Below the line (film production)

"Below-the-line" is a term derived from the top sheet of a film budget for motion pictures, television programs, industrial films, independent films, student films and documentaries as well as commercials. The "line" in "below-the-line" refers to the separation, to differentiate between script and story writers, producers, directors, actors and casting, including travel and living expenses from the rest of the crew, or production team usually referred to as "above the-line".

The top sheet of any creative project's budget serves only as an at-a-glance reference to a fully detailed and attached main budget document, which features total expenses including federal, state and local taxes, as well as insurance within the entire production, and or production incentives. This painstaking task is usually assigned to the Production Manager or UPM of a production and should be completed before principal photography begins for any project. There are many compatible computer software programs available on the market to aid production companies in creating new and exciting projects to utilize from concept, to final production for film and television.

Some below-the-line film and television film crews operate in pre-production, production, or post-production stages of filmmaking. Such as the film editor, who mostly works in the post-production stage, unless called on set to screen Dailies, which nowadays can be done anywhere based on technology utilized, and with the aid of Previs techniques. The boom operator on the other hand is mostly on set, because he or she has to pick up ambient noise, as well as dialogue, via actors saying their lines when the camera is rolling.

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