Film Budget Breakdown by Department: The Complete 2026 Guide

When producers talk about a film's budget, they're usually quoting one number: the total production cost. But that single number is a stack of department-level decisions — and understanding how that money is actually divided is what separates a budget that holds together from one that collapses in week two of production.

This guide breaks down every major department in a film budget, explains typical percentages across budget tiers, and flags the categories most producers underestimate.

Quick overview before we go deep:

• Above the Line (ATL): 25–35% of total budget (talent, rights, producers, director)

• Below the Line Production (BTL): 40–50% of total budget (crew, equipment, locations)

• Post-Production: 10–20% (editorial, VFX, sound, music)

• Other (insurance, bond, contingency): 5–10%

The actual split depends heavily on your budget size, union status, and production type. Let's get specific.

How Film Budgets Are Structured

Every production budget — whether it's a $100,000 short film or a $100M studio feature — follows the same fundamental structure: Above the Line and Below the Line, with post-production and fringes layered on top.

The Topsheet

The topsheet is the summary page of a film budget. It shows the total cost of each major category without the individual line items. When an executive, financier, or studio asks to "see the budget," they usually mean the topsheet. A production accountant or line producer sees the full budget; investors typically see the topsheet.

A standard topsheet includes:

• Above-the-Line totals (broken into Story/Rights, Producer, Director, Cast)

• Below-the-Line Production totals (broken by department or category)

• Post-Production totals

• Other (insurance, completion bond, overhead, contingency)

• Grand total

Why Departments Matter for Budget Control

Budgets don't blow up all at once — they blow up department by department. When a production runs over budget, it's usually because one or two departments had inaccurate estimates, unexpected overages, or scope creep that wasn't caught early enough.

Managing a production budget means managing department heads. Each department head (DP, production designer, costume designer, etc.) is responsible for spending within their department envelope. A line producer's job is to set those envelopes accurately and hold people to them.

Above the Line: Creative Costs

Above-the-line costs cover the people whose names appear on the poster: writer, director, producer, and principal cast. These costs are negotiated in deal memos before production begins and are locked (or should be) before you even budget the rest of the film.

Story & Rights

Story rights include the purchase of underlying material (novel, article, true story rights, life rights, screenplay option/purchase). For an original screenplay, this is the writer's fee. For an adaptation, add the option or purchase price of the underlying IP.

• Typical range: 1–5% of total budget for original scripts, higher for high-profile IP acquisitions

• WGA minimum (2026): ~$70,000 for a low-budget original screenplay; $130,000–$175,000 for higher budget tiers

Producer Fees

Producers are paid a fee that typically falls into two categories: a production fee (paid during production) and a deferred fee or profit participation. On low-budget films, producers often defer most or all of their fee. On studio films, producer fees can reach 3–5% of the total budget.

Director

Director fees are negotiated based on budget tier, track record, and DGA minimums. On DGA productions, the director also receives pension, health, and residual contributions, which add 35–45% on top of their weekly rate.

• DGA minimum (2026, theatrical): $15,000–$19,000/week for features, depending on budget tier

• Typical range: 2–8% of total budget

Principal Cast

This is often the most variable ATL line. A name actor's quote can range from SAG-AFTRA minimum ($6,000/week for low budget) to $5M+ for major talent. The ATL section of the budget should include:

• Cast fees (deal rate × shooting days)

• Overtime provisions

• Travel, per diem, and housing for out-of-town talent

• SAG-AFTRA fringe: pension and health (18% of scale), vacation pay (9.3%), and payroll taxes

Note: On studio films, cast costs can spike when a star commands a $15M–$25M quote. This compresses all other departments.

Below the Line: Production Department Budgets

Below-the-line covers everything needed to physically make the film: crew, equipment, locations, vehicles, costumes, props, and everything else that shows up on screen. This is where a line producer earns their keep — because BTL is where budgets either hold or fall apart.

Camera Department

The camera department includes the Director of Photography (DP), camera operator, 1st AC, 2nd AC, DIT (digital imaging technician), and loader. On larger productions, add a B-camera and B-camera crew.

Equipment costs (camera bodies, lenses, support gear) are either rented for the production run or owned by a production company. Camera package costs vary widely by format and size of production.

