The AICP Budget Format Explained: What Every Section Actually Covers

Every US commercial production runs on the AICP budget format. That is not an opinion. It is the condition for getting on an agency’s bid list. You show up in AICP structure, or you do not get reviewed.

What is less universal is the version of it your team is actually running.

The format has 23 lettered sections, from A through W, covering everything from prep crew to editorial labor. Most people who work in it daily have never seen all 23 laid out in one place. More importantly, most AICP templates in active circulation were built before social deliverables became standard, which means they are missing the line that now determines scope on roughly every campaign that crosses your desk.

This post covers the full A-through-W structure, what each section contains, and why the Social Versions section is the single most important test of whether a template is current.

What Is the AICP Budget Format?

The AICP budget format is the standard cost structure for US commercial production, developed by the Association of Independent Commercial Producers. It organizes every line item in a commercial bid into numbered, standardized sections so agencies, brands, and production companies can read and compare bids without having to decode a different structure for each vendor.

It covers pre-production, principal photography, post-production, and digital deliverables. The structure is not optional. A bid submitted outside AICP format to a major US agency will typically be rejected or sent back for reformatting before review.

The format has evolved over decades. The current version reflects the full scope of what a high-end commercial production requires in 2026, including a dedicated section for social-format deliverables that did not exist in earlier editions.

The A-Through-W Section Structure

The AICP template organizes production costs into 23 lettered sections. Here is what each covers.

A. Prep Crew

The production team during pre-production. Director, producer, production manager, and supporting crew who work before cameras roll. Day rates, prep weeks, and travel for key crew are captured here.

B. Shoot Crew

All on-set crew during principal photography. This is typically the largest crew section. Camera department, lighting, grip, art department, wardrobe, hair and makeup, sound, and specialty roles including crane technicians, DITs, and Steadicam operators are all tracked here.

C. Location and Travel Expenses

Location fees, permits, scout costs, and associated travel. International shoots and multi-location productions may see this section expand significantly. Local authority permits and production insurance for locations are also captured here.

D. Props

All on-camera props sourced, purchased, or rented for production. Includes hero props, multiple versions required for stunts or close-up photography, and prop-specific labor.

E. Wardrobe

Costumes and styling for talent. Includes costume designer fees, rental and purchase costs, and fitting labor. High-fashion or period productions can make this one of the more substantial sections.

F. Makeup and Hair

Department head rates, kit fees, and any specialty services. Often combined with wardrobe in smaller productions but tracked separately in AICP for accurate departmental cost comparison.

G. Electrical

Generator rental, electrical equipment, rigging, and gaffer labor outside the main shoot crew section. Large-scale lighting rigs, period-accurate practicals, and high-powered equipment for outdoor shoots are tracked here.

H. Camera

Camera rental packages, lens packages, camera accessories, and specialty rigs. Red, ARRI, and film packages are tracked at the individual item level. Motion control, specialty cameras, and camera car work are captured in this section.

I. Sound

Audio equipment rental, sound recordist fees, and post-production audio line items that originate on set. Wireless systems, boom gear, and playback equipment for dance or choreography-heavy shoots are tracked here.

J. Art Department

Production design, set construction, and set dressing. Includes art director fees, set construction labor, materials, greenery, and all elements built or sourced for the set. One of the most variable sections across production types.

K. Studio

Stage rental, standing set construction within a studio, and studio-specific services. Includes day rates, overtime, studio crew, and facilities charges.

L. Location Expenses

Distinct from location fees in Section C, this covers operational costs at the location: catering, craft services, security, parking, and location-specific logistics.

M. Talent

Principal talent, extras, and day players. Includes SAG rates, session fees, holding fees, and residuals structure. Union fringes for talent are typically calculated as AddOns layered over the base rates in this section.

N. Miscellaneous

Production-specific costs that do not fit cleanly in other sections. Compliance assistants, COVID protocols, data transmission charges, and production-specific technology rentals typically live here.

O. Payroll Taxes and Fringes

Employer payroll taxes on production payroll. This section aggregates the fringe burden across crew, talent, and supporting personnel based on applicable rates, union agreements, and state-specific requirements.

P. Director’s Fees

Director compensation, including pre-production fees, shoot days, and post-production involvement. Agent commissions and applicable travel are tracked separately from crew rates.

Q. Creative Fees

Agency production fees, creative supervision fees, and any third-party creative services billed through production. This is one of the more agency-relationship-dependent sections and can vary significantly by client.

