Constructing a Budget (Without Breaking the Bank)

Hey everybody, in this blog we're going to be outlining the budget for the Lippia EP project. If you read my early blog about contracts, this one will be conducted in a similar way. Firstly I will run through how the budget would be handled if this were in the industry and then we'll talk about the changes that need to be made to suit the environment this project is being executed in.

But firstly let' talk about what a budget is in a creative media project. Well, if I were a producer who was working with a band who had a budget of $3500, it would be my job to allocate that money to all of the costs of completing the project whilst not breaking the bands budget.

In my case, the band I'm currently working with and the project we are undertaking isn't of this nature because it is being done internally at SAE. However, if this was a project being undertaken in the industry and Lippia came to me with a $3500 budget to complete the project with, what would I do?

Well I'd start with a spreadsheet of course! (Everything looks more impressive in a spreadsheet)

As you can see, I've accounted not only for the costs of studios and my services but also a travel estimate because they are form the Gold Coast and need to travel to each studio session, mixing session and meeting.

So now let's move onto the budget spreadsheet actually being implemented for the project. Some minor amendments have been made because of the environment the project is being undertaken within. However it still will be a very relevant and necessary tool for the project.

So there it is, my planned budget and expenses for the Lippia EP project. This is one of my first attempts at really getting into a budget of a project - usually it's just "there will be no foreseeable costs". However, now that it's getting into the nitty gritty of being in the industry I'm finding this a very interesting element of the planning stage. If you have any suggestions about who I could improve my budgeting skills or methods please don't hesitate to leave a comment!

Until next time,

Brandon Hayward.