History Main / NoBudget

* The original ''Series/PressYourLuck'' on CBS became this during its third and final year (1985-1986), when, after the colors on the big board changed, the dollar amounts in Round 2 began taking a nosedive (Round 1 was virtually unchanged, save for the addition of Add-A-One, and a $250 increase in #10), Pick-A-Corner began resulting in many conflicting and anti-climactic choices, and many of the $2,000 and $2,500 slides were gone to make way for $500 and $1,000 oned.

* The original ''Series/PressYourLuck'' on CBS became this during its third and final year (1985-1986), when, after the colors on the big board changed, the dollar amounts in Round 2 began taking a nosedive (Round 1 was virtually unchanged, save for the addition of Add-A-One, and a $250 increase in #10), Pick-A-Corner began resulting in many conflicting and anti-climactic choices, and many of the $2,000's and $2,500 slides were gone to make way for $500 and $1,000 ones.

* Most [[TheMockbuster Mockbusters]] and [[TheMoralSubstitute Christian movies]].

* The tendency for Christian movies to do this is parodied in "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oeIRQol52HU A Trailer For Every Christian Movie Ever]]". The cast is the producer/writer/director, his high school sweetheart, and his best friend.

* Most [[TheMockbuster Mockbusters]].

* ''Anime/LostUniverse'' was made during the southeastern Asia financial crisis of 1998, and most animation studios that year were given meager budgets to begin with. Also, a fire partially destroyed the studio that animated the episodes, resulting in the first bunch of them being of a sketchy, poor quality (since they had been completed, they couldn't have been fixed after the fire). The fourth episode had to be animated in South Korea for this reason[[note]]the other episodes had also used studios in South Korea, but not to the same extent[[/note]], and it was so OffModel that the episode title became synonymous in Japan for bad animation.

* When Wrestling/{{CZW}} isn't being rundown for {{Garbage Wrestl|er}}ing or for being a WretchedHive, other promotions are mocking its non existent budget, the joke usually being after some spectacular mess, [[SelfDeprecation often their own]], someone will decry that even budget less CZW did better.

** In 2000, the BBC game show ''Series/GoingforGold'' was revived as ''One to Win'', being given the cheaper ''Whittle'' treatment as expected from Grundy, and remained the same when it was revived again in 2008, but under its original name.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheNutshack'' only had enough money to afford a five-man crew made up of amateurs who took nearly [[AttentionDeficitCreatorDisorder every position in the show's production]] in order to get it off the ground. The limited budget also affected casting as the crew also [[DescendedCreator had to voice almost every character in the show]] save for three additional voice actors; one of whom was hired because she was willing to do it for free.

* ''VideoGame/TheFoolsErrand'' and its sequel ''The Fool and His Money'' were both coded, illustrated, written, and produced by one man named Cliff Johnson. ''The Fool and His Money'' in particular was funded by money out of Johnson's own pocket and donations from "True Believers", which goes a long way towards explaining why it took ''nine years'' for the game to be completed.

* On the North American side, if you are curious as to why voice actors don't get paid much in working anime compared to doing [[WesternAnimation pre-lay]], and why some anime titles are released [[NoDubForYou without dubs]], this is mainly because those who work to release the anime in North America are given limited budget because anime in general is a very niche nerd interest when compared to Marvel and DC Comics, largely because of [[PublicMediumIgnorance people's perception towards anime]][[note]]The AnimationAgeGhetto will make people think that it's for kids and kids only when clearly it isn't; and the AllAnimeIsNaughtyTentacles will make people think that anime's nothing but sordid, lecherous {{hentai}}[[/note]] ''unless'' if you are talking about {{Cash Cow Franchise}}s such as ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'', ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'', ''Franchise/DragonBall'', and ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}''. If a title needs around 3,000 units to break even (and this is ''without'' an English dub), then it gives you the idea of how limited anime budget tends to be in North America (as opposed to many popular video games where units can sell ''tens of thousands'' or even ''millions'').

