How Much Does a Documentary Cost to Make?

We outline four factors which can influence documentary film production costs.

A question we often get asked is ‘I want to make a simple 5 minute film about X. How much would that cost?’

Our answer? ‘It depends’.

For organisational and online video production, a common costing rule of thumb is often said to be ‘$1000 for every finished minute of video’. However, we find this costing rule to be wrong more often than it is right, possibly because the rule seems to have been around for aeons.

For documentary film-making at the lowest-budget level, ‘$1000 per finished minute’ is the cheapest starting point for costing. We recommend using $2000 – $4000 per finished minute as a beginning point or ball park. And you should expect that even a ‘simple film’ may cost more. Why? There are many elements which come into play when costing a film. In this article we detail four factors which can influence cost, and provide some tips on how to reduce costs if your budget is really pushed.

Image attribution: Svilen.milev

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