What production budget software has to do
A production budget is not a one-off spreadsheet. It is bid, revised, awarded, spent against and reconciled, usually by four or five people who are rarely in the same room. Good production budgeting software keeps all of that in one place:
- A real budget format. Sections A to X, labor with days, rates, overtime and fringes, expenses with quantity and rate, and the markups that sit on top: production fee, insurance, handling and agency fees.
- Math you can trust. Every total, fringe and markup worked out the same way every time, to the cent.
- Versions. The bid the client approved, the running budget you are working to, and what was actually spent, side by side.
- Actuals. Purchase orders, payroll, petty cash and overages logged against budget lines, with variance as you go rather than at wrap.
- Sharing. The right people editing the right sections, without emailing a file back and forth.
- Output. A clean PDF for the client or agency and a spreadsheet for accounting.
How ACTUALS handles each part
Build. Start from the AICP-format template, a blank budget, one of your own saved templates or a Hot Budget file. Type numbers or simple formulas straight into a line, or paste a block from Excel.
Share. Invite people to one budget or to your whole workspace. Roles decide who can view and who can edit, and section editors can change only the sections you give them. Everyone sees edits as they are made.
Lock. When the job is awarded, lock the bid. The approved numbers stay fixed while you keep working in the running budget, and every snapshot is kept so you can see where things stood on any day.
Track. Log purchase orders, payroll and petty cash against budget lines. Variance shows where you are over, under and what is left, line by line and section by section.
Export. Download an AICP-format PDF on your letterhead, or an Excel workbook whose totals reconcile with the top sheet.
Who it is for
Producers, line producers, production coordinators and production accountants at commercial production companies, as well as freelance producers bidding music videos, photo shoots, branded content and short films. The people you invite to a budget never need their own subscription.
Spreadsheet, desktop app or browser?
Spreadsheets are flexible but fragile: formulas break, files fork, and actuals end up in a second workbook reconciled at wrap. Desktop budgeting programs are powerful but tie the budget to one machine and one person. A browser-based production budget keeps the format and the math of the tools you know, and adds what they lack: one shared copy, live edits, permissions and actuals in the same place as the bid.