* ''WesternAnimation/ClutchCargo'' barely qualifies as a cartoon since Cambria Studios had to produce each episode with one-fifth of what it would cost Hanna-Barbera to make. To get around this, animators had to superimpose the lips of the actors onto their characters and substitute actual animation with real time movement.

* Creator/PhilTippett's stop-motion magnum opus ''WebAnimation/MadGod'' was produced over a period of thirty years, with the majority of its funding being crowd-sourced-- and even that totaled only about $150,000.

* Sam Singer, who's often referred to as "The Ed Wood of Animation", produced what many consider some of the cheapest cartoons ever made from the 50's and 70's through his studio Trans-Artist Productions.
** ''WesternAnimation/TheAdventuresOfPaddyThePelican'' resorted to looping uncolored cut-outs and rough animation which were frequently out-of-sync in each episode. Sound effects are largely absent with the exception of some atrociously improvised voice acting and music, all of which were provided by Singer himself!

** Speaking of ''The Simpsons'', the country of Georgia produced their own CG animated [[ShoddyKnockoffProduct rendition]] called ''The Samsonadzes''. A quick glance at the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8dk9un9tR-g intro alone]] should be a clear indicator of the overall budget.

* Almost anything produced for ''Spike and Mike's Animation Festival''.

** Particularly the Website/ThatGuyWithTheGlasses anniversary specials. Most of what little budget they had was spent on getting the key players ''there''.

And... uh, it looks like we can only afford two-three multi-sentence paragraphs and one sentence-long paragraph, so I need to make this quick. This is what happens when a show lacks sufficient funding, but is desperately produced anyway on a shoestring. Getting it done requires CuttingCorners and sparing expense whenever possible. In film and television, this can be done be using {{Recycled Set}}s and [[PropRecycling Props]], costumes from the local thrift shop, StockFootage, only a MinimalistCast of [[AmateurCast actors willing to work for minimal compensation]], and other cost-reducing tricks. In animation, it can be seen in OffModel, OffTheShelfFX, [[NewWorkRecycledGraphics Recycled Graphics]], and SpecialEffectFailure. No Budget works often have InvisibleAdvertising due to needing to slash marketing budgets as well. If it's a comedy, the cheapness may be {{Lampshaded}}.

There are a plenty of reasons for No Budget: the work is a passion project whose creators are DoingItForTheArt, [[ExecutiveMeddling mistakes are made]] while allocating the money, a PointyHairedBoss wants to pinch pennies, the money was blown too early (leading to {{Bottle Episode}}s), or the show gets ScrewedByTheNetwork after it loses favor. Media that is inexpensive to create (like comics) is resistant but not totally immune to this. What constitutes a small budget is always relative to the ambition of the project, action films with explosions and sci-fi epics with space battles may be scraping by with money a romantic comedy would adore.

Sometimes the creators are skilled enough to make the best of it and produce a good work despite (or even because of) the limitations imposed on them. If something goes OffTheRails in an unexpected but interesting way, they may be especially willing to ThrowItIn -- they are too broke and TooDesperateToBePicky. If this effort ultimately makes the show ''more interesting'' than it would have been if it were better-funded, compare SerendipityWritesThePlot. For the stubborn and resilient spirit required to keep doing creative work in such difficulty, compare TheShowMustGoOn. The KitschyLocalCommercial owes its charm to this.

** Before, shows like ''Series/{{Idiotest}}'' or ''Emogenius'' also offered grand prizes of $10k, but scoring was in dollars, and there were still small bonuses in endgames. As of July 2023, only two ongoing shows score in dollars: ''Series/ChainReaction'' and ''Series/HeyYahoo''.

** Before, shows like ''Series/{{Idiotest}}'' or ''Emogenius'' also offered grand prizes of $10k, but scoring was in dollars, and there were still small bonuses in endgames. As of July 2023, only two ongoing shows score in dollars: ''Series/ChainReaction'' and ''Series/HeyYahoo!''.

** Before, shows like ''Series/{{Idiotest}}'' or ''Emogenius'' also offered grand prizes of $10k, but scoring was in dollars, and there were still small bonuses in endgames. As of July 2023, only two ongoing shows score in dollars: ''Series/ChainReaction'' and ''Hey Yahoo!''.

