How Many People Does It Really Take To Make A Blockbuster Movie?

If you're one of those people who stays in their theater seat to watch the credits at the end of a film you'll know that movie-making is a labor-intensive business.

Even though the densely-packed staff list zips by at quite a clip, it still usually takes more than five minutes before the curtain finally falls on a blockbuster movie. The credits are a sight to behold and can make even the most mundane movie appear to be an immense undertaking. Like most things in Hollywood, it is partly a work of magic.

Everyone from the director and cast right down to the caterers, chauffeurs and executive assistants are usually thanked in the credits of a movie along with armies of people who aren't even employed by the studio. The special effects teams at visual effects contractors are usually individually listed on movies which have heavy post-production work. It distorts the picture of how many people it actually takes to make the movie but a bit of detective work shines a spotlight on this.

Studios rarely disclose the number of people on the crews of movies made in the United States as they are part of their total headcount and there is no regulatory obligation to itemize the staff on each picture. However, it's a different story for movies made in the United Kingdom.

As we have reported, studios shoot in the UK to benefit from its Audio-Visual Expenditure Credit (AVEC) which gives them a cash reimbursement of up to 25.5% of the money they spend in the country.

To qualify for the reimbursement, at least 10% of the production costs need to relate to activities in the UK. In order to demonstrate this to the government, studios set up a separate Film Production Company (FPC) in the UK for each movie they make there.

The terms of the reimbursement process state that each FPC must be "responsible for pre-production, principal photography and post-production of the film; and for delivery of the completed film." Studios aren't allowed to hide costs in other companies as the terms also state "there can only be one FPC in relation to a film."

The companies have code names so that they don't raise attention with fans when filing for permits to film on location. They also have to file annual financial statements which reveal everything from the costs of the movie and the level of reimbursement to the headcount, salaries and even the pension contributions paid for staff. However, finding out the number of crew who worked on a movie isn't quite as simple as taking a look through the financial statements.

As a spokesperson for Disney explained, "the number of employees disclosed in the financial statements is an average number for the period, and is not a proper reflection of the actual position. For example, during production (usually 2 - 3 months) we typically expect employee numbers to increase dramatically, whereas either side of production employee levels will be low, thereby distorting the average employee figures for the year."

In short, when movies are filmed, the number of staff employed by the studio spikes and then falls sharply once shooting ends as they are on short-term contracts. This is reflected in studio filings which state that given "the nature of the film production business, the majority of the employees reported were engaged via contracts which have expired upon completion of production."

This sharp decrease brings down the average annual number shown in the financial statements. Accordingly, in order to find out how many people worked on the shoot itself, the studio would need to disclose the headcount during production rather than an average for the entire year. This information is available if you know where to look.

Any UK company which has more than 250 employees legally has to disclose the difference in pay between men and women, the percentage of its workforce which is female and, crucially, its total workforce. Instead of being an average, this data is collected on April 5 as it is the last day of the tax year in the UK. If a production company has more than 250 employees and is shooting on that date it is possible to find out how many people are on its crew. It reveals a stark contrast with the average headcount.

When reshoots were taking place for Disenchanted, Disney's modern take on a fairytale, it disclosed that 195 employees were on its books whereas its financial statements showed that there were an average of only 22 for the period when the filming took place.

The same goes for Artemis Fowl, Kenneth Branagh's 2020 adventure movie about a 12 year-old criminal mastermind, which was originally destined for theaters but ended up going straight to the Disney+ streaming platform due to the pandemic. When filming was underway on April 5, 2018 Disney disclosed that 393 employees were working on it whereas the filings which cover this date show that an average of 144 were on its books for the period.

The chart below shows the employee numbers of the companies behind a range of productions ranging from Star Wars and Marvel movies to live action remakes for streaming and the silver screen. It shows they each employed an average of 2,165 staff peaking at 4,478 in 2021 when Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness was being filmed. Its financial statements only showed 381 staff on the books of its production company for the period when filming took place due to the steep decline in staff numbers after principal photography came to a close.

At the other end of the spectrum, just 626 staff were working on Solo: A Star Wars Story when the first phase of filming was underway on April 5, 2017. Just a couple of months later its directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller were abruptly replaced with Oscar-winner Ron Howard who reportedly carried out extensive reshoots. Disney ultimately disclosed that "the final cost was higher than the agreed budget" though, not necessarily because of staff costs.

The Disney spokesperson added that the staff numbers and costs "do not reflect any self-employed individuals we engage with for our films, or non-UK tax resident individuals (typically on screen and behind camera talent)."

If high-earning staff like actors and the director were employed by the production company, tax would have to be deducted from their salaries in the UK. To get around that, the high-earners usually set up a company in their home countries and that then signs a contract with the UK production company committing to provide their services to it.

As a result of this perfectly legal maneuver, the high-earners provide their services to the movie's production company without needing to appear on its books as employees which would involve tax being deducted from their pay. It also means that their fee is part of the production company's overall expenses but isn't shown in the employee costs.

This explains why the total staff pay of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness came to $24.2 million (£17.6 million) even though lead star Benedict Cumberbatch was alone reportedly paid $7.5 million.

Although the highest-earners represent a large proportion of the pay on a movie, they only represent a tiny percentage of the staff so their absence from the tally shouldn't significantly affect the total number of employees. They cast a powerful spell.

The latest Screen Business report from the British Film Institute shows that between 2017 and 2019, the fiscal incentives to studios generated a record $17.7 billion (£13.5 billion) of return on investment to the UK economy and created more jobs than ever before.

In 2019, it generated 37,685 jobs in London and 7,775 throughout the rest of the UK. The report added that when the wider impacts of the film content value chain are taken into consideration, 49,845 jobs were created in London in 2019 and 19,085 throughout the rest of the UK. That really is a magic touch.