How to create a financial forecast for a scriptwriting services company?

If you are serious about keeping visibility on your future cash flows, then you need to build and maintain a financial forecast for your scriptwriting services company.
Putting together a scriptwriting services company financial forecast may sound complex, but don’t worry, with the right tool, it’s easier than it looks, and The Business Plan Shop is here to guide you.
In this practical guide, we'll cover everything you need to know about building financial projections for your scriptwriting services company.
We will start by looking at why they are key, what information is needed, what a forecast looks like once completed, and what solutions you can use to create yours.
Let's dive in!
Why create and maintain a financial forecast for a scriptwriting services company?
Creating and maintaining an up-to-date financial forecast is the only way to steer the development of your scriptwriting services company and ensure that it can be financially viable in the years to come.
A financial plan for a scriptwriting services company enables you to look at your business in detail - from income to operating costs and investments - to evaluate its expected profitability and future cash flows.
This gives you the visibility needed to plan future investments and expansion with confidence.
And, when your trading environment gets tougher, having an up to date scriptwriting services company forecast enables you to detect potential upcoming financing shortfalls in advance, enabling you to make adjustments or secure financing before you run out of cash.
It’s also important to remember that your scriptwriting services company's financial forecast will be essential when looking for financing. You can be 100% certain that banks and investors will ask to see your numbers, so make sure they’re set out accurately and attractively.
Need a convincing business plan?
The Business Plan Shop makes it easy to create a financial forecast to assess the potential profitability of your projects, and write a business plan that’ll wow investors.

What information is used as input to build a scriptwriting services company financial forecast?
A scriptwriting services company's financial forecast is only as good as the inputs used to build it.
If you are creating (or updating) the forecast of an existing scriptwriting services company, then you mostly need your accounting information, key historical operating non-financial data, and your team’s input on what to expect for the coming years.
If you are building financial projections for a scriptwriting services company startup, you will need to have done your research and have a clear picture of your competitive environment and go-to-market strategy so that you can forecast sales accurately.
For a new venture, you will also need a precise list of the resources needed to keep the scriptwriting services company running on a day-to-day basis and a list of the equipment and expenditures required to start the business (more on that later).
Let's now take a closer look at the elements that make up your scriptwriting services company's financial forecast.
The sales forecast for a scriptwriting services company
From experience, it is usually best to start creating your scriptwriting services company financial forecast by your sales forecast.
To create an accurate sales forecast for your scriptwriting services company, you will have to rely on the data collected in your market research, or if you're running an existing scriptwriting services company, the historical data of the business, to estimate two key variables:
- The average price
- The number of monthly transactions
To get there, you will need to consider the following factors:
- Economic conditions: Changes in the overall economy can greatly impact the average price and number of transactions for your scriptwriting services. During times of economic downturn, companies may cut their budgets for projects such as scriptwriting, resulting in a decrease in the average price and number of transactions. On the other hand, during periods of economic growth, companies may be more willing to invest in scriptwriting services, leading to an increase in the average price and number of transactions.
- Industry trends: Keeping up with industry trends is crucial for staying competitive in the scriptwriting services market. As new technologies and techniques emerge, your clients may expect a higher quality and more innovative scripts, leading to an increase in the average price of your services. However, failing to adapt to industry trends may result in a decrease in the number of monthly transactions as clients seek out more modern and relevant services.
- Competition: The level of competition in the scriptwriting services industry can also impact your business's average price and number of monthly transactions. If there are a limited number of competitors in your market, you may be able to charge higher prices for your services. However, if there are many competitors offering similar services, you may need to lower your prices to remain competitive, resulting in a decrease in average price. Additionally, strong competition may also lead to a decrease in the number of monthly transactions as clients have more options to choose from.
- Client demographics: Understanding your target audience is crucial for determining your average price and number of monthly transactions. For example, if your target clients are large corporations with higher budgets, you may be able to charge higher prices for your services. However, if your target clients are smaller businesses or individuals with limited budgets, you may need to adjust your prices accordingly, potentially resulting in a decrease in average price. Similarly, the number of transactions may also be affected by your target audience's size and willingness to invest in scriptwriting services.
- Seasonality: The seasonality of your business may also impact your average price and number of monthly transactions. For example, if your scriptwriting services are in high demand during certain times of the year, such as awards season for the film industry, you may be able to charge higher prices and have a higher number of monthly transactions. However, during slower seasons, your average price and number of transactions may decrease. Understanding the seasonal patterns of your business can help you plan and forecast accordingly.
Once you have an idea of what your future sales will look like, it will be time to work on your overhead budget. Let’s see what this entails.
Need a convincing business plan?
The Business Plan Shop makes it easy to create a financial forecast to assess the potential profitability of your projects, and write a business plan that’ll wow investors.

