Budget – Production Manager’s Main Tool

The first version of the production budget will be drawn up on the basis of the production plan and the information you get from everybody whose contribution will affect the budget. Make sure you know who these people are. Use your budget as an applied tool to help your work.

This budget sample consists of two parts:
A) Estimated Expenses
B) Estimation of Financial Resources / Funding Plan

Estimated Expenses

The document should include, for example, the estimated costs for
- salaries, wages, fees for artists and other employees – please check the trade union pay charts
- employer’s costs (social security, pension insurance, other insurances)
- possible licencing fees (royalties) paid for the owners of the script (and music) copyright
- rehearsal space, performance venue and equipment rentals
- acquisition and/or production of scenery and costumes
- transportation
- printed materials, such as flyers, posters, brochures, and programmes
- paid advertisements and other marketing interventions    
- VAT (value added tax) – check from your administrator/treasurer

You need to estimate the overall expenses of staff including gross wages / salaries + other employers’ costs such as insurances and pension contributions.

Actors (Finnish Actors Union):
Palkat ja sopimukset NL
Rest of the theatre staff (Trade Union for Theatre and Media Finland):
TEME

Estimation of Financial Resources / Funding Plan

Where will you get the money to cover the production costs?
How much money is the theatre company investing on the production?
Which grants and subsidies can you apply for? When will you know, if you got them or not? Can you find sponsors for the production?
How much income can you expect the company to get from ticket sales, and when will this money be available?

The first draft of the budget will show you if the production plan can realistically be executed or not. At this stage, you will typically need to make compromises with artistic or technical solutions. Therefore it is essential to determine, who has the final say in the priority order of resources.

[Annex 1: BUDGET EXAMPLE - go to main page]