Where does the money go? Of Money and Wishes

Lorie Marsh

Mon, 07/12/2010 - 22:43

One of my jobs as a movie producer is to look at numbers. Befriend them. Massage them. Plead with them! Ha ha. In short, I look at the numbers it should take to make the movie, as well as the numbers to get the finished movie in front of people's eyeballs, and finally, the possible revenues and returns to our investors. Wheee!

Now, here's the thing about numbers and movie-making: at their best, they help you clarify your vision, and thus, your intentions for the movie. If you can feel clearer about what you want, you can be clearer in asking for what you want!

Sidenote: To pick up some cool ideas about how to get clear about what you want, check out the book, Wishing: How to Fulfill Your Hearts Desires by Elizabeth Harper! This book "found me" a couple weeks ago, and I've really enjoyed it.

Jentri and I don't let the upfront lack of money stop us from starting the journey to make Lost in Sunshine - so, money, itself, is not an impediment to manifesting our creative vision. It is a tool that will enable us to get LIS made and seen, so we need to evaluate (and continue to evaluate) what size tool will best serve this particular project. In other words, perhaps we might really like jackhammers, but we figure out that this project would be best served by a rock hammer.

If you're subscribed for our monthly e-newsletters, you know that we've looked seriously at the jackhammer scenario for LIS (a $2.3 million budget) in the last couple months. :) And, loving power tools as I do, I would like to work with jackhammers on a future project! Ha ha. But, with our well-considered rock hammer ($400,000-ish), here's a "pallet" of numbers from our current budget breakdown to give you an idea where the money goes:

CAST EXPENSES:
2 Lead Actors
10 Supporting Actors
23 Day Player Actors
Casting/Auditions expense
Travel and Lodging
Per Diems
Rental Cars
Admin Expenses (SAG, payroll, agent fees, Medicare, etc. etc.)
Looping (if actor(s) need to re-record dialog in a studio b/c field audio/dialog was bad for some reason)

Budgeted Cast-Related Costs: Approximately $130,000

In my next posting, I'll give you an idea where the money goes for crew and equipment. :)