Before you bid
- Read the boards, the usage and the deliverables. Write down every assumption.
- Schedule prep, shoot and wrap before you price anything. Days drive the budget.
- Note union or non-union, the base hours and the shoot city. Those decide fringes and overtime.
Building the bid
- Start from the AICP template or your own saved layout. Hide lines you do not need. Do not delete them.
- Crew first: position, days, rate, base hours, likely overtime.
- Then locations, studio, art, equipment, talent, travel and post. Only the sections this job has.
- Set fringes, production fee, insurance and the other markups.
- Write the notes: days, hours, deliverables, usage, and contingencies that are not in the total.
- Read the top sheet as the agency will. Fix the section that looks wrong.
- Export the PDF. Keep a snapshot of each revision you send.
After it is awarded
- Lock the approved bid. Keep working in the running budget.
- Raise a purchase order before you commit a vendor.
- Log payroll against the crew lines, and petty cash as the envelopes come back.
- Check variance on shoot days. Act on it while the schedule can still change.
- Put client-approved extras in overages so they are billed, not absorbed.
- Send the cost report when the client or the accountant asks where the job stands.
At wrap
Close open purchase orders, reconcile petty cash and read the estimate at completion against the locked bid. The wrap report should be the same budget you bid, not a new workbook.