The operating expenses for a scriptwriting services company
Once you know what level of sales you can expect, you can start budgeting the expenses required to operate your scriptwriting services company on a daily basis.
Expenses normally vary based on how much revenue you anticipate (which is why, from experience, it is always better to start your forecast with the topline projection), and where your business is based.
Operating expenses for a scriptwriting services company will include some of the following items:
- Staff Costs: This includes salaries, benefits, and any other expenses associated with hiring and retaining employees, such as training and development costs.
- Accountancy Fees: You will need to hire an accountant to help with financial management, tax preparation, and other financial services.
- Insurance Costs: As a scriptwriting services company, you will need to have insurance coverage for your business and employees, including liability insurance and workers' compensation insurance.
- Software Licenses: In order to provide high-quality scriptwriting services, you will need to invest in software licenses for tools such as scriptwriting software, project management software, and video editing software.
- Banking Fees: You will need to pay fees for maintaining a business bank account, processing transactions, and other banking services.
- Marketing and Advertising Expenses: In order to attract clients, you will need to invest in marketing and advertising efforts, such as creating a website, attending industry events, and running social media campaigns.
- Office Rent: If you choose to operate from a physical office space, you will need to pay rent or lease payments.
- Utilities: This includes expenses for electricity, water, and other utilities needed to run your office space.
- Office Supplies: In order to keep your business running smoothly, you will need to purchase office supplies such as paper, ink, and other necessary items.
- Professional Memberships and Subscriptions: As a scriptwriting services company, you may need to pay for memberships to professional organizations or subscriptions to industry publications.
- Travel Expenses: If you need to travel for meetings, conferences, or client visits, you will need to budget for expenses such as airfare, hotel accommodations, and meals.
- Legal Fees: You may need to seek legal advice or services related to contracts, intellectual property, or other legal matters.
- Telephone and Internet Costs: In order to communicate with clients and conduct business, you will need to pay for telephone and internet services.
- Office Maintenance: This includes expenses for cleaning services, repairs, and maintenance of your office space.
- Employee Benefits: In addition to salaries, you may also need to provide benefits for your employees, such as health insurance, retirement plans, and paid time off.
This list will need to be tailored to the specificities of your scriptwriting services company, but should offer a good starting point for your budget.
What investments are needed to start or grow a scriptwriting services company?
Your scriptwriting services company financial forecast will also need to include the capital expenditures (aka investments in plain English) and initial working capital items required for the creation or development of your business.
For a scriptwriting services company, these could include:
- Computer and software: As a scriptwriting services company, you will need computers and software to write, edit, and format scripts. This includes desktop or laptop computers, as well as software such as Final Draft or Celtx.
- Studio equipment: Depending on the services you offer, you may need to invest in studio equipment such as cameras, microphones, and lighting. This will ensure that your clients receive high-quality video and audio productions.
- Furniture and office supplies: To create a professional and comfortable workspace for yourself and your employees, you will need to purchase office furniture such as desks, chairs, and filing cabinets. Additionally, you will need to stock up on basic office supplies like paper, pens, and printer ink.
- Website development: In today's digital age, having a professional and user-friendly website is crucial for businesses. You may need to hire a web developer to create a custom website for your scriptwriting services company, or invest in a website builder and hosting services.
- Production equipment: If you offer services such as video production or animation, you may need to invest in specialized equipment such as cameras, lighting kits, green screens, and editing software. These items can be expensive, but they are essential for producing high-quality content for your clients.
Again, this list will need to be adjusted according to the size and ambitions of your scriptwriting services company.
Need a convincing business plan?
The Business Plan Shop makes it easy to create a financial forecast to assess the potential profitability of your projects, and write a business plan that’ll wow investors.

The financing plan of your scriptwriting services company
The next step in the creation of your financial forecast for your scriptwriting services company is to think about how you might finance your business.
You will have to assess how much capital will come from shareholders (equity) and how much can be secured through banks.
Bank loans will have to be modelled so that you can separate the interest expenses from the repayments of principal, and include all this data in your forecast.
Issuing share capital and obtaining a bank loan are two of the most common ways that entrepreneurs finance their businesses.
What tables compose the financial plan for a scriptwriting services company?
Now let's have a look at the main output tables of your scriptwriting services company's financial forecast.
The projected profit & loss statement
The projected profit & loss shows how profitable your scriptwriting services company is likely to be in the years to come.

For your scriptwriting services company to be financially viable, your projected P&L should ideally show:
- Sales growing above inflation (the higher the better)
- Profit margins which are stable or expanding (the higher the better)
- A net profit at the end of each financial year (the higher the better)
This is for established scriptwriting services companies, there is some leniency for startups which will have numbers that will look a bit different than existing businesses.
The projected balance sheet
Your scriptwriting services company's projected balance sheet provides a snapshot of your business’s financial position at year-end.
It is composed of three types of elements: assets, liabilities and equity:
- Assets: represent what the business possesses including cash, equipment, and accounts receivable (money owed by clients).
- Liabilities: represent funds advanced to the business by lenders and other creditors. They include accounts payable (money owed to suppliers), taxes payable and loans from banks and financial institutions.
- Equity: is the combination of what has been invested by the business owners and the cumulative profits and losses generated by the business to date (which are called retained earnings). Equity is a proxy for the value of the owner's stake in the business.

The projected cash flow statement
A projected cash flow statement for a scriptwriting services company is used to show how much cash the business is generating or consuming.