R. Editorial

Offline editing, assistant editor labor, and editorial facility charges. Includes editor day rates, cutting room rental, and hard drive and media costs. The editorial relationship between production company and post facility is often where this section’s total gets negotiated most.

S. Telecine / Color

Color grading, dailies, and digital intermediate work. Includes colorist day rates, facility charges, and the cost of a DI for feature-length spots or complex multi-version campaigns.

T. Finishing

Online finishing, VFX, 3D animation, compositing, and graphics. This section covers everything that transforms cut picture into a finished deliverable. For complex campaigns, this can be one of the larger post sections.

U. Music

Original music composition, licensing, and music supervision. Includes composer fees, session musician costs, sync licensing for existing tracks, and music clearance services.

V. Audio Post

Mix, sound design, ADR, and final audio finishing. Distinct from on-set audio in Section I, this covers the post-production side: mix stage rental, re-recording mixer fees, and audio delivery specifications.

W. Editorial Labor and Creative Fees

Post-production editorial labor not captured in Section R, along with additional creative fees applied in post. This section closes out the template and typically includes the final wrap of labor costs for the production’s post team.

The Social Versions Section: Why It Matters Now

Above the W section or as a sub-section within post, well-built AICP templates include a dedicated Social Versions section. This is where 9x16 reformats, square cuts, social music edits, and platform-specific digital delivery are tracked.

The AICP format was established before 9x16 became a standard deliverable. In the early years of social video, agencies would request social edits as an afterthought. Productions would quote them informally, or fold them into existing post budgets, or not quote them at all.

That is not the world anymore. Virtually every US commercial campaign now includes a social package. The 9x16 reformat alone can require a dedicated editor, a regrading pass, and multiple rounds of client review. When that work does not have a line item, it does not disappear. It becomes an underbidding problem or a scope-creep conversation.

Most AICP templates in active circulation were built before Social Versions existed as a section. They have been copied, modified, and passed around inside agencies and production companies for years. The original creator added Social Versions manually to one version, forgot it in another, and now three shops submitting bids on the same job are using three structurally different documents.

A bid that includes Social Versions and a bid that does not are not comparable. The agency reviewer has to mentally add lines to the one that is missing them, or they assume scope is identical when it is not. This is the version drift problem in its most concrete form.

Why Version Drift Makes Bids Non-Comparable

The AICP format’s entire value is that it creates a common language. Every agency production supervisor who has reviewed 200 bids in their career knows exactly where to look for location fees. They know what Section M should contain. The format makes comparison fast and accurate.

Version drift undermines this. When shops run different generations of the same spreadsheet, the structure diverges. Section letters shift. Line items move. Social Versions appears in one bid, does not exist in another, and is buried in Section N in a third.

The problem compounds over time because AICP templates spread through the industry laterally, not vertically. Nobody sends out an updated master version. Someone screenshots their favorite section and sends it to a colleague at another company. That colleague adds a column. Their line producer modifies it before a deadline. Two years later, what started as a canonical template has a dozen descendants, none of which are actually compatible.

What a Current AICP Template Should Include by Default

A template that reflects how US commercial production actually works in 2026 has to start from the current section structure, not from a legacy version that predates social production.

This means:

Social Versions as a first-class section, pre-built with line items for 9x16 reframing, social music edits, square reformats, and platform-specific delivery specifications. Not a blank row added manually. A section.

Union fringes calculated automatically, because the alternative is a static percentage that is wrong the moment rates change.

The ability to add or suppress sections based on project scope without breaking formulas. A 30-second broadcast spot and a campaign that includes eight social formats do not have the same structure. The template should handle both without manual surgery.

Real-time collaboration, because the line producer scoping Section B and the EP building the Section T estimate are rarely in the same room.

The Faster Path to a Budget You Are Proud Of

Rebuilding an AICP spreadsheet from scratch is a rite of passage in commercial production. It is also an unnecessary one. The format is defined. The sections are known. The math is not proprietary.

The question is whether the tool hosting your AICP budget reflects the format as it actually exists today, Social Versions included, or as it existed when someone at a previous job built the master template.

Splinde’s AICP template is built to the current standard. Social Versions is a first-class section, pre-loaded with the line items that show up on every modern campaign: 9x16 reframing, social music edits, and digital delivery. Union fringe rules for DGA, IATSE, and SAG apply automatically to the relevant crew and talent sections. And the budget feeds directly into Splinde’s Document Editor so your top-sheet totals move into a client-ready offer without copy-pasting a single number.

Use Splinde’s AICP template -- built to the current standard, Social Versions included.

FAQ