A documentary budget template that remembers the archival licensing.
A free documentary budget template built for interview-driven production: a lean crew, working gear with media cards and expendables, locations, travel, and a post section that includes archival and stock footage licensing. Load it in the builder, delete what the film doesn't need, and price the rest.
Documentary budgets overrun by accumulation: one more shoot day, one more archive pull, one more revision round. Each of those is a line here, so added scope shows up as a priced change instead of coming out of the fee.
What’s in the template
This is the exact checklist that loads in the builder, with each line’s unit already set. Delete what this job doesn’t need.
Pre-production4 lines
Everything billable before anyone touches a camera: concept, scripts, scouting, permits, insurance.
- Concept / creativeflat
- Location scoutingday
- Permits & licensingeach
- Production insuranceflat
Crew5 lines
Day rates by role, 1st AC included. Quantity is people, the multiplier is days.
- Directorday
- Producer / line producerday
- Director of photography (DP)day
- Sound mixerday
- Production assistants (PAs)day
Unit: day. Quantity = # people, multiplier = # days.
Cast / Talent3 lines
On-camera people, voiceover, and the rights to keep using them. Usage buyouts live here.
- Voiceoverflat
- Specialty talentday
- Usage / buyout rightsflat
Gear5 lines
Camera, lighting, grip, and audio by the day, plus the truck it all arrives in.
- Camera packageday
- Lighting packageday
- Audio packageday
- Media cardseach
- Expendablesflat
Merged equipment + rentals. Default unit: day.
Locations6 lines
Fees, permits, parking, security, and cleaning and restoration afterward.
- Location feesday
- Permitseach
- Location managerday
- Parking / holdingday
- Site securityday
- Cleaning / restorationflat
Catering / Craft5 lines
Crew meals, craft services, talent catering, and beverages, priced per person so the math scales with headcount.
- Crew mealsperson
- Craft services / snacksperson
- Talent cateringperson
- Beveragesperson
- Dietary / specialflat
Unit: person. Quantity = # people, multiplier = # meals/days.
Transportation / Travel7 lines
Moving people and gear: vehicles, flights, hotels, per diems, freight.
- Vehicle rentalsday
- Fuel / mileageflat
- Flightseach
- Hotels (room-night)each
- Per diemsperson
- Gear freightflat
- Parking / tollsflat
Post-production11 lines
Where footage becomes the deliverable: edit, color, mix, graphics, music licensing, revisions.
- Editingday
- Color gradeday
- Sound design / mixday
- Motion graphics / titlesflat
- VFXflat
- Music licensingeach
- Archival / stock footage licensingeach
- VO recordingflat
- Captions / localizationeach
- Revision roundseach
- Deliverables / encodingeach
Questions
Units, tax, deposits and exports are covered in the Help guide.
For the longer answer, there’s a guide: What to Include in a Video Production Quote.
What does a documentary budget include?
Eight sections shaped around how docs get made: pre-production, a lean crew (director, producer, DP, sound), specialty talent and voiceover with usage rights, working gear with media cards, locations, catering, travel, and a full post section including music licensing and archival and stock footage licensing. Revision rounds are a line item.
What do documentary production costs look like?
They scale with shoot days and archive. A short interview-driven piece can come in under ten thousand dollars; long-form work with years of shooting, archival clearances, and a real post schedule runs to six figures and beyond. Days, travel, and rights are the drivers, and all three are line items here.
Why does archival footage licensing get its own line?
Because it's the line most likely to break a documentary budget. Archive houses charge by the clip, the resolution, and the rights window, and the invoice arrives in post, long after the budget was approved. Pricing it up front, even as an estimate, keeps it inside the approved budget.
Is the template free?
Yes. The builder and every estimate export work without an account: client PDF, Excel, CSV, and a read-only share link. Pro is a one-time purchase, not a subscription: your branding on client exports, no Estimatery footer, invoice exports, unlimited cloud saves, and a Saved Items catalog of your standard lines.
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General information for pricing your own work. Not legal, tax or accounting advice. Deposit caps, licensing, lien and permit rules vary by state.