And... uh, it looks like we can only afford two-three multi-sentence paragraphs and one sentence-long paragraph, so I need to make this quick. This is what happens when a show lacks sufficient funding, but is desperately produced anyway on a shoestring. Getting it done requires CuttingCorners and sparing expense whenever possible. In film and television, this can be done be using {{Recycled Set}}s and [[PropRecycling Props]], costumes from the local thrift shop, StockFootage, only a MinimalistCast of [[AmateurCast actors willing to work for minimal compensation]], and other cost-reducing tricks. In animation, it can be seen in OffModel, OffTheShelfFX, [[NewWorkRecycledGraphics Recycled Graphics]], and SpecialEffectFailure. Media that is inexpensive to create (like comics) is resistant but not totally immune to this. If it's a comedy, the cheapness may be {{Lampshaded}}.

No Budget works often have InvisibleAdvertising due to needing to slash marketing budgets as well.

There are a plenty of reasons for No Budget: the work is a passion project whose creators are DoingItForTheArt, [[ExecutiveMeddling mistakes are made]] while allocating the money, a PointyHairedBoss wants to pinch pennies, the money was blown too early (leading to {{Bottle Episode}}s), or the show gets ScrewedByTheNetwork after it loses favor.

* ''Series/{{Jeopardy}}'': Until Season 31, games that ended in non-zero ties for the lead resulted in the tied contestants keeping their winnings and playing again on the following show. The producers circumvented this after four occurrences in Fall 2014, changing this process to all ties being decided with a tiebreaker clue. The winner comes back on the next game with their winnings, and the loser is sent packing with $2,000. So far this has happened five times: March 1, 2018, July 18, 2019, January 22, 2021, February 23, 2022 and July 18, 2022.

** It's more blatant on the current syndicated version, which also has families playing for points instead of cash. Its ratings have quadrupled since Steve Harvey became host, but the Fast Money prize of $20,000 remains unchanged since 2001. Fast Money losses are ''still'' $5 a point, which has been the same since 1976. [[note]](The Ray Combs-hosted pilots from 1987 offered $10 a point, the only change outside of celebrity shows.)[[/note]]

* ''WesternAnimation/SausageParty'' has a reported budget of $19 million. The cast is full of A-list talent -- who are not cheap to pay even on a low budget project -- so the amount of money put into actually animating the movie may be much lower.

** ''Most'' of Bakshi's films were produced on very low budgets, including ''WesternAnimation/FritzTheCat'' ($850,000), ''WesternAnimation/HeavyTraffic'' ($950,000) and ''WesternAnimation/AmericanPop'' ($1 million). He didn't get a multi-million dollar budget until ''WesternAnimation/TheLordOfTheRings'', which still only cost $4 million. All of the aforementioned films made back their budgets several times over.

* Music/SarahMcLachlan's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FDmPcSWE0WU music video]] for "World on Fire" only cost $15 to make. The music video shows Sarah playing the acoustic guitar in her living room, and infographics about the cost of other music videos, and what that total could afford in the developing world.

->'''Leafy:''' I was wondering, how are we in space yet able to talk, paddle, breathe, and not explode?\\

* On Music/RickDees [[TheEighties Top 40]], "No budget" was a CatchPhrase, the source of a RunningGag (example: Dees explained about a problem with receiving mail, as because there was [[CatchPhrase "no budget"]], the show could not afford a letter opener), and the name of a [[FictionalMedia fictional record label]].

* Most modern Creator/GameShowNetwork originals, especially since ''Series/AmericaSays''. These shows typically award champions a flat $1,000 and offer a top prize of $10,000 -- with exceptions of ''America Says'' ($15,000) and the new ''[[Series/{{Gambit}} Catch 21]]'' ($25,000). Losing a bonus round wins ''nothing extra.''

** However, with each time the $1,000,000 has been won, the budget has been [[DoubleSubvertedTrope noticeably tighter]]...despite the fact that said prize has always been insured.