Among the first details that are discussed by the media when a film is announced, is its budget— Enthiran , for instance, made headlines just for its massive budget of (approximately) Rs. 132 crore. 2.0, which is currently in production, is estimated to cost a whopping Rs. 350 crore. One can’t help but wonder though—how does the producer keep track of the money that is being pumped into the film? How does he or she ensure that the inevitable leakages that happen on set are kept to a minimum?
Traditionally, producers kept track of expenses using accountants on the various locations where shoots would happen, after which they would collate the information at hand to arrive at their expenditure. Given the volume of information and the number of transactions that would take place each day, the process of putting information together could take weeks, if not months. These were the problems that led Chandran Periasamy and his team at Highbrow Consultants to develop Applebox, an online cloud production accounting software that has been developed specifically for managing the finance aspect of filmmaking.
The software came into being when Chandran and his colleagues were offered the chance by Kalaipuli S Thanu to oversee the finances of Thuppakki. “Initially, we were approached by the people at Thanu’s office because they needed an accountant on set,” says Chandran, a Chartered Accountant. “However, we saw this as an opportunity to create a niche for ourselves, and pitched the idea of overseeing the entire production and budgeting aspect to Thanu, which he was kind enough to accept.”
It was only when they were on location that they realised how arduous the task of production accounting was, says Chandran. “Even if you were on set, expenditure would take place in the production office as well, so recording outflows was not an easy task,” says Srihari, a partner at Highbrow. Despite the initial challenges, the team managed to create customised formats in the existing software to make their jobs easier. It was during this time that their hunt for a film-focused accounting software began. “Our search yielded no results,” says Chandran, “which was why we decided to create the software ourselves.”
Applebox, named after the most ubiquitous pieces of equipment used in film production, is the first software of its kind in India and offers solutions for three important conundrums that plague accounting in films — the availability of data, the accuracy of data and the confidentiality of information that has been input into the software. Applebox is cloud-operated, which means that users can access the software from any location, and any information keyed in is updated in real time. The software then instantly collates information to generate reports that present a clear and correct representation of the money spent on the film thus far. Most importantly, Applebox is secured by an advanced authentication system by Microsoft, which requires the users to login either through a One Time Password (OTP) that they will receive on their phone, or through a PIN number that they will receive through a text or phone call at their registered phone number.
Applebox was first put to the test during the production of Theri , and then Kabali, and was launched to the public this month. It offers two subscription packages: The Studio package, a fully-loaded version for professional production houses, and the Indie package, a more minimal version aimed at independent and small-time filmmakers.
You can cut budget overruns by 30 per cent
Producer Thanu told the AppleBox team that the app helped him stick to the budget for the first time in his 40-year career.
“In the film business, day-to-day expenses can be anywhere between Rs.3 to Rs.10 lakhs,” says Chandran Periyasamy. “As unexpected costs come up very often, an app provides the producer with all the data that is required to make an informed decision on where to cut costs if he wants to stick to the budget.”
“A majority of our films overshoot their budgets because of how poorly they plan during the pre production stages,” says Periyasamy. “We spend just a month or two on pre-production, whereas Hollywood spends close to a year. Invariably, a film that starts with a Rs.10 crore budget ends up costing Rs.15 crore. Even if the film’s good, it becomes a loss-making proposition..By planning in advance, even mega films such as Kabali and Theri managed to avoid cost overruns. After our collaboration, producer Thanu told us that we helped him stick to budget for the first time in his 40-year career.”
Vishal Menon
More information at appleboxonline.com
