THE FILM PROFESSIONAL ON-LINE TRAINING SERIES – Part 2

TO START – TWO TRAINING TOPICS

There are a variety of skills to start with. I’ve decided to start with Managing Film Budgets (as opposed to creating a film budget). This is a vital step to any emerging producer or film accountant. It’s the natural precursor to actually licking the tip of the pencil and creating your own budget. In this series you’ll learn what a standard film budget looks like, how the columns are arranged, how to manipulate a budget as a manager, and how to control the processing. In 90% of the professional film projects you’ll work on, the budget will come to you in some kind of form – then you’ll need to massage it, have changes made to it, etc. That is you’ll need to manage it until it becomes “Locked” prior to the first day of production.

1. Production Managing the Film Budget and Cost Reports – there are tons of experienced people who are ready to produce in some capacity, or who have the ability to Production Manage the physical production; however, many of those same people experienced in physical production of film and television haven’t any experience in managing budgets and cost reports. That’s a recipe for disaster and a short career. It’s also a very limiting factor to assistant film accountants who want to upgrade to the key film accountant. I will offer you a training solution with a minimum of inconvenience to your busy schedule. In this topic, for now, I am only doing the “Managing” series of webinars. Let’s leave the detailed budget preparation for later – also, I first need to ask permission from Movie Magic to use their software.
2. Daily Hot Costs (Definition: a daily summary of the labor costs as compared to budget for the shooting crew as well as a way to declare other known over or under budgeted cost items; a working knowledge of cast and crew guild/union rules is required).

These vicious little monsters are the bane of every film accountant, Line Producer and UPM (Unit Production Manager). The Hot Costs have become VERY important to the studio production executives and financiers at every level. Not only is it difficult to get it done swiftly and accurately, but it’s difficult for the UPM and Line Producer to explain/defend the Hot Cost to the production executives up the line.

Essentially the Hot Cost is a daily cost report comparing the budgeted costs with actual costs for the cast, crew and background extras (and a few other things, but those other things are minor when compared to cast, crew and extras). The Hot Cost is completed every morning by the Production Accountant for the previous day’s shoot.

The Line Producer and UPM need to understand it and sign off on it before the Production Accountant sends it along to both the Production Executives and the Financial Executives (including the Bond Company if the production is an Indie).

First Level of Understanding: There are definitely two different skill sets we’re talking about here. The first level of understanding is simply to be able to read it and manage it. You’ll need a basic understanding of the SAG Rules, and an understanding of the terms “Worked Hours” and “Pay Hours”. You’ll also need a basic understanding of IATSE contracts in general. This first introductory level is for Line Producers, UPM’s and Producers.

It’s not just the job of the film accountant to know what’s going on with the Hot Cost. The UPM and Line Producer are just as much in the hot seat as the accountant is.

Second Level of Understanding: The second, and more detailed level of understanding, is being able to calculate the Daily Hot Cost. This requires a good understanding the payroll rules associated with SAG, DGA, IATSE and Teamsters. It doesn’t mean that you have to be perfect. But it does mean that you understand the rules. So, I have taken special trouble to provide references to exact clauses in the payroll contracts that refer to:

-         Overtime

-         Rest Periods

-         Meal Penalties

These are what I call the Producer’s Three Sins.

In this series we look at each union or guild, one at a time, until we cover the rules associated with Cast (SAG), Assistant Directors (DGA), Crew (IATSE – especially Low Budget National Agreement) – and Teamsters.

In each case I will provide Excel templates and a pdf copy of the appropriate contract. Unfortunately I can’t cover all of the contracts on the West Coast (there are many Locals in California), but I can give yu a familiarity with the contracts and show you how easy it really is to pull out the payroll relevant clauses. What appears daunting is really only a few clauses that are applicable.

RECORDED FOR PRIVATE UNLIMITED VIEWING AND FILE ACCESS

Note that each recorded webinar has attached to it, through an ingenious web site called Screencast.com, all of the materials used in that webinar and all files are easily downloadable – such as template budgets in Excel and MMB, Guild/Union agreements, vital links, gross payroll calculating templates, actual cost reports, template cost reports, etc.

