Crossing Over From the Film Budget to the Cost Report

Today, while delivering a 2 day workshop on Movie Magic Budgeting a young Producer, an active Art Director and an experienced Assistant Director all told me that they wanted to understand the workflow between the Film Budget and the Cost Report – actually, the Art Director and the AD, had never even SEEN a Cost Report.

FINANCIAL REPORT CARD

The film production’s very confidential Cost Report is the financial report card issued weekly to the Studio Exec’s, Completion Guarantors, Executive Producers, Tax Credit Auditors/CPA’s, etc. Understanding the workflows behind this document is a fundamental requirement for anyone interested in advancement within the film industry.

MANAGING FILM BUDGETS AND COST REPORTS

I have been doing a series of 6 live webinars for a few years now. It directs the attendee’s attention right to this area of Managing Film Budgets and Cost Reports, disclosing tricks of the trade which just are not available anywhere else. The attendees will review a $9Mil budget from several angles, learning the practical methods of managing a film budget, and it’s immediate cousin, the Cost Report (note that I use the Managing, as opposed to actually manipulating software).

PROFESSIONALS ACTIVE AND INTERESTED IN THE FILM INDUSTRY

The live webinars are not only addressed to professionals working in the business, but also to emerging producers, Certified Public Accountants who would like to understand more about the film industry, and for anyone who wants to “break into” the film industry.

LIVE WEBINARS – RECORDED FOR YOUR REVIEW

Each live webinar is 1 ½ hours long, with voluntary quizzes and lots of interaction. For you CPA’s the live webinars qualify for 9 hours of CPE. Each webinar is recorded for review by the attendees for as long they wish:

–          # 1 of 6, THE FILM PRODUCTION BUDGET INTRODUCED

–          # 2 of 6, INTRODUCING FILM INDUSTRY LABOR UNIONS

–          # 3 of 6, THE CONCEPT OF FRINGES & LABOR HOURS WORKED/PAID

–          #4 of 6, INTRODUCING THE WEEKLY COST REPORT & THE SIX BASIC COST SYSTEMS

–          # 5 of 6, THE COST REPORT – ESTIMATING COSTS TO COMPLETE – EXAMPLES

–          #6 of 6, THE COST REPORT – ESTIMATING IN FILM PRODUCTION

In the final webinar we also discuss some common ways of breaking into this very insular industry.

For more information visit this web site: http://www.talkfilm.biz/filmworkshops5.htm

Cheers / John

John is a 30 year veteran of film production working on over 50 film and television productions in 6 countries. His workshops and book “Walk The Talk” have been well received with many testimonials. See http:///www.filmaccounting.com