FROM ASTERISK ANIMATION - PART 1
Here's how the SUMMARY OF PRODUCTION COSTS works.
This budget is a variation on the AICP budget form. That is designed for live action. That budget form contains (literally) one line for "animation". Each of the production categories are culled from there.
We figure there are 5 phases of production as far a budgeting is concerned. Future posts will explain these in detail.
In general, it's best if "animation" covers about 30% of production costs. When we get into categories, you'll see this means labor/production costs of animators, assistant animators, inbetweeners, etc.
In this model, lines A-E total $90k. All of that should be detailed in the body of the budget.
Now for the next lines.
In work-for-hire, the producer isn't supposed to mark up director/creative fees. When we get into line items, we'll describe what this does and doesn't include. It's customary for a director to be budgeted somewhere around 10% of A-E. This is listed as "Creative" under "Subtotal A-E".
"Production Fee" is "mark up". This includes a lot of things. One thing is profit. Another is contingency. Another is operating expenses (like tax preparation, water, and daily costs of running a company). This is not entirely overhead, a lot of your overhead should be covered as line items.
In the good old days of advertising, it was common to mark a 28% production fee. These days it seems like 15% is closer to the norm. Some clients will insist on it being even lower. In those cases -since the Production Fee represents many real costs -those numbers just get shifted to line items.
Insurance is another figure which doesn't figure into the Production Fee. This is figured at 1.5% of A-E.
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