← How To · Producer · 8 min read

How to track production costs (hot cost)

Hot cost is the daily snapshot of cost variance. Did today's day cost more than budgeted? Did overtime kick in? Did the meal break go penalty? Producers who track hot cost daily catch budget creep on day three rather than week three.

1

Confirm the day's actuals in /shoot-day

Wrap times, meal break clock, cast in/out (Exhibit G), department-by-department hours, any equipment damage or near-misses. These are the inputs every hot-cost report needs.

2

Open /producer and click Hot Cost

The Producer Scorecard surfaces a Hot Cost tile that auto-computes from /shoot-day + /budget + /breakdown. The formula handles industry standards: 12-14h pays OT at 1.5x, 14h+ pays at 2.0x; meal penalty +1h when lunch runs more than 6h after call.

3

Read the daily variance

Budgeted cost — actual cost = variance. Green when under, amber when within 5% over, red when 10%+ over. The Hot Cost report breaks it down by department so you see which line drove the variance.

4

Export the Weekly Cost Report

On Mondays the WCR PDF auto-assembles. EFC (Estimated Final Cost) waterfall from accumulated actuals; variance-trend mini-charts; week-over-week deltas. The doc bond companies ask for every Monday.

5

Feed back into next week's plan

Recurring red-line items get escalated. Meal penalties two days in a row means the schedule needs a real lunch window. Camera-rental overage means equipment was overscheduled. The producer adjusts /calendar accordingly.

Hot cost done daily is the difference between a producer who controls a budget and a producer who finds out at wrap that they didn't.

Try it

Open /producer and follow the steps

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