About the course
Budgeting and scheduling are two of the most important parts of any film business plan. This class explains how scripts are analysed in order to produce a realistic budget and schedule – both essential to get your film finished.
This class is part of the Producers’ Foundation Certificate
Who should take this course?
This course is suitable for beginner film producers, as well as for those who are interested in learning about the pre-production side of filmmaking.
What you’ll learn
By the end of the evening, you will be able to analyse scripts in order to create a feasible budget and schedule for any type of film.
Topics to be covered:
- Script analysis
- Price assessment
- Union vs. non-union
- Creating a feasible schedule
About Alec Christie
Alec Christie is Founder and Director of Creative at Them Apples.
Alec has experience working as a Head of Production. Executive Producer, Line Producer and Production Manager. He is proficient in budgeting, scheduling, managing production units in feature films, drama, commercials, animation, documentaries, promos and live events. He has a wealth of industry contacts in Europe, the United States and further afield.
Between 1984 and 1993 Alec Christie worked professionally in front of the camera before going on to study film at the University of Warwick.
Additional resources
Did you know?
- You can join online >HERE<Â and start saving immediately
- This course is FREE for our HND and postgraduate/MA/ students
- You can book a free 1-1 consultation about our full-time degree courses HERE
- The Raindance Guarantee:Â If this course fails to meet your expectations, let us know at the break and we will make a full, 100% no-questions-asked refund
- We don’t teach ‘filmmaking’ at Raindance. At Raindance we make filmmakers.
Sharn Gill –
Useful, relevant and interesting. You can apply the advice given here and great examples to illustrate.
Daniel Shehata (verified owner) –
This is a 5-star super deluxe online course! Alec is very professional, entertaining, and informative. This class blew my mind.
Balbeer –
Brilliant, really informative, presented wonderfully, Alec Christie is terrifically experienced and very approachable. Excellent stuff. Thank you.
Elliot Grove –
Alec impressed me when I first met him some dozen years ago. Im really pleased that you were able to take away so much information
Tessa Markle –
I finally feel like I can create my own professional-level schedule and budget. Other classes I’ve taken on the subject were not nearly as thorough, and now I feel much more confident and prepared.
Elliot Grove –
Hi Tessa and glad you could make this class. Thank you for your kind words. I will pass them on to Alec.
Dina –
Super informative and practical informative shared. One of the best sessions! Solid and inspiring tutor.
Rose Morgan –
Great course, Alec is engaging and delivers information with minimal jargon and plenty of experience. A must for anyone looking to start from scratch or transfer their existing budgeting/scheduling knowledge to a film production context. Also provided some great resources and film recommendations!
Gracy Goldman –
Alec’s course is packed with juicy bits of information and pretty real-time in terms of accuracy and to expect on set under the new ‘Covid regimes’.
He speaks clearly and methodically taking you through each part of a producers day when it comes to project management from beginning till the end.
He also gives you an overview of how the other departments will be expected to manage their own budgets and responsibilities pre, during and post filming.
Alec has a lovely, warm sociable touch which extends beyond the classroom, encouraging students to collaborate and get to know one another over a quick ‘cyber’ pint after the lesson is complete. Promising that this is how projects and amazing collaborations can begin!
He wasn’t wrong!
Fabulous & Inspiring.
Elliot Grove –
WOW – thanks for your kind words! And best for your projects!
Jesiah –
Exactly what I was looking for. Good insights and information in a productive but relaxed atmosphere. Thx!!
Rohan Quine –
This was a well-taught class that packed in a multitude of details covering the full range of its subject. For the first couple of projects undertaken by many producers who are just starting out, the level of detail that’s demonstrated here will probably remain at least partly an aspiration rather than a 100% reality — but that kind of aspirational element is a good thing, in addition to being simply an accurate reflection of the complex way in which the necessary processes of budgeting and scheduling interlock in a real-world film project.
Kaliste Rodi –
Alec made my day when he started the course with “Production Management is Project Management”. Since i am a certified Project Management Professional, I throughly enjoyed the course and would recommend it to all current and future producers.