AGENDA- next part

THE FILM PROFESSIONAL ON-LINE TRAINING SERIES – Part 1

For the past few years I have been doing live weekend workshops – sometimes in a flurry and sometimes spread out over time. The biggest hurdle is scheduling the location and time. Not just for me, but for you all as well.

DILEMMA

It’s a dilemma. Some of you want more than I have on the Agendas, some less, and some want more emphasis on related areas, etc. For example, some want the full detail of how to do Hot Cost, and some want only enough to know how to budget for Screen Actors Guild costs. I will continue to do live workshops, but it’s tough on all concerned to arrange their schedules, their travel, hotels, etc. So, my dilemma has been how to get what you want out to you all in a way that works for you and can fit into our busy schedules.

SOLUTION

So, I have decided to start doing a series of advanced online training webinars that can offer a wider variety. Some will be Live – and recorded simultaneously for you to review at your convenience. Others will be pre-recorded and made available with all of the materials. In each case I’ll keep the webinars ‘bite-sized’ so that you can zero in on the material you need to know in order to advance your career in film.

EACH RECORDED ONLINE TRAINING WEBINAR HAS ITS OWN SPECIALIZATION

One series will be general and the next series will have more details.

One series will be for those interested in Managing (i.e. Line Producers, Unit Production Managers, etc.) and the second, more detailed series, for those who want to know how to The topics that can be done.

RECORDED FOR PRIVATE UNLIMITED VIEWING AND FILE ACCESS

Note that each recorded webinar has attached to it, through an ingenious web site called Screencast.com, all of the materials used in that webinar and all files are easily downloadable – such as template budgets in Excel and MMB, Guild/Union agreements, vital links, gross payroll calculating templates, actual cost reports, template cost reports, etc.

TO START – TWO TRAINING TOPICS

(To Be Continued)

Film Accounting – Los Angeles/Toronto May/June 2012

Hello, all.

I’m back in the tour mode of delivering workshops – I also just finished fine tuning 5 on-line payroll courses. Sorry for being out of communication for a while there. I have been swamped with a big TV Series which we just closed last Friday.

The workshops are in Los Angeles on Sat/Sun May 19th and 20th, as well as Toronto on June 2nd and 3rd. I’s also looking at going back to Detroit as well as well as a first visit to Mississippi, if there’s enough interest in that area.

The workshops are on Film Accounting with a follow up series of 6 live on-line webinars – all on the topic of Managing Film Budgets and Cost Reports – something which all levels of Producers should know about. You can find out more by visiting my web site at http://www.talkfilm.biz.

As a freebie, here area couple of interesting videos about SAG and an introductory video to IATSE crew agreements for the “National Low Budget Agreement” and the “Area Standards Agreements”.  The Low Budget Agreement covers all crew agreements throughout the US and Canada for all union productions under $12Million. If you want to produce, you’ve got to be on at least a handshake agreement with this one. The Area Standards Agreement covers bigger budget shows throughout most of the land mass of America (excluding the West Coast, New York, Chicago and San Francisco).

The workshops are for those who really want to know about Film Accounting from the ground up. The webinars are for those who either want to get the tools required by any level of Producer, or are interested in being a Key Film Accountant.

The video links are:

  http://www.talkfilm.biz/Payroll/IAASINTRO/IAASINTRO.html

  http://www.talkfilm.biz/Payroll/IANLBINTRO/IANLBINTRO.html

The links to the agreements are:

http://www.talkfilm.biz/Payroll/IA-Other/Agreements/IATSEAreaStandardsAgreement2009-2012.pdf

http://www.talkfilm.biz/Payroll/IATSE/Agreements/IATSENationalLowBudgetAgreement2010-2013.pdf

Best to all / John

The New Dearth of Film Payroll Accountants

Today I spoke with a representative from Quebec who has asked me to deliver film production payroll training in Montreal. I knew that this was a need in the newer tax incentive States, but I didn’t think it was so prevalent in other more established film production centers. This has also occurred in Georgia, Louisiana and Toronto.

