Fun Facts - Budget

I was thinking the other day, what are some fun facts slash techie facts that would be worth sharing. So let's start with the budget:

Budget

• $3,000 was initially budgeted for pre and post-production.

• $2,582.57 was actually spent. (I know right? Under budget NEVER happens)

• That meant $417.43 was left over. BUT then

• $344.97 for new website, domain and email.

• Leaving a $72.46 remaining.

• For transparency sake, let's add the festival submission fees for the script, $320.06

• Leaving us -$247.60.

Summary

I mean honestly, being down roughly $250 is not bad at all. Considering the festival fees were not really factored in and was spent between the years of 2020 and June of 2022 right before we entered pre-production.

But that's not the only take away here. When I review the spreadsheet these things standout and are worth mentioning because they matter over any fiscal or budgetary demand.

• Two cast members offered scale, one waived payment. (Keep track of this)

• Five crew filling multiple roles, not uncommon right? Two waived payment (Are you seeing the pattern yet?)

• Not only was payment waived for both (1) cast and (2) crew members, they also provided a two locations with ZERO payment.

So you want to know how Every Other Night was made for $3,000-ish?

People. Communication. Transparency. Trust. And the most important thing here is BELIEF.

It's not just simply belief in the project or person. I mean that is a huge factor. But, what most outsiders do not know is, a large part this is what I simply view this as one link in the 'paying it forward' mentally chain. Let me explain.

There are other projects I helped these same friends with and payment or compensation was limited or not possible and that's always been okay with me. I chose to help because I wanted to. That's my decision to do that. I never expected anything. Hell, all I really wanted was just some free food during production.

But what my actions, my principles and core belief of true collaboration is what drives me. Building these relationships in any industry is a two-way street; give and take, etc. Sometimes it works out were one side has a slight advantage over the other side. While I think we all strive to be fully and truly balanced in the 'give' and 'take' to accomplish that takes the right people.

End closing, I want to take the time to convey my deepest gratitude to Val McAdoo and Pete Postiglione of owners of The Actors Co-op. Without them Every Other Night wouldn’t be the project that its becoming. Thanks for being my friend and believing.

#friends #theactorscoop #funfacts #budget #independentfilmmakers #doingwork #makinggoodart #Philadelphiafilmmakers