Help Center
Budgeting
Create a budget from a template, then pull in your schedule
Pick a starting template, optionally import your schedule data, and work Top Sheet → Accounts → Details.
Create the budget
- On your project card, click "Create" next to Budget.
- Pick your starting template: Standard, or the AFI student-film template. (Coming from Movie Magic? Use the Budget XML import instead.)
- Choose whether to also pull data from your schedule, so cast, shoot days, and elements flow into the budget automatically.
- Enter your shoot days, rough budget estimate, production state and city (used for tax incentives), and dates.
How budgets are organized
Budgets follow the industry-standard three levels: the Top Sheet summarizes categories, Accounts break each category into line items, and Details hold the actual quantities, rates, and units.
The grids work like a spreadsheet: keyboard navigation, copy/paste, drag-and-drop, and undo/redo all work as you'd expect. Rates auto-fill where Shamel knows them, and you can save Budget Versions to compare scenarios.
Why pull from your schedule?
Pulling from your schedule saves the most setup: cast, shoot days, and elements land in the budget instead of being entered by hand. You can still adjust everything afterward.