How to cut film production costs

Film creation can be an expensive exercise. It’s not uncommon for film developers to have budgets exceeding $200 million, hoping they’ll make that back when their creation is released to the box office. However, if you have a much smaller budget, you’ll likely need to get creative with how you can save money without compromising on film quality. Here are some of the most effective ways to keep your costs in check.

Explore New Accommodation Options

Accommodation is often one of the most significant costs associated with film production. You might have found the perfect set for your movie, but you must relocate your entire film crew and cast for extended periods. Rather than put your team up in hotel rooms, costing several hundred dollars per night, consider corporate housing. You might enjoy far more cost-effective per-night rates in corporate housing than hotels designed for one or two-night stays.  

Create a Detailed Plan

Unexpected costs due to poor planning can be overwhelming, especially if you never intended to be thousands or tens of thousands of dollars over budget. Reduce the risk of this happening by creating a detailed plan for pre-production, production, and post-production.

In this plan, break down the costs of your scripts, props, equipment, and cast. You can then have an idea of your likely budget and might have a better chance of securing the funding you need to bring your film to life.

Develop a Shooting Schedule

You might assume that a shooting schedule is something you can do at the last minute once you have all other kinks ironed out, but that’s not the case. When you break down your script into pages and determine the number of pages you can shoot daily, you can establish how many days it will take to shoot your movie and the costs associated with your resources for those days.  Having a shooting schedule created early on might also help you remain on track, and you don’t have to guess what each day will bring.

Keep It Simple

You won’t always need all film crew members, cast members, equipment, and props to be on the film set every day for a short film or feature-length movie. Having them all there throughout the filming process might lead to high costs you weren’t expecting. As part of your shooting schedule, determine what you require for each day of shooting so that you don’t end up overpaying for things and people you don’t need.

Rely On Friends and Family

If you’re creating a budget film for a festival or project, there won’t always be a need for expensive film locations that you have to hire from businesses and groups. Save money by utilizing the properties of people you know and locals in your community.

For example, you might like to ask for a permit from your local council to use a public park for filming or talk to a local farmer about the use of a field for a specific scene. Using your connections and keeping filming proximate to your home town might help keep costs low.    

Cutting film production costs won’t always be easy, especially when creating feature-length films with well-known actors. However, by keeping the set simple, prioritizing planning, and exploring inexpensive accommodation options in new locations, you might be surprised by how much money you can save.