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Free template · producers and line producers

Free film budget template

A film budget in Excel with the maths done for you: a top sheet, a detailed budget by account, fringes and globals, in a feature version and a short-film version.

Download: Feature film workbook Every format

Download free, no sign-up

Direct downloads: no account, no email address. Every file prints black on white on US Letter.

  • Feature film workbook · Excel (.xlsx), 34 KB
    Top sheet, detail, fringes and globals; opens in Google Sheets
  • Feature film in Numbers · Numbers (.numbers), 825 KB
    The same working totals and drop-down lists, for Numbers on Mac, iPad and iPhone
  • Short film workbook · Excel (.xlsx), 22 KB
    A smaller chart of accounts for shorts; opens in Google Sheets
  • Short film in Numbers · Numbers (.numbers), 770 KB
    The same working totals and drop-down lists, for Numbers on Mac, iPad and iPhone
  • Feature film print PDF · PDF, 41 KB
    Top sheet and detail pages to fill in by hand
  • Short film print PDF · PDF, 22 KB
    Top sheet and detail pages to fill in by hand
  • Filled-in sample · PDF, 24 KB
    A five-day invented short film, budgeted in full

What is in the template

  • Top sheet: Every category with its total and share of the budget: above the line, then production, post-production and other below the line, contingency as a percentage, and the grand total.
  • Detail: Each account with lines for description, amount, units, X, rate, subtotal, fringe and total. Account totals add up their lines and category totals add up their accounts.
  • Fringes: Payroll fringes and union fringes as percentages, applied to the lines you mark P, U or PU. The rates given are examples to replace with your own.
  • Globals: Shoot days, prep and post weeks and crew size as named values. A line can use =SHOOT_DAYS, so changing the schedule moves every line that depends on it.

How to use it

  1. Choose feature or short. The feature workbook has the full chart of accounts, visual effects included. The short-film workbook keeps to the accounts a short needs.
  2. Set the globals and fringes. Enter the shoot days, prep and post weeks and crew size, then check every fringe rate against current payroll and union rates.
  3. Budget line by line. In the detail, type each line's amount, units, rate and fringe code. Subtotals, fringes and totals work themselves out.
  4. Read the top sheet. Above the line, below the line, contingency and the grand total update as you type. Set the contingency percentage on the top sheet.

Questions

Is the film budget template free?

Yes. Download the workbooks and PDFs straight from this page with no account and no email address.

What does above the line and below the line mean?

Above the line covers the story, producers, director and cast. Below the line covers everything it takes to make the film: crew, equipment, locations, post-production, insurance and the rest.

How are fringes worked out?

Each line marked P gets the payroll fringe total, U the union fringe total, and PU both, as a percentage of the line's subtotal. Wage-base cutoffs are not applied, so on large salaries the payroll fringes come out slightly high.

Does it work in Google Sheets?

Yes. Open the .xlsx from Google Drive. The named globals, fringes and every total keep working.

Does it work in Apple Numbers?

Yes. Download the Numbers file. The fringes, contingency and every total keep working. Numbers doesn't use names like =SHOOT_DAYS, so a line points to the value on the Globals tab instead; the lines already set up do.

Where does the chart of accounts come from?

It is the starter chart that Cinewright Budgeting and Scheduling uses for features and for short films, laid out here as plain spreadsheets.

Can Cinewright build a budget from my schedule?

Cinewright Budgeting and Scheduling for Mac links the budget to the stripboard, with fringes, cutoffs and globals. It is not on sale yet; it launches through Kickstarter. Windows and Android versions are in development.

Budgets in Cinewright

Cinewright Budgeting and Scheduling for Mac keeps the budget linked to the stripboard: formulas, globals and schedule-linked values, fringes with cutoffs and dated rate changes, and every total checked a second way. It is not on sale yet; it launches through Kickstarter.

More free templates

Kickstarter coming late 2026 or early 2027

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