#budgetstatus finalsource Finance — Pleet3D, LLCBudget Tier Options
Three production tiers — Lean, Standard, Premium — line items, crew bands, travel envelope, and a two-layer contingency reserve.
Equipment + post share declines as tier rises: variable above-the-line spend (host fees, producer scale, on-location specialists, travel envelopes) scales faster than fixed below-the-line spend (cameras, audio, edit suites, color, mix). Equipment + post share derivation[src]
Lean
10 ep season- Crew
- 12 headsLower band, non-union unscripted reality
- Day rate
- $1,083.33/head-day
- Equip + post
- 50.00%
- Travel scope
- NY / AR / OK rotation, no international
- Above-the-line (host + showrunner + EP)$48,00018.60%
- Below-the-line crew (12-person field unit)$52,00020.16%
- Equipment + post-production allocation$129,00050.00%
- Travel envelope (NY / AR / OK rotation, no intl.)$14,2005.50%
- Insurance + production legal$9,4003.64%
- Contingency (layer-1, ep-level)$5,4002.09%
Reverse-solve receipts
- Per-season: $258,000 × 10 = $2,580,000
- Equipment+post: $258,000 × 0.5000 = $129,000
- Crew day-rate: $52,000 / (12 × 4) = $1,083.33 / head-day
Standard
10 ep season- Crew
- 22 headsMid-band, experienced field producers
- Day rate
- $2,068.18/head-day
- Equip + post
- 33.70%
- Travel scope
- NY / CA / AR / OK + 1 international swing
- Above-the-line (host + 2 EPs + showrunner + line producer)$148,00020.41%
- Below-the-line crew (22-person field + base unit)$182,00025.10%
- Equipment + post-production allocation$244,32533.70%
- Travel envelope (NY/CA/AR/OK + 1 intl. swing)$68,4009.43%
- Insurance + production legal$24,2753.35%
- Contingency (layer-1, ep-level)$58,0008.00%
Reverse-solve receipts
- Per-season: $725,000 × 10 = $7,250,000
- Equipment+post: $725,000 × 0.3370 = $244,325
- Crew day-rate: $182,000 / (22 × 4) = $2,068.18 / head-day
Premium
10 ep season- Crew
- 38 headsUpper band, union CA camera/grip + overseas premium
- Day rate
- $2,889.47/head-day
- Equip + post
- 30.50%
- Travel scope
- NY / CA / AR / OK + Vietnam + Virgin Voyages
- Above-the-line (host + 3 EPs + showrunner + line producer + DP)$432,00022.15%
- Below-the-line crew (38-person multi-unit)$549,00028.15%
- Equipment + post-production allocation$594,75030.50%
- Travel envelope (NY/CA/AR/OK + Vietnam + Virgin Voyages)$208,25010.68%
- Insurance + production legal$58,5003.00%
- Contingency (layer-1, ep-level)$107,5005.51%
Reverse-solve receipts
- Per-season: $1,950,000 × 10 = $19,500,000
- Equipment+post: $1,950,000 × 0.3050 = $594,750
- Crew day-rate: $549,000 / (38 × 5) = $2,889.47 / head-day
Math notes·algebraic + calculus▸
Displayed value (frozen)Lean $258k/ep · Standard $725k/ep · Premium $1.95M/ep
Algebraic
Per-season = per-episode × 10. Line items sum to per-episode exactly on all three tiers. Equipment+post = ep × equipmentPostPct. Crew day-rate = BTL / (headcount × shootDays). All reverse-solves dual-engine PASS (see script).
Calculus / continuous
N/A for continuous dynamics — discrete production-budget allocation. Optional continuous interpretation: equipment share s(tier) declines as ATL/travel scale (Lean 50% → Standard 33.7% → Premium 30.5%); treated as stepwise schedule, not a fitted continuous function on-site.