I’m aware of the lack of payroll accountants in many places but I was surprised about Montreal. I have worked in Montreal about 8 times and I’ve always been impressed with the level of competence of the film accounting assistants in that city. So, it got me to thinking – what’s with the dearth of payroll accountants  that keep hearing about? Is it the demand from the financiers to have more skilled payroll accountants or is it just that we of the old guard are retiring?  Or, maybe it’s just that the productions are leaving Hollywood more and more and need a more local film payroll people?

Probably a blend of all the above, with special emphasis on the last point. At any rate it spells opportunity to you guys out there who want to get into the ‘biz but haven’t found a foothold.

Film Payroll is just learning the rule of the specific unions and working out the Overtime, Meal Penalties and Rest Period Violations. You don’t need to know anything about the various producer and employee withholding and contributions to unions and governments. It’s really the easiest payroll accounting job anywhere when compared to other big businesses – well paid, too.

I do a lot of film payroll training. Come to my next one? See my web site for details.

Cheers,

John

Emily’s List – About 43% of All Listings Are For Film Payroll Accountants

As in any job in the film industry, you need to find a way to reach potential employers. For film accountants one of the most common methods of finding jobs is to check-out Emily Rice’s posts on her Google Group – many of us refer to it as “Emily’s List”, although technically it is the Rice Gorton Pictures Google Group.

The internet address is at https://sites.google.com/site/ricegortonpictures/film-tv-prodn-accounting-listings-1

As you’ll see when you go to the web site, you can either “Subscribe” to posts, or simply put the link on your Favorites and check it out whenever you have a moment.

I was talking to an old friend who had moved to Atlanta many years ago. I called her up to ask her about doing a workshop in Atlanta and what the film production environment was like there. Right away she said, “Local Payroll Accountants are really needed – just look at Emily’s List, they’re always asking for locals who know how to calculate payroll.”

So … I did a little home work. I checked out several pages at the top of Emily’s List and several pages at the bottom of the listings. Out of a sample of 120 listings, 52 were for a Film Payroll Accountant. That’s over 43% of the listings are for local Film Payroll Accountants.

As you can see from my other posts, film payroll accounting is all about knowing how to calculate the “Gross Pay” – that is, the Overtime Hours multiplied by the contracted rate, plus any meal penalties and rest violations. You won’t need to know about government and union withholdings and contributions – all of that nasty stuff is done by the payroll service.

So, the task becomes knowing how to calculate union payroll, and that’s all we do for 2 full days – right from beginning to end. You will be left with all of the reference material, as well as on-line access to the full courses and materials for future reference.

I did a screen recording to give you a better idea of how the Film Payroll workshop works – see this short YouTube video:  http://youtu.be/GcwXoq0cRE8

The payroll workshop is over the weekend of Oct 15^th and 16^th in Atlanta.

Hope to see you there!

For more info you can check out my web site at http://www.talkfilm.biz

Best / John

The Hot Cost Report – Knowing Film Payroll

About 2 or 3 times a month I get a comment on this blog asking me if I can send a copy of a Hot Cost. From the tone of the request I sense that I am the last resort and the Hot Cost is a matter of getting the job as a key accountant or not getting it. I always oblige, but with a cringe because I know that without the background understanding of film and television payroll the Hot Cost won’t mean a whole lot to them.

Anyone who has been working in film production accounting, or as a Unit Production Manager, knows that “Hot Costs” exist, and they may have seen them. But it’s the key production accountant who prepares them. They’re a bit of a pain to set-up; however, once in place they’re easy to maintain.

I have written only one other blog about Hot Costs, mainly because it requires a pretty good understanding of payroll, as well as Excel, to really understand the background of it all.

