Location

A Location is a shoot site outside the studio that the production books for the shoot day: a holiday flat, a loft, a hotel room, a commercial space, an outdoor area. Booked means there is a contract, a contact and an agreed time of use — the place is an operating resource and not the home of anyone involved.

What makes a location usable

• Power and space: enough sockets for lights and technique, room for camera and build.
• Quiet: no building site next door, no thin wall to the stairwell. Intrusive noise costs takes.
• A separate place to withdraw: a lockable area for changing and resting, separate from the work zone.
• Sanitary facilities and hygiene: a working bathroom, warm water, towels, a chance to shower.
• Reachability: an address you can find, parking or a connection, no anonymous meeting point.
• Permission: the owner knows what is being shot there and has agreed.

The last point is the one most often overlooked. If shooting happens without the landlord’s knowledge, the shoot can be ended in the middle of the day — and you stand there with half a fee and a long journey home.

No shoots and no castings in private flats

With us the rule is without exception: castings and shoots take place in a studio or a booked location, never in a private flat. In addition, at the casting at least three people are present, a companion is allowed, and no sexual acts take place.

That is not formalism. A private flat has no neutral contact, no householder’s rights on the production’s side and no documented booking. There is nobody who can testify who was present when. Anyone who gets into difficulty there has neither witnesses nor an address that someone officially knows. An invitation into a flat is therefore one of the most reliable warning signs of an unreliable offer — more on that in the article spotting unreliable offers.

What you clarify before you travel

The full address belongs on the Call Sheet, several days in advance. Check it once on a map: is that a commercial address, a holiday flat, a hotel? Ask who on site is the contact for organisation, and whether a place to withdraw is available.

Pass address, planned end time and the name of the production to a trusted person. If the address comes only shortly before the appointment or not at all, do not go.

Two further points are worth asking: how long is the place booked, and what happens if it overruns? If the booking ends at six and the shoot runs longer, pressure arises that lands with you at the end. And second: is there a fallback if the location falls through at short notice — or will it then be improvised? The answer to the second question separates prepared productions from unprepared ones. How work is done on the site itself is described in the entry Set.