Location Scouting: How to Find, Assess, and Lock a Location

Location scouting is the process of finding real places to shoot, assessing whether they are practically usable, and securing the right to use them. The creative half is quick. The practical half is a checklist, and going through it properly is what separates a location that works from one that costs you a day.

The governing principle: a location is a set of constraints, not a picture. What matters is not only how it looks but whether a unit can get in, work there, and get the material.

Where to look

• Location libraries and film office databases. Most regions have them, many are free to search, and the listed places already expect film enquiries.
• Regional screen agencies and film offices. Frequently the fastest route to somewhere unusual, and they can smooth permissions.
• Estate agent listings. Empty properties, and owners who are often glad of the fee.
• Businesses directly. Cafes, garages, warehouses, churches, community halls. Approaching in person, politely, out of hours, works far better than emailing.
• Location agencies, which represent private homes and charge accordingly.
• Walking and driving. Still how a lot of the best locations are found.
• Asking everyone you know. The most productive method on a small film by a wide margin.

Assessing a location

Go with a list. The following covers what actually goes wrong.

Sound. The most under-checked and the most damaging. Stand silently for two full minutes at the time of day you intend to shoot. Listen for traffic, aircraft, trains, schools, building sites, extractor fans, refrigeration, air conditioning, plumbing, and echo. Ask what happens on a weekday versus a weekend. Ask whether the air conditioning can be switched off, and whether the building becomes unbearable if it is. See production sound.

Power. Find the consumer unit. How many circuits, what capacity, where are the sockets, and is the wiring modern. Old domestic wiring will not take a lighting package. If the answer is insufficient, you need a generator, which means cost, noise and possibly a permit. See what does a gaffer do.

Light. Which way do the windows face, and what does the sun do over the course of the day. Are there practical lights, do they work, can bulbs be changed. Can the windows be blacked out, and is there anywhere to rig from outside.

Space. Not just whether the scene fits, but whether the camera fits. A beautiful small room where you cannot get a wide shot is a problem. Can the camera get far enough back, is there room for lights and crew, and can a dolly move.

Access. How close can vehicles get, how far is the carry, are there stairs, is there a lift, how wide are the doors. A first-floor flat up four flights with no parking is a two-hour load in and a two-hour load out.

Parking and unit base. Where do the trucks, cast trailers and crew cars go. On urban shoots this is frequently the constraint that kills a location.

Facilities. Toilets, running water, somewhere for cast to change, somewhere to feed people, somewhere to put bags out of shot.

Weather cover. If it is an exterior, is there anywhere to shelter, and is there anything shootable indoors nearby if the day is lost.

Neighbors. Who is adjacent, what do they do, and how will they feel about it. See what does a location manager do.

Restrictions. Curfews, opening hours, what cannot be moved, what cannot be touched, whether naked flame is permitted, whether the floor can take weight.

Phone signal and internet. Increasingly a real operational requirement.

The building's own schedule. A church with a funeral, a market on Tuesdays, a school run at 3pm, a bin collection at 6am.

Photographing a recce

The photographs are what the director and DP will choose from, so shoot for information rather than for beauty.

• Every wall, from the center of the room, all four directions.
• The reverse of every angle you think you might shoot.
• Windows, and what is outside them.
• The approach: the street, the door, the route from where vehicles park.
• The power board, the sockets, and the practical lights.
• Ceilings and floors.
• A wide of the exterior from several distances.
• A note of the time and the compass direction the windows face.

Shoot wider than feels necessary and use a wide lens. A tight, flattering photograph of a corner is how a location gets chosen and then turns out to be unusable.

Locking it

A location is not secured because somebody said yes.

A signed location agreement covering: the fee, the exact dates and hours including prep and strike, what the production may do, insurance requirements, damage liability, and, critically, the right to use the resulting footage in the film in perpetuity. That last clause gets forgotten and it is the one that can cause real trouble later.

Proof of insurance, which the owner will ask for. See production insurance.

Permits, where required. See film permits.

A named contact with a phone number, and confirmation of who unlocks the door and when.

Written confirmation of anything agreed verbally. Especially exceptions: that you may move the furniture, that you may use the car park, that you may be there at 6am.

Returning it

The part that determines whether you are welcome anywhere again.

Photograph everything before you touch it. Protect floors and corners. Put everything back exactly. Clean up, including outside. Walk the location with the owner at the end and agree it is as it was. Settle any damage promptly and without argument.

Small productions run entirely on goodwill, and the person who lent you their cafe will tell other people how it went.

On a short

The failures on small shoots are consistent and every one is preventable.

• Get permission in writing, even from a friend, even for a flat. An email confirming date, hours and that filming is permitted is enough.
• Visit at the time of day you will shoot. A location assessed at 2pm on a Sunday tells you nothing about 8am on a Wednesday.
• Do the two-minute silence.
• Find the fuse box.
• Tell the neighbors two days beforehand. A note through the door prevents most complaints.
• Have a second option for anything you do not control.
• Check you can get the gear in, physically, through the actual door.

Next

The permissions layer on top of all this: what you legally need, and the situations where you genuinely do not.