For those of you who missed my earlier blog, I’ll start out by defining, in my own words, what a hot costs is:

- The Hot Cost is essentially daily report which compares the actual variable labor costs with the budgeted labor costs for every person on set. A few other variable costs are compared to budget on the topsheet of the Hot Cost, especially if it’s easy to measure them on a daily basis – like the costs of catering, or, if shooting in 35mm, the cost of raw stock, processing and work prints. Since 35mm is seldom used anymore, that’s gone by the wayside.

Boiled down, the, the Hot Cost is really all about measuring the daily cost of labor (Cast and Crew) with the budgeted amount of daily labor.

The Ivory Tower:

The Film Production Accountant prepares it, and usually the assistant accountants are too busy to get involved – or, if they have some time, the key accountant is too busy to show them. This task is seldom allocated to an assistant (unless the film production is obscenely huge). It is the one task which mystifies most assistant accountants, simply because they are seldom involved directly in preparing it. Another drawback that I’ve noticed with assistant accountants in the last 10 or 15 years is a tendency to specialize in one area, such as running the general ledger duties, but ignoring the payroll duties; or, being pigeon-holed as a payroll accountant only, and not understanding the cost report duties. I have had some pretty nervous requests to explain Hot Costs as a 1st Assistant starts to reach toward being a Key Production Accountant, mostly because of their continuous specialization, rather than understanding all facets of film accounting.

The Daily Production Report (DPR):

Each day the Assistant Director’s prepare a “Daily Production Report”. The In/Out times, as well as the lunch break, is recorded on the DPR. Every person who worked on set is named along with their title. In addition, the DPR shows all the times related to each and every actor, the number of lunch plates, the page count shot (per the Script Supervisor),any notations of accidents/delivery of major equipment/illnesses, etc.

Click on the link to see an example of the front and back pages of a DPR:

DPRBack  DPRFront

Understanding Payroll:

Once you get a grasp the union rules you’ll start to wonder what all the fuss was about. No matter what union contracts you’re dealing with, each Union has broken down their rules into the following 4 categories:

1. The “Basic Day” and Overtime Rules

2. The penalties associated with “Rest Violations” (also called “Turnaround”).

3. The penalties associated with violating Meal Periods (called “Meal Penalties”).

4. The various circumstances associated with Travel – whether to a “Distant Location” (i.e. staying in a hotel), or travelling outside of a defined “Studio Zone” (also often referred to in each locale as “The Circle”).

For those of you newly exposed to Screen Actors Guild, the various IATSE (crew) Locals and the Teamster (driver) Locals, it may seem a little too much, it’s MUCH easier than learning to use Excel – so, have a little patience, do a lot of practice time cards, and you’ll have it.

Conversely, for those of you who have had to hide behind being a Payroll Accountant, but never had exposure to the Cost Report, have no fear. It’s much easier to learn than the other way around (check out my blogs that begin with #1 of 7 through to #7 of 7).

The Excel Task:

Once you have a grasp on the SAG and crew payroll rules, the task ahead of you is to set-up a hot cost format that can quickly estimate the cost of labor for the day and compare it to the budgeted cost per day – for each and every person working on the set. Kind of a tall order “right out of the box”. If you’re using Excel, the only efficient way to do a Hot Cost, you should be able to copy paste the previous day’s time out, enter in the In/Out times of the day your analyzing (i.e. yesterday) for each person, then have the Excel formulas do the rest. I’ve recently done this for a feature. An example of it is on the link below:

HotCostMstr_Sample1

The Payroll Solution to Understanding Hot Costs:

The solution to understanding any Hot Cost is to find a central source of contracts for SAG, DGA and IATSE then summarize the four rules mentioned above. Then have someone show you their version of Excel formulas which comply with these central rules. At the risk of shameless self-promotion, I have done that, one union at a time for each of SAG, DGA, IATSE National Low Budget (any feature or TV production in North America less than $13Mil) and IATSE Area Standards (any feature or TV production greater than $13Mil outside of the Los Angeles and New York zones). I have a general Teamster contract for the non-LA/NY areas, but, honestly, it’s child’s play to understand after learning the above. Actually, it is not a problem for me to say that if you understand SAG, DGA, IATSE Low Budget and IATSE Area Standards you can work anywhere in America or Canada – it would only be necessary to get a copy of the local contracts in those higher production centers and you’d be ready in a day or so.

