Producing : Cost Estimate Question for a Pitch by Ryan Poirier

Congratulations to you and moving forward on The Herd! The marketing budget - imho - is crucial because the intended audience/demographic already has so much to choose from. Your marketing can push your project in front of them, more often, with 5-7 impressions for a click through yet not guaranteed view. A very basic guideline is 10%. There are pitch sessions and executive meetings available on Stage 32 that can give you keen and specific advice - try one!

To be honest, I have trouble trying to understand why marketing costs are the least bit important in any pitch. Just pitch your project. If it's going to a studio or distributor, they will be masters of the marketing numbers & methods and ultimately will decide how to market it and at what budget. Aside from the bare evidence that a market exists and it's demographic, I personally would consider the information and the markey budgeting exercise interesting but irrelevant. IN FACT the entire budgeting exercise is actually irrelevant to the people you are pitching to, REGARDLESS of what they pretend. Because if they like your IDEA, bo one's looking at your budget seriously - they would be both negligent and incompetent if they didn't budget it out from scratch themselves. I will also opine, so are business plans in general when you are pitching to a legit production company (again, as they will do all that and if they aren't better at it than you, you should maybe reconsider pitching to them). If pitching to non-fulmmakers, then a business plan is important because they haven't a clue about the business.

Shadow Dragu-Mihai, Esq., Ipg Never, ever have I been asked for a budget as part of a pitch, even though some blogs or other advice sources suggest that this is part of a proper pitch document.

I am thinking it may be because people get different kinds of pitches mixed up. As a writer, director, or writer-director team trying to interest a producer, I really don't think you need a budget. The producer will have a ballpark sense. Trying to make one may even make you look amateurish. I have seen some, where I wonder what they are basing the numbers on.

On the other hand, if a producer is trying to raise money for a project, then a budget is obviously important.

Thank you everyone! So very appreciated!!

300+ sold :) I'm a self-published author, so most of my sales happen with comic cons, book signings at a book store, or consignment deals with comic book stores. Just as i was starting this venture with my first 2 books, i got a few of these venues in, then covid hit. That put a long pause on conventions as we all know. During that time my sales were very low, and online sales weren't great either. That's usually the case with indiecomics though - they sell better in person with the sales pitch and face-to-face interaction with the curious passersby where they can see the art and story first hand. Now, thankfully, that theyre happening again, the last 2 conventions I did, I sold out of book 1 for The Herd and my other series: Farm Freaks :)

I kind of agree with the other comments - you shouldn't be worrying about the budget and definitely not the marketing costs - sure have ideas about marketing - but this is all for the broadcaster, network or streamer to decide. Your pitch doc should focus on the story, characters and why it should be made. The possible exception to this is if you are raising the finance yourself to make the series and finding co-production partners/financiers etc - but that would be really hard without a broadcaster etc already attached and a really tough route to go down.

The answer depends on whom you are pitching to. Each channel / platform has their own source for animation. Most are service provider houses based outside of the US (Canada has a 30% incentive which brings costs down considerably). Unless you have locked character designs and visual development, a budget is just a guess.

All that said, if you are pitching to a style you know you want to match, look up the service house on IMDb and contact them.

They won't give you an exact quote because they won't be able to, but they can give you a ballpark, and you may even strike up a relationship that will make your project more appealing.

While those who say not to worry about the budget are somewhat correct, in animation the world is very different and very precise. It's a small world and the more you sound like you are immersed within it (ie: styles, service houses, incentives) the more likely they are to engage in the conversation.

Thank you :) this is really great! I think my concern on what to estimate on budget, cause I know animation can be ridiculously costly. Add on the acting talent and marketing. But yea i guess if a studio likes the idea, theyll figure it out how to fund it. As far as what I have in my pitch, since im the author and artist of the series, the look, tone, world design is all created/established. The books art and layout flows in a way that the animation that would suit it best the reader can visualize as they read it. Very 90s Saturday morning cartoons vibe. Pulling inspiration from shows like tmnt, batman the animated series, and tiny toons. So, yea i guess it would be just a matter of finding the right studio that can animate something like that. I know its not just as simple as walking up to a studio and being like, hey this is everything u need, just make it move and talk lol and I know so many others in my shoes wish the same. But, thats why I'm grateful for boards like these and fine poeple like yourselves offering the advice! Makes this a lot easier. Really, like everything else, it just needs to be seen by the right person.

Just got a great email - The Herd won a Reader's Choice Award :)

Congratulations, Ryan Poirier!

Maurice Vaughan Thank you :)

Excellent Ryan Poirier

You're welcome, Ryan Poirier.