Below The Line
Definition
"Below The Line" refers to the technical and craft crew members whose costs are calculated based on the number of days they work, as opposed to the fixed-fee Above The Line talent. This category includes the director of photography, camera operators, sound mixers, gaffers, grips, production designers, set decorators, costume designers, makeup artists, hair stylists, script supervisors, and all other on-set technical personnel. Below The Line costs are highly variable and can be significantly impacted by schedule changes, overtime, and the number of shooting days.
Contextual Usage
A line producer reviewing a revised schedule tells the director, "Adding two more shooting days will cost us roughly $180,000 in additional Below The Line expenses. We need to find those days by cutting something else from the schedule, or we need to go back to the studio for more money."
About this section
Production — or "principal photography" — is the phase in which the film or video is actually shot. It is the most visible and, typically, the most expensive phase of the entire process. Every day on ...
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