Maurizio Caldera –
Alec is a serious, professional, and extremely thorough speaker. He packs a lot into this two hour session, exploring the filmmaking process from a budget and scheduling perspective, which touches on all aspects of filmmaking, with detailed and valuable slides to accompany it. I cannot recommend him and this course enough.
José Zavala –
Alec’s lecture was clear, precise, and thoughtful. He definitely is a very good speaker, with nice voice projection. The lecture discure on how to conform a budget, its deliverables, how to check expenditure flow. It was a balanced inside about money expenditure control and art execution. Highly recomendable.
José Zavala –
Alec’s lecture was clear, precise, and thoughtful. He definitely is a very good speaker, with nice voice projection. The lecture is about a plethora of details on how to conform to a budget, its deliverables. How to check expenditure flow. It was a balanced inside about money expenditure control and art execution. Highly recommendable.
Doulla Panaretou –
Fascinating and very useful information, would highly recommend this course
Yula Tefa (verified owner) –
If planning a shoot scares you this course will make you feel it is one of the easiest things to do!
Alec’s teaching is thorough, using real life examples from his work that explain very well the simple yet smart thinking that is required in scheduling and budgeting a production. I highly recommend this course for those who are either starting out in film or are already doing it for a while- it offers a guide containing all the steps you need to know.
Richard Heald –
This was a solid introduction in to scheduling and budgetting, and why they are heavily linked. If you need a basic orientiation of how to go about timing out a film, and putting together different types of budgets, this a great course, and two hours well spent – I learned loads. Best compliment I can give is that for a course about numbers, charts and schedules, the time flew by and Alec brought the scenarios to life with real world stories from experience.
Ollie Rudkin –
Rich in detail and real-world examples. Alec was generous with his encouragement and experience.
janetrsmith –
Great advice and excellent examples. Can’t wait to putsome of this into practice!
Gary Hudson –
Really useful, from two people that obviously know what they’re talking about. Looking forward to next week!
David de la Harpe –
Great info from Dave and Jasmin, clearly presented. Recommended!
Francois Evans –
Packed with experience-backed insider info. on realistic scheduling and budgeting. Very useful lecture.
Igor Ismail –
Fantastic course and Fantastic teacher ! thank you Raindance and Elliot ! Best wishes!
Angelina Fluehler –
Great master class. Thank you Raindance. Amazing teacher.
Si Skinner –
Another really enjoyable and extremely useful class. This time on scheduling & budgeting from Alec who is a very likeable and very experienced production manager and producer. His knowledge along with his relaxed style make this class a real pleasure and very informative, peppered with stories from the real world of a production manager. Alec is so into the subject that he continued talking to the delegate’s in the pub afterwards. Thanks again Raindance 2 out 2,
Tal Profs (verified owner) –
Raindance specialises in delivering short courses by industry professionals, for industry professionals, and the ‘Budgeting and Scheduling for Your Movie’ course with Alec Christie (15th May 2025) is no exception.
Alec brings a wealth of some 30 years’ experience in the business as a line-producer, director, and actor, and his course is a perfect blend of theory, and best practice.
Alec’s journey in film, and commercial production, which saw him start out as a production assistant, moving through the ranks of production assistant to producer, means that his understanding of the production process is grounded in practical experience: quite simply, he has done it.
The course was delivered succinctly, interweaving theory and practice, from how to break-down a script, to creating a filming schedule and associated filming budgets. Alec’s illustration of the fundamental principles of film production were engagingly supported by anecdotes and the real-world difficulties that he has faced as a producer – and how he overcame them to deliver a host of successful productions.
Whether you are a novice producer, or a seasoned one, I recommend this course.
TAL PROFS
Jeff Turner –
I am getting so much benefit from attending this course. Alec had so much experience of many areas of film production, having worked his way up from being a runner. Through his slide deck, his stories of events and his careful and clear explanations, I really built a picture of how to approach the production of my next projects. This was also very timely as I am working on one project that aims to be BFI funded. I got so many points that can be used in our pitch that I am extremely hopeful that funding will be granted.
Raindance have pulled out all the stops to have this course taught by industry experts with years of experience. I feel lucky to be an attendee.
Kristen Parker (verified owner) –
Excellent course. Alec is a great instructor who provided a lot of real-world, useful information about budgeting and scheduling.