• Typical range: 4–8% of BTL budget (crew + equipment)

• Equipment cost example: $3,000–$10,000/week for an ARRI Alexa package; $15,000–$40,000/week for an ALEXA 65 or Panavision anamorphic

• IATSE fringe: 35–40% on top of crew rates (pension, health, vacation, payroll taxes)

Grip & Electric

Grip and electric are typically the largest crew departments by headcount. Gaffer, key grip, best boy electric, best boy grip, plus as many swing crew and day players as you need. On-location, G&E handles every light, flag, stand, and power distribution unit.

• Equipment: Lighting package rental, generator rental, expendables (gels, tape, bulk

• Typical range: 8–15% of BTL budget — often the single largest BTL department

• Most underestimated line: Generator costs for location work (fuel, operator, transport)

Production Design / Art Department

The production designer oversees everything the camera sees that isn't a person. This department includes the art director, set decorator, prop master, property buyers, scenic painters, construction coordinator, and a full construction crew if building sets.

• On studio or period films: Art department can represent 10–20% of BTL

• On contemporary location-based films: Closer to 5–8% of BTL

• Set construction costs are the most variable line — materials, labor, and striking (demolishing) sets all add up

Wardrobe & Costume

The costume designer, wardrobe supervisor, and set costumers handle everything worn by cast. On period films or productions requiring custom costumes, this department is substantial. On contemporary stories, it's smaller.

• Typical range: 2–5% of BTL budget

• Don't forget: Rental costs for vintage or specialty wardrobe, dry cleaning and alterations, continuity needs (multiples of hero costumes)

Hair & Makeup

Department head and set artists. On productions with heavy prosthetics, character makeups, or aging effects, this department grows substantially.

• Typical range: 1–4% of BTL budget

• Special effects makeup (prosthetics, appliances, creature work) can add $50,000–$500,000+ on a single film

Sound Department

Production sound mixer, boom operator, utility sound. Sound equipment rental (Lectrosonics wireless, Sound Devices mixer, boom poles). Post-sound is budgeted separately in post-production.

• Typical range: 1–3% of BTL budget (production sound only)

Locations

Location fees, permits, site surveys, location management, and location PA crew. On films shooting in major cities (New York, Los Angeles), location costs can be significant. Rural or international shooting adds travel logistics.

• Typical range: 5–15% of BTL budget depending on location complexity

• Hidden costs: Police officers (often required on street permits), fire safety, catering for location-specific meal requirements, parking for trucks and base camp

Transportation

Transportation captain, drivers, production vehicles (picture cars, camera cars, insert car), crew transport, equipment trucks, and fuel. For union productions, Teamsters handle all driving.

• Typical range: 5–10% of BTL budget

• Fuel is volatile: A long shooting schedule with heavy truck use can see this line grow significantly if fuel costs spike

Catering & Craft Services

Craft services is what crew eats between meals. Catering is the full hot meal (typically one per day, sometimes two on long days). Both are non-negotiable on union productions — meal penalty charges apply if hot meals aren't served within six hours of crew call.

• Typical rate: $35–$75/person per meal for catering; $8–$15/person per day for craft services

• On a 60-person crew for 40 shoot days: $84,000–$180,000 just for catering

Budget Percentages by Department — Sample Tables

These are representative breakdowns based on typical productions at each budget tier. Actual numbers vary based on your specific project, union status, locations, and genre.

Table 1: $1M Indie Film — Sample Budget Breakdown

Table 2: $5M Mid-Budget Film — Sample Breakdown

Table 3: $50M+ Studio Film — Sample Breakdown

Post-Production Budget Breakdown

Post-production is consistently underbudgeted on indie films. The common mistake: blocking production to cost and leaving post as "whatever's left." What's left is rarely enough. Here's how post-production breaks down:

Editorial

Editor fee, assistant editor, post supervisor, and editing suite (Avid or DaVinci rental). The editor usually works through picture lock and beyond on notes.

• Typical cost: $60,000–$200,000 for features, depending on weeks and rates

• ACE union minimums: ~$5,000/week for editors on larger productions

VFX & CGI

Visual effects range from invisible compositing (removing a boom mic that dipped into frame) to full digital environments. Even "no VFX" films typically have 50–100 invisible VFX shots.

