Permitting Production Companies to Film in Your Neighborhood

Permitting Production Companies to film in your neighborhood is a great way to earn income on an existing property with little-to-no effort on your part. Film companies, commercial producers and other filmmakers often scout a variety of locations for their films.

Pre-Production

Once your property has been selected you will need to negotiate the terms. Rates for location shoot range from $100 a day for a student film shoot to thousands of dollars for a multi-million dollar production. The fee paid for your location should be relative to the overall budget of the film. Appropriate compensation should be expected. Include in that figure any expenses the production might incur including power and water fees during the shoot. To avoid these potentially costly sums, insist that the production use a generator and provide port-a-potties for their cast and crew. Make sure the production is properly insured and that you are covered under their insurance. You may want to have a lawyer review the contracts before you sign anything.

The production is also responsible for finding off-site parking and shuttling the cast and crew to set. You may assist them by suggesting nearby schools or churches with available parking lots. This will help to avoid any inconvenience for neighbors over the lack of available spaces.

The production is also responsible for informing both city officials the film permit office, as well as your neighbors that filming will be occurring in the neighborhood. To keep neighborly relations civil, you may want to check in with your neighbors as well, but that is entirely at your own discretion.

Production

Many homeowners are unaware of the chaos and foot-traffic involved in a film set. Productions vary greatly in size. Some are small and may only have 10 to 15 casts and crew; others can be as large as 100 or more people. Knowing the size and scope of the production is key to having a successful location rental. You should note that when allowing filming on your property you will likely not be allowed to use the property for all, or some of the time when filming occurs. The production company may pay to have you put up in a hotel for the duration of the shoot.

The location manager will be in charge of making sure that nothing happens to your belongings, but accidents do happen. As the homeowner you may want to insist that the production have layout board (heavy duty temporary floor protection) installed to protect your floors, as well as having the crew wear booties over their shoes whenever they are inside.

Post-Production

The production company will be responsible for returning your home to you in the condition in which they found it. Make sure to do a thorough walk through of the property with a representative so that all parties are aware of any and all loss or damage that may need to be covered. 

In the end, enabling productions to use your home can be both financially and personally rewarding. Seeing your house in films, TV shows, and commercials can be an exciting conclusion to the process.