Budgeting

Budgeting is the process by which you decide how much money you will be spending on this live virtual performance, and how you will be allocating this money.

Calculating Expenses and Profits
Before you begin budgeting, you must first calculate what expenses you intend to incur over the course of this project. These expenses may include:


 * the membership fee for a video chat service.
 * the membership fee for a video streaming service.
 * purchase of sets, costumes, props, make-up, etc.
 * transportation costs for moving people and items.
 * payment of cast and crew.
 * advertising costs.

Calculate how much money you are willing to spend on this project. Depending on the status of your organization, you may have to cover these expenses out-of-pocket initially.

Decide whether or not you will charging admission to this performance. This is generally more difficult for virtual events than for in-person performances, but it is doable through certain means, such as placing the stream behind a privacy wall and charging money for an access code. If you are planning to charge admission, try to take an estimate of how many people will attend your performance, as well as how much you will charge for each admission. It may be helpful to look at other companies who are putting on similar live virtual performances and seeing what their turn-out and admission costs are.

Making a Budget
Once you have determined what your expenses will be and what amount you are willing to spend on this project, you will need to create a budget, such as this: This basic budget is in the form of table. In the first column, each expense is listed as a single item. The second column lists how many of each item will be purchased. The third column lists the individual cost of each single item. The fourth column lists the total cost for the entire necessary inventory of that item. Making a budget such as this will help you to assess how much money you and your designers can spend on each expense.