Budgets
Budgets that move when the schedule moves.
A film budget is a prediction about a schedule. When the schedule changes and the budget doesn't, you find out at the wrap party. ScenePaper keeps them in the same project, with change orders that route for approval instead of living in someone's inbox.
Comparing free options? Is free film budgeting software good enough?
What is film budgeting software?
Film budgeting software builds and tracks a production's costs, typically across above-the-line, below-the-line and post categories. It totals accounts into a top sheet, compares estimated against actual spend as the production runs, and manages the change orders that alter the approved budget.
What you get
Three-tier structure
Above-the-line, below-the-line and post, with accounts and detail lines rolling up into a top sheet. The structure production accountants already think in.
Change orders with approvals
A cost change is raised as a change order and routed through a multi-tier approval chain. Who approved what, and when, is recorded rather than reconstructed later from email.
Cost reports
Estimated against actual by account, so overspend is visible while there is still time to respond to it.
Connected to the schedule
Shoot days, cast hold days and company moves are what actually drive the budget. Both live in the same project, so the relationship is visible rather than assumed.
Multi-currency
Budget in the currency you are actually spending in — relevant for co-productions and anyone shooting across borders.
Role-scoped access
The line producer edits the budget; the AD can reschedule without touching it. Six roles with different permissions across the production house.
The schedule is the budget
Almost every significant cost in a production is a function of the schedule. Shoot days determine crew days. Cast hold days determine performer cost. Company moves cost time and transport. Night work costs premiums.
When the budget lives in a spreadsheet and the schedule lives in a scheduling tool, that relationship is maintained by somebody remembering to update both. They usually don't, and the divergence is discovered when it is already expensive.
Change orders, not silent edits
The dangerous budget change is the one nobody approved. A department overspends, the line producer adjusts a number to reflect reality, and the approved budget quietly stops being the approved budget.
- Cost changes raised as change orders, not direct edits
- Multi-tier approval chain depending on the amount
- Full record of who requested, who approved, and when
- The original approved budget stays intact for comparison
An honest note on studio delivery
If you are delivering a budget to a studio, a completion bond company or a production accountant on a union show, they will very likely expect a Movie Magic Budgeting file. That is an infrastructure requirement and no alternative changes it.
ScenePaper's budgeting is built for indie features, shorts, commercials and content work, where nobody is imposing a file format and the value is in the budget staying connected to the schedule and the crew you actually hired.
Is free film budgeting software good enough?
For a short film, a music video or a proof of concept, yes — and increasingly for a first feature. A film budget is a structured document: above-the-line and below-the-line accounts, line items with rates and quantities, fringes, contingency and a topsheet. Free tools now produce all of that. Where paid packages still win is on complex union fringes and on interchange with financiers who expect a specific format.
The options, honestly
Every option below, answering the same three questions. Ours is one row among them.
| Option | What's free | Where it stops | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| ScenePaperOurs | Project budgets with cost reports, change orders with multi-tier approval chains, and forecasting on estimate-at-completion — actuals plus open commitments plus estimate-to-complete — so variance reflects money already spoken for, not just money spent. | Built for tracking a budget as the production runs rather than for producing a financier-facing topsheet in a specific house format. Complex union fringe tables are not modelled. | Productions that need to see where the money is actually going once shooting starts. |
| Saturation.io | A genuinely capable free tier — a single active project with a large line-item allowance, full above- and below-the-line structure, fringe configuration, and PDF and Excel export with no expiry. | One active project on the free tier, so a second film means paying or archiving. | Producing a professional-looking topsheet for a short or a pilot presentation, free. |
| Movie Magic Budgeting | Nothing. There is no free version — it is the industry standard and it is licensed per seat. | Cost. It handles complex union fringes and is what many financiers and studios expect, and it is out of reach for a student short. | Funded productions with union crews and financiers who ask for its format. |
| Free spreadsheet templates | Completely free, no account. Film budget templates with standard account structures are widely available, including from us. | Fringes and contingency are formulas you maintain yourself, the topsheet does not roll up automatically, and one broken reference quietly produces a wrong total. | A short film where the whole budget is thirty lines and you understand every one. |
What you actually get free
The budget only means something next to the schedule, so both are free:
- Fountain screenplay editor with revision colours, opening and saving Final Draft files
- Scene-by-scene script breakdown that feeds the schedule
- Colour-coded stripboard scheduling with what-if scenarios
- Day Out of Days, generated from the schedule
- Shot lists with camera metadata and storyboard frames
- Call sheets with revisions, read receipts and turnaround checks
- Budgets with cost reports and change orders
- Verified crew marketplace — hire at zero commission
All of it free — see what that means.
FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
- Is this built for a line producer?
