
Is it worth $100K or $100M per film?
A: We’ve tried to answer this through our own research. Last year, we put over 3,700 people through our internal salary calculator. Our highest paid filmmakers are some of the best and most sought-after Hollywood writers, directors, producers and actors today.
This year, we also looked at our top 100 earners. For this year, we’re including the top salaries earned this year at just about every major award show (CinemaScore, Academy/Academy Award, Emmy, Golden Globe, National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, etc.). All-in-all, this year’s salary numbers represent a 7-fold increase from last year.
Q: I’ve heard you say the most expensive thing to make a film in America is to make a movie. Which is it?
A: Filmmaking in America can be as expensive as anywhere, but we believe that it is definitely the most complicated business in the entire world.
We believe that filmmaking in the United States should be the best it can possibly be. So no matter where you do business or live, the American filmmaker can afford to spend a little more and be sure that their film will be as good as they can imagine it to be. If you have any doubts about this, you can check out our financials.
Q: Do they pay the directors for “directors” of their films?
A: The filmmakers who make a great film are usually paid a lot of money, and the directors who make bad films are usually given about 50-75% of that, so the directors are almost paying themselves directly. It is important that filmmakers be aware of this.
Q: How much does it cost to keep a film afloat?
A: Filming takes hundreds of thousands of dollars. It starts at set design and animation, which may cost $100 to $200 million, up to $500 million in post-production. Then you need to hire writers, cinematographers, actors, costumers, production designer, production designers, technicians, and lighting.
You need to know how to budget this kind of large project, and you need a studio, crew, actors, and crew. It’s very expensive, and you need to figure out how to make it work.
Q: How much money is this movie worth and will you make that amount?
A: A good estimate
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