The cash flow forecast is usually organised by nature to show three key metrics:
- The operating cash flow: do the core business activities generate or consume cash?
- The investing cash flow: how much is the business investing in long-term assets (this is usually compared to the level of fixed assets on the balance sheet to assess whether the business is regularly maintaining and renewing its equipment)?
- The financing cash flow: is the business raising new financing or repaying financiers (debt repayment, dividends)?
Cash is king and keeping an eye on future cash flows is imperative for running a successful business. Therefore, you should pay close attention to your scriptwriting services company's cash flow forecast.
If you are trying to secure financing, note that it is customary to provide both yearly and monthly cash flow forecasts in a financial plan - so that the reader can analyze seasonal variation and ensure the scriptwriting services company is appropriately capitalised.
Need a convincing business plan?
The Business Plan Shop makes it easy to create a financial forecast to assess the potential profitability of your projects, and write a business plan that’ll wow investors.

Which tool should you use to create your scriptwriting services company's financial forecast?
Creating your scriptwriting services company's financial forecast may sound fairly daunting, but the good news is that there are several ways to go about it.
Using online financial forecasting software to build your scriptwriting services company's projections
The modern and easiest way is to use professional online financial forecasting software such as the one we offer at The Business Plan Shop.
There are several advantages to using specialised software:
- You can easily create your financial forecast by letting the software take care of the financial calculations for you without errors
- You have access to complete financial forecast templates
- You get a complete financial forecast ready to be sent to your bank or investors
- You can easily track your actual financial performance against your financial forecast, and recalibrate your forecast as the year goes by
- You can create scenarios to stress test your forecast's main assumptions
- You can easily update your forecast as time goes by to maintain visibility on future cash flows
- You have a friendly support team on standby to assist you when you are stuck
- It’s cost-efficient and much cheaper than using an accountant or consultant (see below)
If you are interested in this type of solution, you can try our forecasting software for free by signing up here.
Calling in a financial consultant or chartered accountant
Outsourcing the creation of your scriptwriting services company financial forecast is another possible solution.
This will cost more than using software as you can expect as your price will have to cover the accountant’s time, software cost, and profit margin.
Price can vary greatly based on the complexity of your business. For a small business, from experience, a simple three-year financial forecast (including a balance sheet, income statement, and cash flow statement) will start at around £700 or $1,000.
Bear in mind that this is for forecasts produced at a single point in time, updating or tracking your forecast against actuals will cost extra.
If you decide to outsource your forecasting:
- Make sure the professional has direct experience in your industry and is able to challenge your assumptions constructively.
- Steer away from consultants using sectorial ratios to build their client’s financial forecasts (these projections are worthless for a small business).
Why not use a spreadsheet such as Excel or Google Sheets to build your scriptwriting services company's financial forecast?
Creating an accurate and error-free scriptwriting services company financial forecast on Excel (or any spreadsheet) is very technical and requires both a strong grasp of accounting principles and solid skills in financial modelling.
Most entrepreneurs lack the expertise required to create an accurate financial forecast using spreadsheet software like Excel or Google Sheets. As a result, it is unlikely anyone will trust your numbers.
The second reason is that it is inefficient. Building forecasts on spreadsheets was the only option in the 1990s and early 2000s, nowadays technology has advanced and software can do it much faster and much more accurately.
This is why professional forecasters all use software. With the rise of AI, software is also becoming smarter at helping us detect mistakes in our forecasts and helping us analyse the numbers to make better decisions.
Finally, like everything with spreadsheets, tracking actuals vs. forecasts and updating your forecast as the year progresses is manual, tedious, error-prone, and time-consuming. Whereas financial forecasting software like The Business Plan Shop is built for this.
Need a convincing business plan?
The Business Plan Shop makes it easy to create a financial forecast to assess the potential profitability of your projects, and write a business plan that’ll wow investors.

Use our financial projection templates for inspiration
The Business Plan Shop has dozens of financial forecast templates available.
Our examples contain a complete business plan with a financial forecast and a written presentation of the company, the team, the strategy, and the medium-term objectives.
Whether you are just starting out or already have your own scriptwriting services company, looking at our financial forecast template is a good way to:
- Understand what a complete business plan should look like
- Understand how you should model financial items for your scriptwriting services company

Takeaways
- A financial projection shows expected growth, profitability, and cash generation for your business over the next three to five years.
- Tracking actuals vs. forecast and keeping your financial forecast up-to-date is the only way to maintain visibility on future cash flows.
- Using financial forecasting software makes it easy to create and maintain up-to-date projections for your scriptwriting services company.
You have reached the end of our guide. We hope you now have a better understanding of how to create a financial forecast for a scriptwriting services company. Don't hesitate to contact our team if you have any questions or want to share your experience building forecasts!
Need a convincing business plan?
The Business Plan Shop makes it easy to create a financial forecast to assess the potential profitability of your projects, and write a business plan that’ll wow investors.

Also on The Business Plan Shop
- Example of financial projections
- How to project sales for a business?
- Example of financial forecast for business idea
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