• Per-shot costs: $2,000–$5,000 for simple composites; $50,000–$200,000+ per shot for complex VFX

• Red flag: Productions that add VFX in post without a budget line for it — this is how overages happen

Color Grading

Color grading (digital intermediate) converts the raw footage to a finished cinematic look. A professional DI suite with a colorist runs $10,000–$40,000 for a feature, depending on resolution, format, and the colorist's rate.

Sound Design & Mix

Post-sound is a multi-step process: dialogue editing, ADR (looping), sound design, Foley, music editing, and final mix. For a theatrical release, a 5.1 or Dolby Atmos mix is required.

• Typical range for indie feature: $25,000–$80,000 for a full sound post package

• ADR: Any SAG-AFTRA actor called for looping is paid per session, with fringes — this adds up if the original production sound has issues

Music (Score + Licensing)

Original score (composer fee + recording + mixing) and licensed music (sync license + master use license for each existing song).

• Sync + master for a major song: $10,000–$100,000+ per track

• Original score: $15,000–$100,000+ for a composer, plus recording costs

• Budget tip: License music contingently — if you can't afford what you put in the cut, you'll need to replace it in delivery

The Categories Producers Forget

These are the budget lines that regularly catch producers off guard — and where "I thought we were fine" becomes "we need more money."

Fringe Benefits: The Hidden 35–45%

Union fringe benefits — pension and health contributions, vacation pay, FICA, state unemployment, and local taxes — add 35–45% on top of every union crew member's rate. This is not optional and it's not negotiable.

Example: If your DP negotiates $3,500/week, their true cost to the production is approximately $4,900–$5,075/week once fringes are applied. Multiply that across 40+ crew members and 30+ shooting days, and the fringe line can represent 8–12% of your total production budget.

This is why line producers use budgeting software with automatic fringe calculations. Manual fringe math across 40 crew members with different union affiliations (IATSE Local 600, Local 728, SAG-AFTRA, DGA, WGA) is where errors happen. Saturation automatically applies the correct union fringe rates as you build your budget — SAG-AFTRA, IATSE, DGA, WGA, and NABET — so no line item is missing its fringe burden.

Completion Bond (2–3% of Budget)

A completion guaranty (bond) is required by most independent film financiers, distributors, and sales agents. The bond guarantor agrees to complete the film if the production runs out of money — in exchange for 2–3% of the total budget (sometimes with a rebate if the film delivers on time and on budget).

Bonded productions also need to submit their budget to the bond company for approval, which means your budget needs to be defensible at a line-item level — not just at the topsheet.

Insurance

Production insurance includes Errors & Omissions (E&O), General Liability, Workers' Compensation, equipment insurance, negative/data insurance, and cast insurance (key cast coverage that pays out if a principal actor can't work).

• Typical total: 1.5–3% of total budget

• Cast insurance deductible: Usually the first 3–5 shooting days — before the policy kicks in

Contingency

The contingency is a reserve line — typically 10% of your below-the-line production and post budget — held against overages. Financiers and bond companies expect to see it. Do not spend contingency during production. It exists for genuine emergencies: a rain day, a sick principal actor, a set that took longer to build than expected.

Using Budget Percentages as a Sanity Check

Once you have a draft budget, run these checks before presenting it to investors or a bond company:

Red Flag: ATL Over 50%

If above-the-line costs exceed 50% of your total budget, you've committed more than half your money before turning on a camera. The remaining 50% has to cover every crew member, location, piece of equipment, and all of post. This is how films end up shooting 15-day schedules when the story needed 25 days.

What to do: Renegotiate talent deals, defer fees to backend, or attach a lower-profile director/cast to preserve production resources.

Red Flag: Post Under 10%

If you've allocated less than 10% for post-production, you will run out of money before the film is done. Editorial takes months. Sound post takes weeks. Color takes time. VFX — even minimal VFX — costs real money.

What to do: Cut shooting days before cutting the post budget. A well-edited shorter film beats a rushed, poorly mixed longer one.

