Home / Glossary / Purchase order (PO)
What Is a Purchase Order in Film Production?
A purchase order is a numbered commitment to spend, issued to a vendor before the invoice arrives. On a film budget it is what turns money you intend to spend into money you have already promised.
Also called: PO · PO log · committed cost
Budgeted, committed, actual
Budgeted is what you planned. Committed is what you have promised through POs but not yet paid. Actual is what has left the account.
A production tracking only budgeted and actual looks healthy right up to the week three invoices land together.
What a PO carries
A number, the vendor, the account it hits, an amount, and a status. Status generally moves draft, submitted, approved, invoiced, paid.
The number is the part people skip and then regret. It is the only thing tying an invoice, six weeks later, back to the line item it was supposed to come out of.
Why small productions still want them
A three-day shoot does not need a purchasing department. It does need somebody to know that the camera package, the insurance rider and the location fee are already spoken for before the gaffer asks about a second condor. A PO log is how you know that on day one instead of after wrap.
