Breakdown and Budget the VFX of a Whole Film. Solo.
The method for carrying a whole film's breakdown and budget when the department is just you. Taught live, end to end, in one working session. It runs about once a month.
Who it is for
Two people, one problem.
The producer or line producer greenlighting or running a show with real VFX, maybe for the first time, or the first time without a big facility holding your hand. You can read a budget. What you cannot yet read is a VFX bid: whether the number is right, where it will move, and which "we will do it with AI" promise is real and which one sinks your schedule in week six.
The VFX supervisor or post supervisor going independent. You have run shots inside a facility for years. Now you are the whole department for a production, and the parts the facility used to absorb, the breakdown, the bid, the change orders, the client asking for 30% off "because AI", are suddenly yours alone.
Different seat, same problem: the breakdown and the budget have to hold up, and there is nobody behind you to catch what you miss. I built this from doing that job, not from teaching around it.
Frequently asked questions
A client wants 30% off "because AI." Do I say yes? Careful. There is no button that removes 30% of the labour. Machine learning genuinely helps with roto, tracking, depth and cleanup, but generative AI for final pixels is still a gamble, and on a real show it usually gets redone in Nuke and Maya later, at a higher total cost. You will learn how to price the AI era honestly, and how to answer the rebate ask without either lying or losing the job.
Will AI blow my budget halfway through? It can, and that is the expensive failure today: AI slop that collapses in week six and gets redone traditionally, under a tighter deadline and at a higher total cost. You will learn what to trust (the settled machine-learning tools) versus what is still a gamble (generative AI for final pixels), so the budget holds.
Will I actually own an AI-assisted deliverable? This is the one people miss. Fully AI-generated pixels cannot be copyrighted, and a model trained on footage you do not own can make the output legally radioactive. It is called chain of title, and it is the biggest single reason high-end studios still block generative AI for final frames. You will learn the guardrails, so what you hand over is clean.
I do not know all the VFX vocabulary. Will I keep up? Yes, and closing that gap is part of the point. You will get the working words: what a breakdown, a bid, a change order and a plate actually are, and why each one shows up on a budget. Once you can read the bid, you can tell when you are being sold.
What it is
Not a tutorial on one tool. It is how to carry a whole film's breakdown and budget on your own in 2026: what to automate, what stays your call, how to put an AI assistant on the mechanical half without losing your grip on the numbers, and how to tell a real AI efficiency from a promise that will cost you. Breakdown Studio is the version of this I built and used on real shows, including a Swedish Netflix feature. The course is the method behind it. You can run it with the tool or without.
The method, end to end
Reading a cut like a budget
Turning an edit into a shot count and a VFX subset you can defend, before a single bid goes out. Whether it is your fifth film or your first.
The pipeline that survives a re-cut
Building a breakdown that updates instead of getting rebuilt every time the picture changes, so a late note from the director does not cost you a weekend.
Judgment versus automation
Where to let a tool run unattended, and where a supervisor's eye has to stay in the loop, so handing off the mechanical work never means losing control of the numbers.
Briefing an AI pair with guardrails
Getting real leverage from an AI assistant on a live production without handing it the master file, even when you are the only one who would catch it if something went wrong.
Bidding and buying in the AI era
What "use AI" actually saves and what it does not, how to answer the 30% rebate ask, the machine-learning tools that are safe today (roto, tracking, depth, upres, cleanup) versus generative AI for final pixels, and the chain-of-title line you do not cross. So you bid a number you can hit and deliver something you own.
What you leave with
A way to turn a cut into a shot count and a VFX subset you can defend. A breakdown that updates through a re-cut instead of being rebuilt. A clear line between where a tool can run on its own and where you have to stay in the loop. And a straight answer to "can we do this cheaper with AI", so the next time a client says it, you are the most informed person in the room.
You also take the working templates: the breakdown sheet, the bid comparison, the change-order log, and a one-page "AI in the bid" checklist (what is safe, what is a promise, and what is a legal risk).
When, and what it costs
It runs live, about once a month. Three and a half hours in one working session, with two breaks, on Copenhagen time. A workshop, so you will be working, not watching. There is no fixed next date yet, and the waitlist is how you hear when there is one.
Founding rate 325 USD, going to 450. Early cohorts are cheaper because I want the feedback from the people in the room. When you book a seat I email you an invoice from my company, Wangle Media, so it is easy to expense.
The waitlist is free, and it gives you something now. Join and you get, straight away, my "Shoots You in the Foot" list: the VFX and generative-AI gotchas I watch producers and supervisors walk into right now.
And ask me a question when you sign up. I read them, they tell me what to cover, and I may reply. When a date is set, the waitlist hears first.
Who should not take it
If you want a tool you install and press go, this is not it. It is a method, and it assumes you are the one making the calls, not looking to hand the job off.
If you have never broken down a cut or built a bid, it will move fast.
And if you are not running, or about to run, a breakdown and a budget on your own, most of it will not land. Come back when you are.
Join the free waitlist
No date is set yet, and this is how you hear the next one. Join and I email you my "Shoots You in the Foot" list straight away: the VFX and generative-AI gotchas worth knowing before your next bid. Ask me a question below and I may reply. No spam.