actuals.
PhotoLog inStart

Branded content budget

A branded content budget template for film that a brand is buying.

Branded content is filmed like a short and bought like a commercial. The brand or agency cares about usage, cut-downs and talent licensing as much as about the shoot day.

Bid it in the layout they already know how to read, and keep usage where they can see it.

Start from the template

What belongs on the bid

  • The film itself. Director, crew, equipment, locations, art and the shoot days the treatment needs.
  • Usage. Where the film can run, for how long, and in which territories. Put the licence on its own lines under director and talent so it is not hidden inside a day rate.
  • Versions. A hero film, cut-downs, social lengths and stills. Each one is editorial and finishing time. Section R on the AICP template is social versions.
  • Talent. Session fees, agency fees and usage. These follow the talent rules, not the crew fringe.
  • Stills. If the same day produces photography, add a digital tech, selects and retouching. See the photo shoot budget.
  • Markups. Production fee, insurance and the post markup, the same way a commercial bid carries them.

How to build it

  1. Start from the AICP-format template. Brands and agencies compare bids in that layout even when the piece is longer than a spot.
  2. Write the deliverables in the job information: lengths, versions and where they will run.
  3. Build the shoot, then the versions. Do not assume cut-downs are free.
  4. Set production fee, insurance and the other markups and say in the notes what usage the number includes.
  5. Lock the bid when it is awarded and track actuals against the same lines.

Questions

The shoot is, and so are the markups. The difference is length and usage: a branded film often has a longer runtime, more cut-downs and a licence that has to be spelled out.

Three budgets free. Every feature, no card.

Start a budget