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Let's Talk Budget
🕑 Added 2024-07-09 00:44:57 +0000 UTCMatt here! So... money. We gotta talk about it. Movies need it. This movie needs it. And it takes a greater amount of money to make films than most other art forms. In many ways, it takes an uncomfortable amount of money to make these silly little moving pictures. Does society really benefit from $200 million (MILLION) dollars to put some superheroes on the screen? That’s for you to answer, I guess. Regardless, movies are as much a business as it is an art. Understanding the cost of one’s film and how to manage that budget is crucial to the artistry of filmmaking.
Especially when it comes to independent films.
Wanting to stay true to our promise of transparency, we've strived to provide budget information for our previous projects, assuming we had control over those budgets. For instance, during the three seasons of VGHS, we whipped together infographics complete with bright pixel art graphic design, all the rage in the 2010s.
Here's the VGHS Season 1 breakdown, Season 2 breakdown, and Season 3 breakdown.
Once we release We’re All Gonna Die on platforms and close the books, we’ll break down the budget of that film as well.
With Nail House, our goal is to provide as much access to the film’s budget as possible. This means understanding how we conceptualize it from the outset: how the initial budget is formulated, how it adjusts during pre-production, how it’s tested during production, and even how it persists beyond post-production. We didn't anticipate that getting WAGD into SXSW would add tens of thousands to our budget but that’s how it goes.
How We Initially Approach Budgeting
We'll delve into the nitty-gritty of creating a budget later in the process. We plan to film our meeting with a line producer (the producer who meticulously plans the budget line-by-line) once we have a budget-ready version of the script.
For now, let's talk vibes. Because all good financial decisions are made purely on “vibes.” Just “vibes.” Real chill, how-much-can-we-spend-without-going-bankrupt vibes.
Long story short, we decide on a budget much like the big studios do. It's an algorithm of what we can afford, what executing the script to our desired standard might cost, and how much we expect to recoup.
Once you understand all that, the final question is: what is the primary goal of making the film? I'm not referring to the artistic sense – that should have been answered long ago – but the career-oriented purpose. This is not tainting the art, nor is it a cynical question. This is a career after all, and to even make a film is to jump into the muddy waters of business. So, is the purpose to earn a hefty profit? Is it to expand your brand? Is it simply to hone your craft? The answer is likely a combination of these factors.
For instance, We’re All Gonna Die was primarily made to fulfill the need for a "first feature." We weren't overly concerned about recouping our money - we said bye to it the moment we decided to save up four years’ worth of funds to pay for the darn thing. Our aim was to take a low-risk swing at making a full-length film and to reestablish ourselves as filmmakers. This is crucial not just for gaining capital-H Hollywood recognition but also among our peers in the film industry. You have to already be playing the game to even be invited into The Game, if you will. So, we bet on us, and kept the budget to something that, when we guessed what the minimal return would be, wouldn’t bankrupt ourselves.
With Nail House, our concerns are twofold. First, we need a budget adequate to execute the action and physical comedy sequences we love and want to master. Secondly, we aim for this film to be the first step in establishing a production and distribution pipeline that can sustain itself, allowing us to produce more films within a similar budget range.
Could we win the Hollywood lottery and receive tens of millions to make a movie someday? Sure. But we prefer not to depend on industry hot-shots with varying priorities and incentives deciding whether we make films. If we can find a way to make a sub-$2 million film every few years, I'd say we're among the luckiest people alive. What more could we ask for?
Now that’s out of the way, what’s the current "vibe" budget?
What We Think Nail House Will Cost
We’ve come up with two numbers.
The higher number represents a reasonable but "outside the realm of our own finances" budget for the script we’re currently writing, based on our experiences with VGHS, our two Hulu shows, Anime Crimes Division, and We’re All Gonna Die. These productions were entirely within our control and best reflect our unique production process. When we look at how complicated a shoot Nail House will be, it probably lands somewhere close to VGHS Season 2 in scale.
That figure is $1.5 million.
In a perfect scenario, someone would just give us $1.5 million to make Nail House and we’d feel confident in our ability to recoup that investment. It’s a responsible estimate.
