Production Slate gives you a real-time picture of your film production budget — estimates vs. actuals, category breakdowns, and crew costs that update themselves.
Most budgeting software was designed for corporate projects, not productions. Production Slate organizes your movie budget the way you think about it: above-the-line, production, post-production, and other. Every line item can link to a crew member, equipment package, or location — so when a rate changes, your budget updates automatically. Coming from a spreadsheet? Start with our free film budget template, or see how we compare with Movie Magic Budgeting.
Set your budget targets, then track real spend as it happens. Visual progress bars show exactly where you stand in each category.
Connect budget rows to crew rates, equipment day rates, and location costs. Change a rate once and it flows through everywhere.
When crew hours are logged after a shoot day, actual labor costs flow into the budget automatically — no re-entry required.
Add your production fee percentage and see true profit calculations alongside your cost tracking.
Import budgets from Movie Magic Budget exports (File → Export → XML Advanced), other Production Slate projects, or any spreadsheet. Auto-detects format and maps categories.
Export to PDF for clients, Excel for accountants (3-sheet workbook with Top Sheet, Summary, and Detail), or CSV — all three share one layout, total multi-day costs correctly, print a subtotal under every category, and can hide $0 lines.
Feature Film, TV, AICP commercial, Documentary, Short Film, and Music Video — each with industry-standard categories pre-built so you can start with structure instead of a blank sheet.
Set a contingency percentage on top of your line items and see it carried through every total — never under-bid a contingency line again.
Real productions don’t spend in single, even amounts. Every line now carries a Days × Units multiplier, and either side of the line — estimate or actual — can be a single rate or an itemised ledger. On every plan, no Movie Magic required.
Book 3 rooms for 7 nights as 7 days × 3 units × rate and the line totals correctly. The multiplier defaults to 1, and a plain-language readout under the line spells out the math (“7 days × 3 = 21”).
Flip any line from Quick to Itemised and add one entry per day or city — each with its own amount, date and location. The line total becomes the sum. Plan Day 1 in New York and Day 2 in LA at different rates, then log what each actually cost.
The Quick / Itemised toggle is fully reversible — switch back to a single amount and your entries are kept, not deleted, just set aside.
Estimate and Actual share one stacked layout, the unit is an editable chip, each line shows its variance in dollars and percent, and $0 lines are hidden by default so the rows that carry money stand out.
The two features line producers check for before trusting a budgeting tool — and the reason many never leave Movie Magic. Define named variables once, reference them in any quantity or rate cell, and a schedule change recalculates the whole budget. Attach payroll fringes to labor lines and see them rolled up as their own subtotals. Available on Team plans.
Define SHOOT_DAYS = 10 once, then type SHOOT_DAYS or SHOOT_DAYS*1.5+2 straight into any qty or rate cell. Change the global and every referencing line — and every total — recalculates instantly.
Plus, minus, multiply, divide, parentheses — real formulas, not just lookups. Cells show the computed value with a small ƒ marker so you always know what is formula-driven.
Payroll tax at 22%, workers comp at 3.5%, a flat per-line P&H amount — define each fringe once, then attach any combination to any line with checkbox chips.
Each category shows its fringe subtotal; the topsheet carries a fringes line before contingency and production fee — which compound on the fringe-inclusive subtotal, exactly like Movie Magic.
One click attaches a fringe to every labor line in a category — no row-by-row clicking when payroll tax applies to all of production.
A commercial does not need union fringes. Toggle fringes off per project and the columns and subtotals disappear; your definitions stay saved for the next job.
Your budget is organized into the standard film production categories. Each category shows estimated vs. actual spend with progress bars, so you can spot overruns before they become problems.
Spreadsheets break. Legacy budgeting software costs thousands. Production Slate sits in the sweet spot — purpose-built for film, connected to your crew and schedule, and starts free.
| Feature | Production Slate | Spreadsheets | Legacy Tools |
|---|---|---|---|
| Real-time actuals | ✓ | — | ✓ |
| Days × Units multiplier | ✓ | — | ✓ |
| Itemised per-day/city estimates & actuals | ✓ | — | — |
| Globals & fringes | ✓ | — | ✓ |
| Linked to crew rates | ✓ | — | — |
| Auto payroll integration | ✓ | — | — |
| PDF export | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Film-specific categories | ✓ | — | ✓ |
| Free to start | ✓ | ✓ | — |
Film budgeting software organizes a production budget into industry-standard categories — above-the-line, production, post-production, and other — and tracks estimated costs against actual spend. Unlike a generic spreadsheet, film production budgeting software links line items to real crew rates, equipment, and shoot days, so a schedule change updates the whole budget.
Yes. Export your budget from Movie Magic Budgeting (File → Export → XML Advanced) and import it directly. Production Slate maps categories automatically and also imports Excel and CSV budgets from any spreadsheet.
Production Slate’s Free plan includes the full budgeting workflow — categories, estimates vs. actuals, the Days × Units multiplier, and itemised entries — for up to 2 projects and 50 budget line items, with no credit card required.
Yes, on Team plans. Define named globals (SHOOT_DAYS = 10) and use them in formula cells, attach percentage or flat fringes to labor lines, and see fringe subtotals per category and on the topsheet — compounding the same way Movie Magic does.
Three ways: type a quick actual on the line, itemise per-day/per-city entries, or let crew timesheets flow labor actuals in automatically after each shoot day is logged.
A ready-to-use short film budget with standard categories — start in a spreadsheet, import it later.
An honest comparison of Movie Magic, Saturation, Celtx, spreadsheets, and Production Slate.
A copy-paste template with real numbers for micro-budget and low-budget features.
What the divide means, which roles land where, and why budgets are split this way.
Tools that actually open your Movie Magic files — and what you give up with each.
Feature-by-feature: budgeting, scheduling, price, and where each tool wins.
From script breakdown to topsheet: the working order line producers actually follow.
Start on the Free plan — no credit card required. Upgrade to Pro ($12/mo) or Team ($20 per user/mo, every seat gets everything) when you outgrow it.
Start tracking your budget freeor try the interactive demo first
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