- The budget is the line producer's document here. It tracks committed costs against actuals rather than only a planned figure, so the forecast is estimate-at-completion — actuals plus open commitments plus estimate-to-complete — and variance is measured against that rather than against spend to date. Crew booked on the project can be pulled straight into budget commitments instead of being re-keyed.
- Is there a genuinely free option for a low-budget indie?
- Every feature is free to use right now, including the budget, and there is no commission on crew you hire. There is no seat limit and no export paywall, which are the two places free budgeting tools usually stop being free. If your production is small enough that a spreadsheet still works, a spreadsheet is a reasonable answer — the value here starts when the budget has to agree with a schedule and a crew roster.
- How does this compare to EP or Movie Magic Budgeting?
- Entertainment Partners' tools are the industry standard for studio-scale budgeting and payroll, and they are deeper on union rate cards and payroll integration than this is. ScenePaper is aimed at productions that want the budget to sit beside the schedule, the crew roster and the call sheets rather than in its own application. If your production runs EP payroll, keep it — this is not a replacement for that half.
- Is this a Movie Magic Budgeting replacement?
- For indie, commercial and content work, yes. For studio or union productions delivering to a completion bond company, Movie Magic Budgeting is usually a hard requirement and this is not a substitute for that specific deliverable.
- What is a change order?
- A formal request to alter the approved budget. Rather than editing a number directly, the change is raised, routed for approval based on its size, and recorded — so the approved budget and the current budget remain distinguishable.
- Does the budget connect to the schedule?
- Yes — both live in the same project. Shoot days, cast hold days and company moves are the main cost drivers, so keeping them alongside the budget makes the relationship visible.
- Can I budget in more than one currency?
- Yes. Multi-currency support matters for co-productions and cross-border shoots where you are spending in more than one place.
- Who can see and edit the budget?
- Access is role-scoped. Owners, producers and line producers can edit; ADs and coordinators can work on the schedule without touching budget figures; viewers can read what they are given.
- Is it free?
- Yes, on the free tier, alongside the rest of the core chain. Zero commission on crew hiring.
- What is the best free film budgeting software?
- For producing a professional topsheet for a short or a pilot, Saturation.io’s free tier is genuinely strong. For tracking a budget as the production actually runs — commitments, change orders, variance — that is what ScenePaper does free. For a thirty-line short film budget, a free spreadsheet template is honestly fine.
- Is there a free alternative to Movie Magic Budgeting?
- Yes. Movie Magic Budgeting has no free version, but free tools now cover the same structure — above- and below-the-line accounts, line items with rates and quantities, fringes, contingency and a topsheet. What you give up is complex union fringe handling and the native format some financiers expect.
- Is budgeting free on ScenePaper?
- Yes. Project budgets, cost reports, change orders with approval chains and estimate-at-completion forecasting are all included at no cost, alongside the schedule the budget is built against.
- What is estimate at completion?
- What the production will have cost by the end, calculated as money already spent, plus commitments you have made but not yet paid, plus the estimate to complete what remains. Variance measured against it tells you the truth; variance measured against actuals alone flatters you until the invoices land.
- How do you budget a short film?
- Break the script down first so you know what you are actually buying — cast days, locations, equipment, crew positions, post. Then price each against your schedule, because cost is driven by shooting days more than by anything else. Add a contingency of around ten per cent, and be honest that food, transport and insurance are real lines.
- Will ScenePaper start charging for budgeting?
- Everything is free right now. If paid plans arrive they will be aimed at funded productions with large teams, you will be told before anything changes, and nothing you have already budgeted will be taken away.
Terms explained
- Scene budget
- A scene budget is the cost of a single scene, worked out by pricing the elements on its breakdown sheet — cast, crew, location, equipment, effects, art department. It is the figure a category-based budget cannot give you, because that one is organised by account and every account feeds every scene.
- Top sheet
- A top sheet is the one-page summary at the front of a film budget, listing each account category with its total and showing the above-the-line, below-the-line and grand totals. The detail sits in the accounts behind it; the top sheet is what gets circulated.
- Estimated Final Cost
- Estimated Final Cost is the projected total spend on a production, calculated as costs already incurred plus open commitments plus the estimated cost of the work remaining. It is the number a cost report is read for, because it is the only one that says where the production ends up.
- Cost report
- A cost report is the periodic statement, usually weekly, comparing what a production has spent and committed against what it budgeted, account by account. It carries the Estimated Final Cost and the variance, and it is the document a financier or guarantor monitors the production through.
- Contingency
- Contingency is a percentage of the budget held in reserve against overruns rather than allocated to any specific cost. It typically runs at around ten percent, and on financed productions its size and the conditions for drawing on it are set by the financier or completion guarantor.
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Budget against a real schedule.
Free to start, with change orders and approvals included.