Red Flag: No Fringe Line

If your budget shows crew costs but no separate fringe line (or fringes are embedded incorrectly), you have a math problem. Any bonding company or sophisticated investor will spot this immediately. Your true crew costs are 35–45% higher than the rates you negotiated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How is the film budget divided?

A film budget is typically divided into four categories: Above the Line (ATL) — story, producer, director, and principal cast — which represents 25–35% of the total budget; Below the Line Production (BTL) — crew, equipment, locations, and physical production — which represents 40–50%; Post-Production (editorial, VFX, sound, music) at 10–20%; and Other (insurance, completion bond, contingency) at 5–10%. These percentages shift based on budget size, union status, genre, and how much of the budget goes to marquee talent.

What percentage of a film budget goes to actors?

Principal cast typically represents 10–25% of a film's total budget, depending on star power and budget tier. On a studio tentpole with a $20M star and a $100M budget, that single actor represents 20% of the total. On an indie film using emerging talent at SAG-AFTRA ultra-low budget ($2,750/week), cast might be 8–12% of total cost. SAG-AFTRA fringe benefits (pension, health, vacation, payroll taxes) add another 35–40% on top of the base rate, so the true cost of actors is always higher than the negotiated rate alone.

What is the 2.5 rule for movies?

The 2.5 rule is an informal Hollywood guideline: a film needs to gross approximately 2.5× its production budget at the domestic box office to break even on domestic theatrical alone. This accounts for the exhibitor split (theaters typically keep 50% of gross receipts), prints and advertising (P&A costs often equal or exceed the production budget for wide releases), and studio overhead. A $20M film must gross roughly $50M domestically just to cover theatrical costs — before foreign sales, streaming, and home entertainment are counted. It's a rough rule of thumb, not a formula, and smaller films with lower P&A spends don't follow it as precisely.

How do department heads get their budgets?

The line producer builds the initial budget in collaboration with the director and key department heads. Each department head (DP, production designer, costume designer, etc.) is consulted on their department's needs — what they need to execute the director's vision within the available resources. The line producer then allocates a department envelope: a total budget for that department including crew, equipment, materials, and miscellaneous expenses. Department heads are responsible for spending within that envelope and flagging any overages early.

What tools do line producers use for film budget breakdowns?

The most common tools are Movie Magic Budgeting (industry standard for large studio productions), Saturation.io (cloud-based, starts free, automatic union fringe calculations), EP Budgeting (used alongside EP payroll), and Hot Budget (simpler, less common). Line producers on union productions need software that can handle automatic fringe calculations — manually applying SAG-AFTRA, IATSE, DGA, and WGA rates to every crew member is time-consuming and error-prone. Saturation.io calculates all union fringes automatically and tracks actuals against the budget in real time.

What is included in below-the-line costs?

Below-the-line (BTL) costs include all physical production expenses: crew salaries and fringe benefits (DP, gaffer, grip, art department, sound, wardrobe, hair/makeup, etc.), equipment rental (camera, lighting, grip, sound), location fees and permits, transportation (vehicles, drivers, fuel), catering and craft services, extras and atmosphere, stunts, and all on-set expendables. BTL does not include above-the-line talent (director, cast, writer) or post-production costs.

Putting It Together: Your Department Budget Checklist

Before you finalize any production budget, verify you have accounted for:

• ✅ All ATL deal memos negotiated and locked

• ✅ Fringe rates applied to all union crew (not just raw rates)

• ✅ Equipment packages priced with actual vendor quotes, not estimates

• ✅ Location fees confirmed (some locations quote then spike the price when cameras show up)

• ✅ Post-production budget built from actual post schedules, not a percentage guess

• ✅ Completion bond included if required by financing agreements

• ✅ Contingency at minimum 10% of production and post

• ✅ Insurance premiums quoted, not estimated

• ✅ VFX budget based on shot list, not guesswork

The producers who stay on budget are the ones who built the budget correctly in the first place — with real numbers, real fringes, and a realistic contingency.

If you're building a production budget and need automatic fringe calculations across SAG-AFTRA, IATSE, DGA, and WGA rates, Saturation is free to start — no credit card required. The free plan includes full budgeting with automatic union fringe, ATL/BTL structure, and department-level tracking.