Your Stage : MOVIE MONEY: Budget Properly & Finance Successfully (It's simple) by Dov S-S Simens

I agree that any movie can be made for any amount of money (maybe not as well) and you should always set your target budget for what you think you can successfully raise (I'd say the use of the word "scam" a little harsh). It should also be set based on the amount of money you think you can effectively return to your investors... that said, that part is still a crap shoot even when you have a successful track record of positive returns. Next, the SAG rates for all indie contracts were adjusted last year and went into effect July 2015. In additoin, the caps for ULB and MLB were raised (but not enough to compensate for the wage increase). The cap for the LB agreement remained the same, but the contract rates increased as well. http://www.sagindie.org/education/notice-to-low-budget-producers/ One other note on SAG.. the ULM agreement is THE ONLY agreement you can sign with SAG that will allow you to use NON-UNION talent. Doesn't mean you should (or can) pay them less, but you can save a little on Pension & Benefits (although I have had SAG reps tell me I should pay benefits for non-union actors because "they may become a union member at a later time"). One thing left off: sound. You should budget/pay for good, professional sound recording before you budget for a camera. Sound will absolutely make or break a production before visuals will. Heck, professional films are being shot on iPhones these days... but they aren't recording the audio on one.