The Training and the Practice:

I’ve found that a full weekend practicing the film and television payroll rules, followed up by on-line links to all the materials, is plenty for your average person to learn how to calculate the union/guild payrolls to “gross” (i.e. to the gross amount of pay due before union and government benefits/deductions). I also supply templates (yes, with the formulas) which are “helpers” ad which you can use to develop your own Hot Costs, no matter the circumstances. I leave you with on-line links to all of the materials – see this link to get an idea of what I mean.

Have a look at this link to a short video of how my SAG on-line course works.

Check out http://www.talkfilm.biz  if you need some more info about cost reports, production accounting, managing film budgets, etc.

Cheers,

John

Film Accounting 101 – Orlando and Atlanta

Film Accounting 101 workshops are coming to Orlando in Sept (Sat/Sun Sept 24/25) and in Atlanta in Oct (Sat/Sun Oct 1/2).

For the last 3 or 4 years I’ve been holding these workshops in various production cities around the US and Canada. I haven’t made it to Orlando, nor to Atlanta, before. So, I’m excited about the prospects in these two cities.

Who is it for?

Film Accountants really are a strange breed of accountant. It’s probably the last well-paid accounting position that can be had in the world without also being a certified accountant  (although being a CPA wouldn’t hurt). So who would benefit the most? Probably someone who had a strong interest in the field, is organized and good with numbers; someone who is pretty good with Excel and knows enough Word to get by; someone who doesn’t mind the longer hours of work and isn’t averse to traveling (although travel is not always necessary, depending on where you live now).

If you’re not familiar with the range of income and the life of a film accountant dig around in my bog here – there are a few blogs that will give you a very good insight into that.

About the workshop

The week-end workshop is hands-on training using a common proprietary general ledger software used in the Film Industry. You’ll be doing exactly the same thing all assistant production accountants do – all of the details are practiced in a controlled environment. Film Accounting offices are generally set up the same throughout North America (if not the world). We DO in the workshop what any assistant accountant must DO in the actual working environment of any film or television production. So, after 2 days of practical ‘doingness’ you will be feeling pretty good about walking into an accounting office as an accounting clerk or a 2nd assistant accountant. As an additional option you can also do the 7 live on-line webinars after the weekend training which will take you into the next level of understanding of managing a film budget and the cost reporting to the financiers.

I hope to see you there. You can check out the details of the course by visiting my web site at http://www.talkfilm.biz

Cheers,

John

Film Production Hot Costs – Webinars?

A young man, newly starting as a Key Production Accountant, asked me about Hot Costs. Below is the response that I wrote to him. It occurred to me that a lot of people have asked for a template of the Hot Costs that I use and perhaps there is a demand for a webinar on Hot Costs. Have a look at the info below and please give me your comments.

_____________________________________________________________________________

Hi, Erik. Helene passed along to me your emailed questions. First of all, I’d like to congratulate you on your new key accountant position.

1. On the Hot Cost template that I sent you the 0.74 is a conversion rate of CN$ to US$. For your purposes make it a 1.

2. TA ia “Turnaround”, a common term for “Rest Violations”.

On your question about doing a webinar on Hot Costs – I like the suggestion.

Background of Hot Costs:

The basic concept behind any hot cost is to estimate the cost of the actual day with the budgeted day. Labor is the biggest area looked at. In any labor calculation (cast or crew) you’re looking at:

- Overtime

- Meal Penalties

- and, Rest Violations (Turnaround).

 Over the years I’ve worked out this particular format for myself, but it doesn’t have to be as elaborate. For instance, when Hot Costs first started to be used, in the early 90′s, myself and the UPM would sit together and rough it out with a few pencil scratch marks on the back of the daily production report (i.e. the average time for all grips and elec’s was 14 pay hours x 11 of them at an average rate of pay, then compare that result with the budgeted number of pay hours x the same average rate of pay. We’d do that for each department, as well as the drivers, add it up and say – there’s your number).