The lower number is the absolute minimum we believe we could make the film for and still create something we're proud of. This would entail a lot of sweat equity, minimal crew, and an extended and sporadic production schedule involving guerrilla filmmaking tactics (akin to VGHS Season 1). Just finding a way to brute-force get it done.
We also consider this figure when deciding if it’s worthwhile to pursue making this movie. As long as this number is a risk we’re comfortable taking and betting on ourselves, we'll proceed. This approach mirrors what we did with VGHS Season 1 and We’re All Gonna Die.
That figure is $750,000.
The actual budget will likely fall somewhere between these two numbers as additional income sources come into play, such as earnings from We’re All Gonna Die, this Patreon, and potential financing options we're exploring.
However, we wouldn’t have started this Patreon if we weren’t certain about making the film. As a company, we reviewed our finances and felt confident that RocketJump could fund $750,000 over the next two years without Freddie and I losing our livelihoods.
So, for now, the pure "vibe" number we’re operating on as we rewrite and plan is:
$1.25 million.
Consider that the current budget of Nail House.
As a comparison, at this stage of production, the "vibe" budget for WAGD was $500,000.
After consulting with a line producer and crafting a detailed budget, we settled closer to $550,000.
All things considered, the final cost will likely exceed that amount slightly.
Our goal is to be more accurate with the final budget of Nail House than we were with We’re All Gonna Die.
Next Steps
This proposed budget becomes our guiding star in the upcoming phases of writing and pre-production. Initially, when writing our scripts or developing a story, we try to disregard budget constraints. However, the harsh, uncaring realities of production inevitably come into play. Fortunately, as writers and directors with extensive experience in VFX and post-production, we have a clear grasp of what we can achieve, what can be done more affordably, and where potential budget pitfalls lie.
For example, early on in WAGD writing, we anticipated the Spike effects would be very expensive unless we kept the object off into the distance, if it had to animate, and so on. Hence it became a large thin tentacle in the sky whose animation was limited to 2D transformations (rather than full 3D animations). We also knew what the big “must-have” production costs were gonna be - cutting a car, getting it in the river, and a moment where a chunk of land swaps with a river right next to our main actors. So we worked around how much those must-haves were gonna cost and found ways to save money elsewhere.
As we progress through the current script of Nail House, we’re also mentally calculating the scale of our action scenes. We’ll streamline the number of locations. When we pause for a physical gag, we won't just consider how to make it funnier but also the practicalities of executing it. Essentially, how much the joke will cost.
This often means Will and I will yell at Freddie to come over and talk about a gag so we can figure out the complete effect of a script change.
It’s Not Always Obvious What’s Cheaper
In Nail House, we had a gag where a young Freddie angrily throws a brick through the store’s window. The important part is that Freddie, in a rash of petulant rage, causes expensive damage to his brother’s restaurant.
The scene was fine, but it didn’t blow our hair back. Will and I went back and forth on some funnier options that also would make the act of petulant rage feel more personal and devastating to Jimmy. In that sequence, Freddie is mad because Jimmy “stole” his culinary school tuition money to replace the oven of their restaurant. So we thought Freddie should damage the oven. Better yet… he should TAKE the oven because he would claim, “It’s MINE! YOU USED MY MONEY!”
Well… we had Freddie leaving on a motorcycle. So of course we thought that when Freddie curses his brother, revs his bike, and peels out to leave him forever, he should drag the oven along with him.
Hell yeah! Jimmy looks down, sees the oven chained to Freddie’s bike. The latter peels out and the oven starts to rip from the floor. Freddie’s bike slides left and right, as he desperately tries to free the oven. Jimmy runs into the kitchen, trying to avoid tripping over the taut, shaking, chain. He holds onto the oven with all his might, but SNAP! It rips free from his embrace. The oven whips through the kitchen and flies through the restaurant, getting stuck in the door frame with a SLAM! Freddie almost falls off his bike, but doesn’t give up. The door frame begins to bend, but Jimmy whips out bolt cutters and now it’s a race between what will give way first: the door frame, or this 2-inch thick steel chain.
CUT! The chain snaps, Jimmy falls back in relief. Freddie peels off, minus his oven, and with a new level of disdain for his younger brother.
