Using my house to film a show
A notice was posted on my front door the other day from a production company that wants to use my property for a few scenes in a show/movie that is being filmed. Has anyone ever done this before? The co is willing to compensate me for this. What fees can I expect? Any and all…
A notice was posted on my front door the other day from a production company that wants to use my property for a few scenes in a show/movie that is being filmed.
Has anyone ever done this before? The co is willing to compensate me for this. What fees can I expect? Any and all advice regarding this is appreciated.
P.S. I think think this is really cool!
I work in the “business” and I will never ever let anyone shoot in or around my property for any price. http://archives.cnn.com/2000/WORLD/americas/09/11/peru.machupicchu.ap/
What if I would like to be approached for possible use of my property? is it a randomw hit/miss thing? Or can be proactive? How might one get one’s property ‘circulated’ for possible conideration or entry into a location database??
I live in crown heights, and am SO tired of production companies and their huge trucks taking up the already limited parking space so they can shoot in the “ghetto”. Yes, they shoot gun shot scenes in front of a mural of kids that were caught in cross fire in the 80s. This has happened multiple times, with no respect whatsoever for the needs of the neighborhood.
Films and commercials pay a little to a lot. TV shows generally pay nothing to a couple hundred bucks and seem to find enough people that “think it’s cool” to keep em in business. Neighbors will hate you and if you’re in NYC, some neighborhoods (Dumbo, Brooklyn Heights, Chelsea) have blocked them at times because it’s way too hard on the residents.
Wow! Thanks so much for all the great feedback.
It’s an outside shoot so I don’t need to worry about my interior. But the issues of rubbish and neighbors are valid points. I will receive/review the contract on Monday and will look to address all those points.
Thanks again. I’ll let you know how it goes.
To Putnam-denizen,
Location Manager here, again. I apologize if my “human” reaction is to respond to snottiness “in kind”. I’ve never shot in ANY neighborhood without posting letters well in advance to notify people that we would be coming there, what to expect, and with ways to contact me if they needed any special consideration (elderly people needing assistance, moving trucks coming, a scheduled party with 1000 of your closest friends, etc.).
I assure you that I view the city as a finite resource, and every time I piss off a neighborhood, that takes one block off the list of places I can take a shoot to in the future. The ability to return to a block is my bread and butter, so I assure you I take the neighborhood’s happiness very seriously.
Having said that, I can also tell you that its a common experience that the first time I here of a problem is when someone is in my face screaming. I am NOT just my profession. I’m a person. And I’ll do my best to solve ANY problem that arises. I’ll just work harder at it if the person with a complaint (legitimate or not) treats me like a human being instead of making me listen to 10 minutes of threats before getting to the point.
Steam vented now. I was just offering to lend someone my professional experience, not signing on to have my reputation impugned.
Hmm, if the reaction of the “location manager offering advice” to the (somewhat sarcastic) comment about neighbors should take solace in your good financial fortune is an indication of the profession’s respect and understanding to the neighborhood, I would prefer you not invite his (her) business into the hood. The tension is always between fostering a necessary industry for our city and the fact that people get really upset about being inconvenienced where we live. I guess I have decided not being able to park in front of my house (which happens whenever they have big NYPD funerals around the corner) is reasonable insofar as I don’t actually own the street, and most days I get to store my car for free on city property.
make sure there is insurance for any & every type of damage
define the hours to be worked each day and the overtime rate for when it goes over (it will)
inform your neighbors well in advance and maybe offer to do something nice for them since you will be making a lot of money. (ie if shooting will go into the evening, send them out for a nice dinner)
define how rubbish will be disposed of, they should take everything away as residential sanitation will often define it as commercial
be prepared to be a policeman, even the most wonderful crew has only one priority: getting the shot
i used to do this a bit, but only for commercials (1-2 days) and it was very disruptive and my neighbors hated me but the money was good, then, at a certain point it didn’t seem worth it anymore.
when we were approached to be the nyc location for a large movie, i asked my brother (a hollywood producer) and he said that he wouldn’t even consider it
you don’t get something for nothing, so just weigh the odds and protect yourself and your property.
Our Brooklyn Heights coop was approached a number of years ago when I lived there. The money was OK and we we flattered but then they insisted on doing it during the Christmas holidays, I think the day before New Year’s Eve. They also planned on putting in a really long day — forget how many hours — with a big crew. We thought the whole thing would be more than we wanted to handle, especially during the holidays so we said no.