 However, as the majors grew more and more cost conscious we were forced to become more and more detailed oriented. Also, some UPM’s and studios will challenge your Hot Cost results, so it behooves the production accountant to have a tidy schedule ready to answer their questions.

Film Payroll and Hot Costs:

I’ve never done a workshop on Hot Costs, only because you first need to know Film Payroll, then you need to know “If” statements in Excel. So, the course on “how to do Hot Costs” reduces to either, or both, a film payroll workshop or Excel programming workshop.

 Regardless of your geographic location, I teach all the fundamentals of film payroll (as well as film accounting, managing film budgets, etc). The unions covered are:

SAG, DGA, IATSE Low National Budget and IATSE Area Standards rules. (i.e. not the West Coast IATSE Basic Agreement, nor the New York locals). NOTE: The IATSE Basic Agreement as applied on the West Coast, and the New York union rules, are very similar, but there is variation among the Basic Agreement Locals which can be looked up once you understand the basics of film payroll.

Let’s see if others are interested:

Having a webinar on Hot Costs is a good idea, though. Hopefully, those who attend will already have a handshake idea of film payroll, as well as a good grasp of Excel.

 I’ll propose it on my blog and see what sort of response I get.

 Thx for your kind words about the usefulness of the recorded videos of the on-line webinars. I’m pleased that they helped you.

Best / John

Presenting the Film’s Weekly Cost Report-#7 of 7

Over the last 10 years, or so, Film Director’s have slowly started to be on the weekly distribution list to receive the weekly cost report  – especially by the Major Studios (Disney, Warners, Universal, etc.). But, hey, very few film directors have a clue what to do with it. (Mind you, no one else but a chosen few ever get to see it, so why would the Director know about it?).

 

The poor director who gets a copy of the film production’s Weekly Cost Report is caught up as a character in a living ‘Dramatic Irony’ (per my dictionary that’s: ‘the irony occurring when the implications of situation, speech, etc. are understood by the audience but not by the characters in the play’.) The audience (the Studio, and to a lesser degree, the Producers and Production Accountant), feel that the Director/Department Head/etc. (the characters in the play) should know what’s going on with cost over-runs, or cost savings, but those poor characters in the play only use the cost report as a place mat for leaky coffee cups, agonizing the outraged audience.

 

Okay, so I’m being overly dramatic here, but…knowing how to read and influence the presentation of the Weekly Cost Report is a very important key to surviving, and expanding, in the film production business. It really doesn’t matter your position in the film industry, if you work in film & video production at all, you need to be familiar with the basics of how to present your costs incurred in the best light. If you gleaned one thing from the previous articles, let it be this:

 

MONEY IS VERY IMPORTANT TO THOSE WHO HOLD THE PURSE STRINGS!!!

 

All right. I promised you a bit of practice in this final article of this series. So, let’s investigate ways to ‘direct’ the costs of producing your film, regardless of your position in the film industry.

 

There are several ways to categorize the ways you can ‘Direct’ the costs. In all of them you’re looking hard at the Estimates-to-Complete. Have a look at the chart below. It’s a typical representation of the Electric Department of any Cost Report: (if your computer screen sees this chart as fuzzy, then you can either print it out – the print on the page shows very clearly – or click the attached PDF file for page 92 of my book).

 

Keep in mind that you’re looking for one of two things,

 

(i) Available ETC’s (Estimates-to-Complete) which can either be used to satisfy the Director’s creative vision more effectively, or to cover off known cost overruns in other areas, or

           

(ii) Under estimated ETC’s which when found, allows you the luxury of not being blindsided with an embarrassment but rather grants you the ability to plan an offsetting cost savings.

 

 So, how do you look at this department to see if there’s any fat in the Estimate-to-Complete?

 

As you might expect, about 25% of the production departments are some form of labor cost. Labor is usually paid the week after it’s worked (the only exception is New York city). Look at Column 3, the Actual Costs This Period. The amounts in the first 4 lines are what the crew in the Electric Department is paid for the previous week’s work. 