Now, we like this new version way more. And you may think, “But Matt, that’s crazy expensive! Dragging an oven through a restaurant is way pricier than breaking a single window!” And you would be wrong. In fact, that’s what Will Campos thought when I assured him we could put the gag into the script.
Freddie and I only know this because we’ve shot similar sequences, or paid for equivalent gags.
An entire storefront window of breakaway glass could cost anywhere from $500-2500. For just one take. Not to mention the considerations needed in the construction of the set to make it easier to remove the normal glass. It's also a gag that requires looking outside the shop in a more complicated way, and that could matter if we are using a different exterior for the restaurant. Since the brick connects the interior and exterior.
Now let's look at the bike sequence. We are already shooting Freddie on a bike. We already have the oven. A chain is what? $50? There will be stunt considerations, but dragging the oven is visually easier to cheat as well. We could even destroy a few tables and it'd be cheaper than one sheet of glass. It's also a sequence that can be made up of very deliberate, inexpensive close-ups. Simple VFX, and so on.
At the end of the day, you can’t effectively cheat a big glass breaking. You just gotta do it. HOWEVER, you can hang out at your set, minus a crew, and just have Freddie push an oven into a door frame, as you grab close-ups of it slamming into the side of your restaurant set. There's a surprising but clear winner here.
Onward We Go
Having a sense of the budget now doesn’t feel restrictive. It’s freeing. It’s directing before walking on set. Filmmaking is an art, but it is also full of practical problem-solving. That’s not a bug, it’s a feature. It’s one of the things we love most about film. That is part of the craft.
So now we will go through the script looking for a way to make every gag, action beat, or emotional scene better, AS WELL AS cheaper and more exciting to execute.
The real winning combination is when that better and cheaper idea can actually feel bigger and more expensive. That’s where the real magic happens.
We’re hoping to tee up as many of those magical moments as possible in Nail House. Some harsh realities of filmmaking will likely strip away some of that intention, but we'll get to that as it comes up.
Comments
James Couche
Great article Matt! I released my first feature back in January (a no-budget action thriller called Lost Phoenix). It took 3 years to finish, but since it was self financed, I had freedom to learn and try cool stuff without an investor breathing down my neck. I recently got my first earnings report and it was.... sobering. I kind of expected this and have been developing 3 different projects at 3 different budget levels. I'm in pre pro on my next feature, and I'm extremely grateful for the knowledge you're sharing.
Stephen Hawes
Matt, thank you so much for taking the time to write all this up. What an incredible quote: "But we prefer not to depend on industry hot-shots with varying priorities and incentives deciding whether we make films. If we can find a way to make a sub-$2 million film every few years, I'd say we're among the luckiest people alive." I have so much appreciation for how you guys are choosing to do this, making sure that the ethos of the thing is paramount, and ensuring that you get to do it your way.
RocketJump
I think finding a better and more feasible solution is always magic. You can find so many behind the scenes moments in huge films that still have to come up with something creative and left-field in order to execute what they want. All of Fury Road was like that. We've never had the pleasure (curse?) of working with a huge budget. But its pretty common to hear from directors that no matter the budget you find yourself stretching it, or not having enough money. Usually its just your ambitions are bigger. However, I do wonder if in the age of endless reshoots, and money hoses from companies like Disney, that just spray time and money at the problem you get results that are not only polished beyond any unique qualities, but also lack the sort of filmmaking magic in better films. But thats just my opinion.
Wesley Reagan
Love the blogposts!
Brianna Neighbors
You talk about wanting the magical moments of cheap and fun stunts and things that actually look and seem really expensive. If you had the bug budget of studios with millions of dollars at your fingertips, would you still do these moments, or would you do the more expensive window breaking? I guess a deeper question is what is better, less money but magical moments like the stove, or more money and potentially less magic moments in your opinion?
eatmygerms
I haven't been able to read a bunch on here yet. Nonetheless, I love how real/transparent you guys are being. It is refreshing in this world for someone just to outright say "This is what it is." So thank you for these posts
Alan Seawright
Absolutely thrilled to read this deep dive into your process! Fascinating stuff. I wouldn’t have guessed the oven gag is cheaper, because I’ve never budgeted a big window break like that, I’ve only been camera dept for that kind of thing.
