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About this tool
Build a video budget from crew day rates, gear rental, post-production hours, contingency, production fee and 18% GST.
The Video Production Budget Calculator builds a quotable total from four cost blocks — crew day rates, gear rental, post-production hours and flat costs — then applies contingency, a production fee and tax in the order production companies actually quote them. Contingency is added to direct costs first, the fee is charged on that combined base, and tax is applied last to the pre-tax total. It also divides the result into a cost per finished minute and a cost per shoot day so you can sanity-check a quote against past jobs.
Open Video Production Budget Calculator on AltFTool — it loads instantly in your browser.
Upload or drag in the file you want to work with.
Adjust the settings and preview the result.
Download the finished file to your device.
Contingency before fee, tax last — the same build-up a production company puts on a real estimate.
Cost per finished minute and per shoot day turn a lump sum into a number you can benchmark.
Crew, gear, post and flat costs stay separate with their share of direct spend shown.
Total your direct costs (crew days x day rate, gear rental days, post-production hours x hourly rate, and flat costs like travel and licences), add a contingency percentage, then add your production fee on top of that combined figure and apply tax last. A common shape is 10% contingency and a 15% production fee.
10% of direct costs is the usual starting point for a straightforward commercial shoot, rising towards 15-20% when you have exterior locations, live subjects, travel or a compressed schedule. Contingency covers overruns you can reasonably foresee, not scope the client added later.
Audio-visual and advertising production services fall in the 18% GST slab, which is the default used here. Place of supply, export status and reverse-charge rules can change what you actually charge, so confirm the treatment with your accountant before raising the invoice — this tool is an estimating aid, not tax advice.
It varies enormously — the same crew can produce a 3-minute brand film and a 30-minute documentary at wildly different per-minute costs — so use the figure to compare your own jobs rather than against an industry average. Divide the grand total by the delivered runtime and track it across projects to see which formats are quietly unprofitable.
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