Based on: the feature screenplay THE PROMISE, by Alex Gordon. Produced under Yellow Star Films, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit.
Built on: a single LED-volume/greenscreen soundstage, ~20-22 shoot days, no international unit, no open-water unit, AI-assisted VFX for environments and crowds (including the Compo Beach rough-water/buoy sequence), original score only, cast priced on real SAG Low Budget scale, a DGA-minimum director fee, an upgraded sound team, and opening/closing bookend sequences produced as 2D/anime-style animation instead of live-action.
Cost per finished minute (118 min runtime): $26.6K — well below the $75K-$165K range of comparable independent war/drama titles.
What actually gets this to $3.14M: dropping the international Israel/Lebanon unit and large practical set builds in favor of a single soundstage with AI-assisted environment and crowd work in post, plus casting unknowns at real SAG Low Budget Agreement scale rather than at a name-actor quote. The number includes a DGA Low Budget Agreement-minimum director fee, an upgraded sound team (production mixer plus a supervising sound editor/re-recording mixer pairing), and a controlled water-tank rig replacing an open-ocean unit for the Compo Beach storm-swim/buoy sequence — the actor still physically performs the swim, against a tank and greenscreen instead of real open water. The screenplay's opening and closing bookend sequences are produced as 2D/anime-style hand-drawn animation rather than live-action photography, for a modest net savings. Worth noting: contingency here is 7.5% (below the standard 10%) and there's no completion bond — a thinner safety margin than a larger-budget approach, which a sophisticated funder will notice and ask about.
The budget is built from itemized line items across Above-the-Line, Below-the-Line Production, Post-Production, and fixed overhead — not a top-down guess. Every department cost was checked against comparable-title precedent:
Support is structured as tax-deductible philanthropic contributions and grants, not equity. Contributors receive no ownership interest, profit share, or financial return; funds and any future proceeds are dedicated entirely to Yellow Star Films' exempt mission.
| Source | % | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Philanthropic contributions (tax-deductible) | 55% | $1.73M |
| Public film fund & foundation grants | 28% | $0.88M |
| Distribution advance / foreign pre-sales | 12% | $0.38M |
| In-kind & deferred support (cast/crew/vendor) | 5% | $0.16M |
Tax incentive strategy: New York's 30% base credit covers NYC-area shoot days. The Israel/Lebanon material is recommended to double in Malta (up to 40% cash rebate) or New Mexico (25–40%) rather than shoot in Israel itself — avoiding the cost, insurance, and security complexity of principal photography there under current conditions.
The companion workbook (THE_PROMISE_budget.xlsx) itemizes every line behind this figure, with live formulas rather than hardcoded numbers, plus full assumptions, comps, and financing detail.