Open your spreadsheet program and create four sheets. Label them, "Total Job Estimate", "Creative Fees/Day Rates", "Post Production Fees" and "Expenses".
Open the first sheet, labeled "Creative Fees" and create sub headings for each element of the production, such as videographer, director of photography, producer, etc. These creative fees should indicate what each person or team in the production will cost, their fee for being on the project, not their expenses for being there, such as travel. These are your fees for working during the shoot, not for post production. Each position listed should be placed on a separate row, with the columns beside it labeled "Rate," indicating the rate of pay per unit (or day), "Quantity" or the number of days or quantity of units needed with the last column labeled "Total". In the total column, program the cell to multiply the previous two cells to give your total. At the bottom of the page, program a cell, labeled "Creative Fee Total" to add the amounts from the Total column.
Create the "Post Production Fees" page by repeating the process in step two, but change the row labels. Your rows should include all the production fees associated with your post production phase, such as transcribing, video editing, audio editing, menu creation for DVD discs, DVD authoring, etc. These are sometimes placed in sections with main titles, such as Video Production or Audio Production. These fees refer to the time spent in the editing room and the work is usually done by professional editors, production assistants or interns, if the project is large.
Open the sheet labeled "Expenses" and create a list of possible expenses in the first column. If your production is large, organize the list with headers and subtitles. For example, under the main header of Travel, list the following subheadings; Location Scouting Trip, Production Trip, Final Review Meeting and so on. Under each subhead, itemize your list by additional subheads, such as Airfare, Taxis, Hotel, Food, etc. Next to each subhead, place a column for cost and another for quantity, as you did on the previous pages. Create a Total column associated with each main title, such as Travel Total, Equipment Totals, etc. Common expenses associated with video productions are travel, cost of special equipment rentals such as lighting, catering staff for the crew, mileage, phone and postage. Some companies will require you to estimate the expenses prior to starting the project and if the expenses exceed the budget by 10% or more, they require notification prior to incurring the expense. Some clients will also require that you submit your receipts upon completion of the project, though this is negotiable and best advised to avoid this situation if possible.
Create the Total Job Estimate page with lines designated for each of the above pages. Label the type of fee on individual rows, such as "Post Production Fees" and put the total from this page in the column beside the label. Repeat this for the remaining sheet titles, "Creative Fees" and "Expenses" then create a sum total box at the bottom of the page. Program this cell, labeled "Total" to add the totals of all the previous cells for this page. Be sure to indicate sale tax if applicable to your project. The total will reflect the total cost for the entire video production.