Crew Budget Estimator for Short Films and Small Shoots

By the Production Ledger team · Updated October 2026

Every budget is fiction until the first location falls through, and this one is at least fiction with arithmetic.

If you're putting a crew together for a short film, a branded spot or a microbudget feature, the first question is always what things cost. Pick the roles you need, say how many days and how many people, and the estimator adds up a low, typical and high figure from our published national day-rate ranges. It covers more than 180 roles across every department, from directing and camera to post, live events and photography. It runs in your browser, and nothing you enter is stored.

Paying a small crew without making it strange

The low end of every range is a working floor, and plenty of low-budget shoots live near it. If you're the one hiring and you're paying under a role's typical rate, say so plainly and put the number on paper, so that nobody has to guess whether the short-film rate is a favor or the new price. If you're the one being hired, the same advice runs the other way: discount on purpose or not at all, and keep your actual rate visible, so the lower number doesn't quietly become your standard. Prep, scout and travel days are working days, at full rate or an agreed fraction.

Once you've settled on numbers, write them down. A one-page deal memo covers rate, day length, overtime and cancellation, and the invoice later is just the memo plus what actually happened. And if you pay a crew member $2,000 or more in a year for 2026 work, you'll generally owe them a 1099, so collect their paperwork before you pay them. Our guide to 1099s for film crew explains who needs what.

From estimate to the real thing

An estimate is only useful until the job starts. In Production Ledger, every project carries a private budget card that compares what the job bills with what it's really costing, with eight cost categories, so you see the margin while there's still time to do something about it. Your crew roster keeps agreed rates and what you owe each person in one place, and the whole thing starts with naming the job. The features page walks through it.

Crew budget questions, answered

What should I pay crew on a short film?

There's no single answer, because it depends on the role, the market and what the production can afford. The estimator shows a national low, typical and high for each role, and the low end is a working floor. Whatever you decide, say it plainly and write it down.

Do these rates include equipment?

No. They're labor for one day, with kit priced separately. Rows marked as a package or a deliverable say so in their notes.

Do I have to send my crew 1099s?

Often, yes. For payments made in 2026 and later, the payer reporting threshold is $2,000, indexed for inflation after that. Collect a W-9 before you pay, and ask a tax professional what applies to you.

Are these union rates?

No. They describe non-union freelance work, and union jobs run on published guild scale, which is its own system.