MagicMirror – Film Financing & Distribution Blog

Once You Have a Script, You Need a Line Producer

Once you have a script and it is something actors and others love,  you need to pay a line producer to break the script down into shooting days and budget items.

Why? You need real numbers in order to determine how much your film will cost to make. It is not uncommon at all to change your script to reduce costs. Make sure your line producer provides the budget and the schedule in form you can edit. You can purchase software, like EP

Budgeting and EP Scheduling, that you can use to maintain what he provides you. You don’t have to go back to the line producer for every change, but you do need to have his work as a baseline and you need to have him explain anything you don’t understand about your budget and schedule when he reviews them with you.

Why is this so critical?

Because until you know exactly how many days you will be shooting, and the least it can cost in terms of cast, crew and post production, you don’t know anything about how much your film costs to make.

You also don’t know what you are shopping for. You can’t tell a director how long you will need him. You can’t tell a lead actor how many weeks you’ll want to work with him. You can’t bargain with anyone over the price of FX or stunts. You need a budget and a schedule that you know are accurate in order to begin to make financial decisions and creative choices about your film.

The line producer you hire should have the following qualifications:

• Many credits in film and TV
• Relationships with Completion Bond companies
• Relationships with Production Insurance companies
• Good understanding of state rebate programs
• If you are a new writer/director/producer, you should make sure they are a DGA director as well. This makes investors happy.

You should expect to pay $2-5K for your budget and shooting schedule. If your script is very solid and pretty much locked, then you’ll only have to pay this once before your film is funded.

Great line producers are very, very nice people. They have to be in order to do their jobs. They are very reliable and very hard working. They get things done on time and within budget. They are the most friendly and supportive person you’ll work with on a project as producer.

Hiring a line producer is such an important decision that you may want to pay those you are considering $200-$500 to read through a script to tell you their general impression. When you find one with a great track record that loves the script as much as you do, you can buy a solid budget and shooting schedule.

A line producer can help you find and/or vet:

• Director
• Cinematographer
• Production Designer
• Art Director
• FX Companies
• Editors
• Casting Directors
• Lead Actors
• Production Insurance
• Completion Bonds
• They should also have great relations with all unions, including SAG, Teamsters and IATSE.

A good line producer isn’t going to do all that for free, or for $1K-$5K. You will have to pay them something to help you with those choices. But you will find the investment costs far less than your production attorney and and a good line producer can save you hundreds of thousands, if no millions of dollar during production while ensuring you have a commercial quality project.

Documentary filmmakers may or may not have a line producer to help them schedule and budget their project. Larger projects will, smaller projects may have a director or a 1^st AD that can do the job. For micro-budget documentaries, the producer or filmmaker will make budgets and schedules based on the project outline.