Filmmaking Process & Crew · Film language

Above the Line

Also called: ATL, above-the-line costs

Above-the-line (ATL) costs are the budget lines for a film's key creative talent: the rights and screenplay, producers, director and principal cast. They are negotiated before production and are mostly fixed deals. Everything that pays for the physical making of the film, from crew and gear to post-production, sits below the line.

What it does: Separates the negotiated creative deals (rights, writer, producers, director, stars) from the variable cost of physically making the film.
Use it when: Reading or building a budget top sheet, pitching to financiers, or deciding how much of the money goes to names versus the screen.
Watch out: A big ATL number does not put anything in front of the lens; if talent eats the budget, the shoot days and crew get squeezed.
Try this prompt: Pitch board for a fictional heist film: logline card, cast wishlist, director shortlist, ATL and BTL totals side by side

What does above the line mean in film?

The phrase comes from the budget top sheet, the one-page summary of a production budget. Near the top of that page, a line separates the creative deals from the physical production. The accounts listed above it are above the line; the accounts below it are below the line. The subtotal under that line tells a financier, at a glance, what the package of people and material costs before a single shoot day is scheduled.

The standard above-the-line accounts are:

Story and rights. Option and purchase of a novel, play, article, life story or remake rights.
Screenplay. Writers' fees for drafts, rewrites and polishes.
Producers. The film producer, executive producers and producing fees.
Director. Fee for prep, shoot and the director's cut period.
Principal cast. The lead actors and key supporting roles, often with a casting director's fee grouped nearby.
ATL extras. Travel, accommodation, assistants, trailers and other perks written into these contracts, plus their fringes (payroll taxes and union pension and health contributions).

What unites these lines is timing and leverage. They are agreed early, often before the money is closed, because the names attached are what make the film financeable in the first place.

What is below the line?

Below-the-line (BTL) costs pay for the physical production: everything and everyone needed to turn the script into footage and then into a finished film. On most top sheets BTL splits into a production block and a post-production block, with insurance, legal, completion bond and contingency listed after.

The production block covers crew wages for camera, grip and electric, sound, art department, wardrobe, hair and makeup; equipment rental; set construction; locations and permits; transportation; catering; stunts and effects; extras and stand-ins. Post covers editorial, visual effects, music, sound editing and mixing, color and deliverables.

BTL is where most of the day-to-day budgeting happens. The line producer builds these accounts from the script breakdown and schedule, then tracks them through cost reports. Unlike ATL deals, BTL costs move with the schedule: add a shoot day and nearly every BTL account grows with it. The whole film crew, from department heads to production assistants, is paid out of this part of the budget.

Above the line vs. below the line

| | Above the line | Below the line | |---|---|---| | Who and what | Rights, writers, producers, director, principal cast | Crew, equipment, sets, locations, transport, post-production | | When it's set | Before financing closes, in individual deals | Built from the breakdown and schedule during prep | | How it behaves | Mostly fixed fees, plus deferrals and backend | Variable; rises and falls with shoot days | | Who manages it | Producers, agents, lawyers, business affairs | Line producer, production manager, accountants | | What it buys | The package that makes the film financeable | Everything the audience sees on screen |

A few roles sit on the border. Casting directors, the director's assistant and producers' staff are placed differently by different studios and accountants, and some department heads with big names may negotiate terms that look like ATL deals while still being budgeted below the line. The top sheet format is a convention, not a law; what matters is that the same film is always read the same way.

How much of a film budget is above the line?

There is no fixed ratio, and the spread is wide. On a studio film built around a star and a known director, ATL can take a large share of the total, sometimes the largest single block. On an effects-heavy spectacle with lesser-known actors, the money flows the other way: visual effects, stages and crew push BTL far above the talent costs. On a micro-budget independent film, ATL may be close to zero in cash because the writer-director, producers and cast work for minimums or deferments.

That ratio is a creative decision as much as a financial one. Money above the line buys attention, marketability and the chance to raise the rest. Money below the line buys shoot days, coverage, locations, lighting and time in the edit, the things that become production value. A producer who spends too much on names and too little on days usually shows the difference on screen: fewer setups, compromised locations, rushed performances.

How above-the-line deals are structured

ATL contracts are rarely a single number. A typical deal mixes several pieces:

Fixed fee (upfront). Paid on a schedule across prep, shoot and post. Union members cannot be paid below guild minimums, set by the DGA, WGA and SAG-AFTRA in the US; see film unions.
Deferred payment. Part of the fee is paid only if and when the film earns money; common on independent films that cannot afford full rates.
Backend. A share of profits or, for the strongest names, of gross receipts, in exchange for a lower upfront fee. Separate from residuals, which are union-mandated payments for later reuse of the work.
Pay or play. A pay-or-play clause guarantees the fee even if the person is replaced or the film is never made, which is why attaching a star is a real financial commitment.
Perks. Travel class, trailers, personal staff and approvals, each a line item that adds up.

Because these deals are set before the shoot, they are also the most exposed to delays. When a project stalls in development, options have to be renewed and cast availability shifts, and the ATL budget can grow without a frame being shot.

Planning the ATL package with FlashBoards

Before the numbers are final, the above-the-line package is a set of choices: which property, which director, which faces. In FlashBoards you can keep that package on one board next to the film it is meant to sell: casting references and wishlists, the logline, a lookbook of generated key frames for the costliest scenes, and notes with ATL and BTL totals, so producers and financiers can weigh names against shoot days in one place.

For how ATL fits into the full budget, crew structure and schedule, see the film production hub and the article on film financing.

FlashBoardsDirect the above the line on one board

Keep the reference frames, prompts and every generated take side by side — images and video in one canvas.

Open FlashBoards

FAQ

5 questions

What is the difference between above the line and below the line?

Above-the-line costs pay for the key creative talent and material: rights, screenplay, producers, director and principal cast, negotiated in individual deals before production. Below-the-line costs pay for physically making the film: crew, equipment, sets, locations, transport and post-production. ATL is mostly fixed once deals close; BTL rises and falls with the shooting schedule.

What are above-the-line costs in film?

They are the budget accounts for story rights, writers, producers, the director and principal cast, plus the travel, perks and payroll fringes tied to those contracts. The name comes from the budget top sheet, where these accounts sit above a line that separates them from the costs of the physical production.

What does ATL mean in film?

ATL stands for above the line. It labels the part of a production budget, and by extension the people, whose deals are negotiated before production: writers, director, producers and lead actors. Its counterpart is BTL, below the line, which covers the crew and every other cost of shooting and finishing the film.

Is the director above the line?

Yes. The director is one of the core above-the-line positions, together with the writers, producers and principal cast. The director's fee, prep and post periods, and contractual perks are budgeted in the ATL block. The cinematographer, editor and other department heads, however important creatively, are normally budgeted below the line.

Does above the line mean something else in marketing?

Yes. In advertising, above the line refers to mass-media campaigns such as TV, radio, print and outdoor, while below the line means targeted activity like direct mail, events and promotions. The idea of a dividing line is similar, but the film budget meaning is separate and concerns production talent, not advertising channels.