Residual riskLOW arithmetic; residual is production-planning assumption risk
Travel envelope — illustrative multi-tier scope
Mixed-scope illustration — includes Premium-scope rows (badged). Not the Standard-tier travel derivation: Standard's travel line is $68,400/ep.
| Location | Trips / season | Avg cost / trip | Season total |
|---|---|---|---|
| New York (HQ, base) | 4 | $9,500 | $38,000 |
| California (LA post + on-camera arc) | 3 | $22,000 | $66,000 |
| Oklahoma (printer site arc) | 9 | $14,189 | $127,700 |
| Vietnam (furniture-pack supply line)Premium scope | 1 | $48,000 | $48,000 |
| Virgin Voyages (offsite arc)Premium scope | 1 | $36,000 | $36,000 |
| Season total | per-ep avg $31,570 | $315,700 |
↳ Oklahoma merged: 5 × $14,500 + 4 × $13,800 = $127,700 over 9 trips (blended avg ≈ $14,188.89). Σ location totals: 38,000 + 66,000 + 127,700 + 48,000 + 36,000 = $315,700 ; per-ep avg = 315,700 / 10 = $31,570. Illustrative multi-tier scope — not the Standard tier's $68,400/ep travel line.
Math notes·algebraic + calculus▸
Displayed value (frozen)$315,700 / season · $31,570 / ep average
Algebraic
OK merged: 5×$14,500 + 4×$13,800 = $127,700. Σ locations = 38k+66k+127.7k+48k+36k = $315,700. Per-ep = 315,700/10 = $31,570. Explicitly NOT Standard travel line ($68,400/ep).
Calculus / continuous
N/A — discrete trip-count × average-cost sum. No continuous path geometry on-site.
Residual riskLOW if labels retained; HIGH if misread as Standard travel
Contingency — two-layer reserve
Two-layer allocated reserve. Layer-1 = per-episode overage band (weather, retake, equipment failure). Layer-2 = season-level structural risks (location loss, talent unavailability, post-production reshoot) held off-episode as a single bank. Two-layer reserve methodology[src]
Layer-1 (per-episode, by tier)
- Lean2.09%
- Standard8.00%
- Premium5.51%
Layer-2 (season reserve)
10.00% of (sum of episode budgets minus layer-1)
Standard tier — effective season rate
17.20%+220 bp above canonical 15.00% upper bound Construction documentary risk premium[src]Above-canonical hybrid TV + construction risk-stacking premium. Not a compound stack (which would yield 19.00%–27.75% and distort per-episode economics).
Reverse-solve receipts
- Σ episode budgets: $7,250,000
- Layer-1 total: $58,000 × 10 = $580,000
- Layer-2 reserve: 0.1000 × ($7,250,000 − $580,000) = $667,000
- Total contingency: $580,000 + $667,000 = $1,247,000
- Effective rate: $1,247,000 / $7,250,000 = 17.20%
Math notes·algebraic + calculus▸
Displayed value (frozen)17.20% effective season rate ($1,247,000 on $7,250,000)
Algebraic
L1 = $58,000 × 10 = $580,000. L2 = 0.10 × ($7,250,000 − $580,000) = $667,000. Total = $1,247,000. Rate = 1,247,000 / 7,250,000 = 0.1720 = 17.20%. Hybrid (not compound) stacking per PLE-843/PLE-847 certified receipt.
Calculus / continuous
Let B = season budget, ℓ1 = layer-1 dollars, α2 = 0.10 layer-2 rate. Total T = ℓ1 + α2(B − ℓ1) = α2 B + (1−α2)ℓ1. Effective rate ρ = T/B = α2 + (1−α2)(ℓ1/B). With ℓ1/B = 580k/7.25M ≈ 0.08, ρ = 0.10 + 0.90×0.08 = 0.172 exactly. Continuous sensitivity: ∂ρ/∂α2 = 1 − ℓ1/B ≈ 0.92 (layer-2 rate is high-leverage).
Residual riskMED — methodology choice (hybrid vs compound); arithmetic exact