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Advanced Budgets & Schedules (with Movie Magic) - TFT00058H

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  • Department: Theatre, Film, Television and Interactive Media
  • Credit value: 20 credits
  • Credit level: H
  • Academic year of delivery: 2022-23

Module summary

This optional module will build on students' second-year learning about budgets and scheduling and offer highly specialist teaching in the management of time and money across the screen industries. The module will be built around training in Movie Magic software, the industry standard, for budgeting and scheduling screen projects, experience of which is a highly sought-after professional skill. The module will also explore the construction of finance packages for production, distribution, pre-sales and rights allocation, and the management of complex workflows.

Module will run

Occurrence Teaching period
A Autumn Term 2022-23

Module aims

This module aims to:

Advance your knowledge of screen production scheduling and financing to near professional standards

Provide you with practical training in industry standard budgeting and scheduling software

Explore advanced financial concepts including raising production funding (commercial and public), pre-sales strategies, distribution deals, co-production. and rights acqusition

Explore the management of production workflows across complex screen content projects/

Module learning outcomes

At the end of this module students will be

Familiar with the use and application of industry standard budgeting and scheduling software - currently Movie Magic.

Able to scope out viable financial strategies for funding screen projects

Able to scope out viable scheduling and workflow strategies for complex screen projects

Familiar with key industrial funding procedures including distribution deals, pre-sales, rights acquisition and co-production.

Familiar with financial procedures across a variety of screen sectors, and funding bodies

Indicative assessment

Task % of module mark
Essay/coursework 80
Oral presentation/seminar/exam 20

Special assessment rules

None

Additional assessment information

Formative work will be embedded in seminars and workshops

Indicative reassessment

Task % of module mark
Essay/coursework 80
Oral presentation/seminar/exam 20

Module feedback

Feedback on written work within four weeks as per university regulations. Verbal feedback on the presentation will be near-immediate to facilitate work on the written summative

Indicative reading

Mark Litwak Contracts for the Film and Television Industry (Los Angeles: Silman James Press, 2012)

Ralph S. Singleton, Film Scheduling (Los Angeles: Eagle, 1991)

Harold Vogel, Entertainment Industry Economics (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2011)

Philip Alberstat, The Insider's Guide to Film Finance (Oxford: Focal Press, 2004)

Leonel Bentley, Intellectual Property Law (Oxford: OUP, 2018)

Association for Project Management, Planning Scheduling Monitoring and Control (Kindle: 2015)


The information on this page is indicative of the module that is currently on offer. The University constantly explores ways to enhance and improve its degree programmes and therefore reserves the right to make variations to the content and method of delivery of modules, and to discontinue modules, if such action is reasonably considered to be necessary. In some instances it may be appropriate for the University to notify and consult with affected students about module changes in accordance with the University's policy on the Approval of Modifications to Existing Taught Programmes of Study.