broadcaster will expect to pay you in time to cover the payments that you have to make, but will also expect to keep a significant proportion of the overall cost of the programme, including your production fee, back until you have completed the delivery process. The Channel 4 cashflow schedule, again formatted as an Excel document, appears under the Cashflow schedule icon at the end of this page. This is used for independent productions for Channel 4 and the BBC. A slightly different form, used for independent productions for Meridian Television, appears under the Meridian cashflow schedule icon at the end of this page.

so that the commissioning broadcaster, or your in-house boss, can monitor your adherence to the agreed budget and cashflow. While a large part of the art of managing a budget consists of balancing overspends on one budget line by underspends on others, you should expect commissioning broadcasters to start asking questions if any significant budget line shows a variance against the budget figure of more than about 10%. The cost report form used for

Whether your programme is an independent commission or an in-house production, you will be expected to make regular cost reports,