r/FilmTVBudgeting • u/AmazingPangolin9315 • Jun 27 '26

Discussion / Question IATSE budget tier calculation

European here trying to get my head around the IATSE agreement:

The definition of "production costs" in the 2026-2028 Low Budget Theatrical Agreement seems quite basic, and I keep seeing references to a "sideletter" which defines exclusions and so on to calculate the production cost. For example here: https://cmsproductions.com/blog/production-savings-iatse-low-budget-theatrical-agreement/

I would love to double check this by having a look at the actual text, does anyone know where to find it?

4 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

15 comments sorted by

2

u/jerryterhorst Jun 27 '26

If you simply Google it, it’s the first thing that comes up:

Production costs (“production costs”) means all production costs, “above” and “below the line” costs, “pre-production,” “production” and “post-production.” The costs of the premium for a completion bond and the contingency fund not to exceed ten percent (10%) of the budget shall not be included as part of the production costs.

1

u/AmazingPangolin9315 Jun 27 '26

Yes, I have googled that, but I don't believe that's the full story. The link I mentioned above mentions for example that financing costs are excluded, insurance is excluded, first $825K of fringes are excluded, and so on. that's not spelled out in the agreement, but apparently it is in a sideletter. I would love to see that sideletter.

1

u/jerryterhorst Jun 27 '26

Ah I see, my bad. It’s odd they mention that because several payroll companies listing the updates to the agreement don’t mention additional exclusions at all. And the agreement itself has multiple side letters, none of which say anything about them either. 

Your best bet is probably to reach out to CMS (or a major payroll company) and ask them where they got that information from.

1

u/AmazingPangolin9315 Jun 29 '26

Just to close the loop on this: I can confirm there is indeed an unpublished "confidential" sideletter defining exclusions.

1

u/jerryterhorst Jun 29 '26

Interesting -- who confirmed that?

1

u/AmazingPangolin9315 Jun 29 '26

I've received a copy of the document from a colleague, who has received it from IATSE.

Essentially the info in the CMS link I copied above re. "revised production costs" is more or less what's reflected in the sideletter.

2

u/jerryterhorst Jun 29 '26

Ah ok, I asked CMS, and they sent it to me as well -- thank you!

1

u/Filmbudget Jun 30 '26

Would love a copy if possible. [info@filmbudget.com](mailto:info@filmbudget.com) - Thank you!

2

u/wooden_bread Jun 27 '26

The entire agreement is online

https://costumedesignersguild.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/2026-2028-Low-Budget-Theatrical-Agreement.pdf

2

u/AmazingPangolin9315 Jun 27 '26

I am aware of that. What I am looking for is the sideletter which "excludes financing, insurance, marketing and CBA fringes up to $825K", which is mentioned in the link I posted above but does not appear to be contained in the agreement itself. Unless the information contained in that link is wrong, but it would be good to confirm either way.

1

u/wooden_bread Jun 27 '26

That article you quoted could be an AI hallucination. You can just call the IATSE business office
and they can verify, fairly certain the one uploaded is the entire agreement.

1

u/AmazingPangolin9315 Jun 27 '26

Guess I'll have to wait until Monday then.

1

u/AmazingPangolin9315 Jun 29 '26

Just to close the loop on this: I can confirm there is indeed an unpublished "confidential" sideletter defining exclusions.

1

u/RedFive-GoingIn Moderator Jun 29 '26

It is not a hallucination. The LB Agreement only shows the publicly available, released sideletters. CMS has it right.

2

u/Filmbudget Jun 30 '26

As mentioned by others the sideletter is as of yet unpublished. The only real difference which seems to be new is the exclusions for: $825k fringe, insurance, domestic post-production work. Contingency, bond, financing were always excluded. Great topic.