 

Look at the Best Boy Electric line – you can see in Col. 3 that he was paid $3,060 for his work last week. So, rounding to an easy number to work with, we can say that he will probably make $3,000 per week for the rest of the shooting period + let’s add another week for wrap (wrapping out the equipment, ensuring there are no missing rental items, etc.).

 

Now, still looking at the Best Boy’s labor line, have a look at Column 7, the Estimates-to-Complete – you can see that we have $21,930 left in ETC’s to pay for the Best Boy’s labor for the rest of the show. Again, rounding to an easy number to work with, we can say that there’s $22,000 left to pay the Best Boy.

 

Here is the simple rule that Producers and Production Managers use all of the time:

Take the rounded number in the ‘Actual This Period’ column and multiply it by the number of weeks left to shoot + 1 for wrap. Compare that number with a rounded amount of ETC.

 

In the Electric Department example above let’s say that there are 6 weeks left to shoot and one week of wrap for a total of  7 pay-weeks to go.

 

Best Boy $3,000 x 7 Pay-Wks  =   $21,000    

Compared to the ETC               =   $22,000

 

Nope. No fat there; but, at least we’re not in trouble there, either. After practicing this for a while it only takes about 20 minutes to go through all the labor accounts in a 12 page cost report, which will tell you a surprising amount. Anyone who plays cards, like bridge or whist, will tell you that this is child’s play.

 

One of the labor accounts in the Electric Department is in trouble – the projection of the labor cost is quite a bit less than the ETC. Can you tell which one? (If not, check out page 93 of my book.)

 

When projecting the labor cost in this way keep in mind two things:

 

1.It doesn’t work on accounts that have on-again-off-again labor, like Riggers, Special Effects labor, Construction labor, Stunts, etc. However, it does cover most of the crew.

 

2.Allow a little for ‘hard’ weeks and for ‘easy’ weeks. For instance, in our last example you could have said to yourself that the Best Boy had a particularly hard week last week, and reduce the amount. But, don’t get too complicated. It’s just a quick analysis tool.

 

I call this procedure ‘Projecting the Labor Cost’ rule. It’s not a new thing. Producers, UPM’s, and Department Heads use this rule every week in film & video productions everywhere. It works.

 

There are several more simple procedures to ‘direct’ the costs. They all work just as easily. I call them:

 

-Offsetting the +/- variances within the department

-Offsetting the +/- variances to the bottom line

-the Hot Cost savings or over-runs

-Projection Through to Completion

-Projected Fringes Technique

-The Missing Purchase Order

and more.

They’re available in my book – see my web site here “Walk The Talk”. All of them are simple but effective.

Visit my web site at www.talkfilm.biz. To buy my E-Book “Walk The Talk”, click here , for the full information and training on ‘Directing the Money’.

New Orleans -Film Accounting and Auditing For Professional Accts

This workshop introduces the professional accountant to the film industry specific standards, terminology and methodology as used throughout the industry. Before servicing this industry, or planning an audit of a film or television production for State tax credits, it is essential to understand the processes, industry standards and the ethics of not only the film accounting, but also of the producers and financiers of this very insular industry.

The workshop counts as 8 hours of CPE. The workshop will be held on Monday, May 23^rd in New Orleans.

In addition to the Major Topics listed (see the link below) you will also compare the Louisiana State Tax Credit with other State tax credits – to gain a better understanding of why the Louisiana State Tax Credit is working so well.

The workshop is delivered by John Gaskin, a production accountant who has 25 years experience working on over 45 film and television productions of every size, in 5 different countries. John is also an engineer, an instructor, and an author of a book used in the mentoring program at the American Film Institute, the U. of S. California’s producer program, and the U. of Tampa’s producer program.

There are many testimonials on John’s home page. For more information on the “Film Accounting & Auditing for Professionals” workshop see http://www.talkfilm.biz/filmworkshops2.htm