Getting to the top of the weekend box office is not as glamorous as it seems, but how the money’s spent ultimately decides the success of a motion picture.
Film accountant John Gaskin has been in the business for more than 20 years.
On Saturday, Nov. 14, he came to the University of Tampa to conduct a workshop and
share his experiences with students.
Amongst his credits are Devil directed by M. Night Shyamalan, Open Range directed by Kevin Costner, and Confessions of a Dangerous Mind directed by George Clooney.
Gaskin involved his audience not only by asking them statistical questions, but also their names, purpose of attendance and other questions to keep everybody focused.
The audience listened carefully and took notes with an appreciation for Gaskin’s educational approach.
To gradually approach the topic of cost reports, Gaskin defined such words as insouciance, which he said was a cheerful lack of anxiety or concern or an attitude of taking things lightly.
Acting insouciant is a very helpful tool for filmmakers, since the business has no job guarantee.
According to Gaskin, the best person for the job is the one who will ultimately get to work on the set.
To his audience of CPA’s, film students and people who work in the industry, Gaskin presented suitable content.
He continued on the topic of general financial issues that may occur on a film set and made sure that everybody understood that in any production situation, reducing production hours and contributing towards performance are essential.
One can measure a crew’s performance simply by whether or not they go over budget.
If the production costs less than the budget predicted, a production has an outstanding performance.
Realistically, such a performance doesn’t happen often.
Gaskin wanted to touch on the idea of understanding film budgets better, which he did by introducing terms like “above the line” (ATL), and “below the line” (BTL).
While “above the line” costs describes the money needed for producers, directors and writers, “below the line” costs generally describes the money needed for crew, extras and all shooting costs.
The event was well liked by the attendants.
“I thought it was an incredibly helpful insight to how the money side of filmmaking really works,” said Michael Long, a UT senior.