who comes promptly and shakes hands. Tanuja, short built but peppy and attractive, looks like any other Mumbai girl. She moves around with confidence and when she speaks she alternates between Hindi and English. There is absolutely no Bollywoodish airs about her. She makes me wait at the reception and orders a cup of tea. Mukesh Bhatt will call me when he is free. She comes back after half an hour and I am still sitting at the same place. She reminds Mukesh Bhatt that someone is waiting for him. At last I get to meet the boss. I enter his cabin. He smiles at me, asks my name, qualification etc. Sitting on his side is Vikram Bhatt, smoking fiercely and exhaling a cloud of smoke after every puff. “ Success is not easy to get”, he tells me. “I was an apprentice for four years, then an assistant for seven years before I got my first chance”. I look at Bhatt Saab. I can almost read him. He sympathises with me. “You are a well qualified guy. This is not the right place for you. Get a good job for yourself and enjoy your life”. What he probably meant was that a guy like me will not be able to adjust to the working environment of film industry.

I, however didn’t take his advice seriously and joined critically acclaimed Marathi filmmakers Sumitra Bhave and Sunil Sukthankar in Pune. It was a small set up with almost nothing in common with Bollywood. But I got what I wanted and today whatever I know about filmmaking , is thanks to that precious experience.