To rent out my house as a filming location

As long as it’s not for the “adult” industry lol

We do this. So far just single days, where we are the demand is mostly for ads and photoshoots. We both work in the industry so we are used to being around sets, as are the kids.

I do find we get a lot of last-minute recces, which mean frantically tidying up (house is generally clean but messy) which can be a bit annoying. Prob more suited to people who are naturally tidy!

As someone who's been part of a crew on longer, multi-day location shoots, I think it can be difficult for homeowners. No matter how honest we were about the reality of filming: the hustle and bustle, the long hours, the need for background silence during a take, I often found people said sure, they'd be fine with it, but found the reality very stressful.

I can fully understand that, but it leads to homeowners occasionally becoming more obstructive as a shoot goes on and therefore the crew being more stressed, etc etc...I'd recommend using good location agency to help smooth the bumps.

Crews should be respectful, upfront about schedules, and use whatever tricks they can to minimise risk of damage- pads on the feet of light stands etc, but accept that the odd accidental breakage will occur and lock up the good china!

@beetr00
Amazing! Thank you!

@boobashka cross posted 😄

Anybody got any companies / websites they recommend for this? Many thanks

@EmmaOvary and for anyone else who'd like to, these companies may be interested.

https://giggster.com/uk/book/filming#

https://www.peerspace.com/resources/how-to-rent-your-home-for-photoshoots/#

https://www.scouty.com/list-on-scouty

https://www.shootfactory.co.uk/hire-register-house-filming-photo-shoot-location/#

https://www.1st-option.com/listproperty#

https://www.silversteinlocations.com/listyourspace#

An advert was filmed in our pool. As it was all outside and we had access to down the side of the house they didn’t need to come inside. We also have a drive big enough for trucks etc.

We made a couple of grand out of it which we were going to use on new gates but instead used them for an autism diagnosis for our son.

They approached us as they were working nearby at another house. They’d found our pool by looking on google maps! 😂

For filming it’s all about parking and access. Can they get permits for the many vans and trucks? Will neighbours be ok with the road being filled for days on end?

if you have loads of private parking then it’s a great idea

If you live near a busy city center or music venue with good public transport links you could make money renting out your drive (assuming you have one). There are a few apps which do this and you can get £8-10 a day depending. You will probably need to check with your insurer or mortgage provider on the legalities of doing this and who would be responsible for potential damage to the vehicle or drive.

I dont drive or have a car. So I once had a cheeky neighbour ask if she could "use" my drive for an extra vehicle and I had cause to look up local prices and services. However my cheapskate neighbour thought I was going to offer the service for free and backed off when I gave her a price.

I'm looking round at my front room and thinking it could be used as the set for a squat or maybe a haunted house.

Kids go back tomorrow.

My friend does this but she doesn't move out - she does hav a huge house in London though. She earns loads from it. She says it is disruptive but she quite enjoys it at the same time (and the money obvs).

Yes that was him! He was a supplier to the company I worked for. I met him a few times, absolutely lovely guy and very hands on with his business and his cleaners.

@roses2 he had a cleaning company and I remember thinking he must be a hard taskmaster ! Very tanned and with a shaved head? This was the man who built it he was so pernickity about everything!

I used to work with the owner of this house 😂

My ex did this. They filmed some scenes for casualty on his house boat.

I did this but they approached us, we hadn’t advertised. And ours was a very normal house but they wanted to use the inside and the street for a big drama. It was about two weeks of disruption - big disruption for our neighbours too although the company was very good about eg paying them to store stuff, so everyone had a bit of a payday.
We mostly stayed at home - kids loved watching it all going on and we met all the stars. The three nights we had to be out for evening filming they put us up in a hotel.
I think we made about five grand for the disruption but perhaps it was more than usual because they wanted our house and street specifically. It was really fun to be part of but I am not sure one neighbour ever forgave us for the disruption! And one other neighbour came to complain that their house would have been a better fit 😂

A flat in my street was used for filming a sit com a few years ago. We have been approached a couple of times with letters through the door but not interested. It’s too much hassle.

My DD appeared in an advert and when we went for filming there was a massive crew of at least 100 who basically took over the whole house and outside with massive trucks. It was a very modern open plan house - I hope they paid for cleaning - the downstairs and garden were trashed.

Day shoots are best but the money isn’t as good and there isn’t as much demand for them. Filming is much better money but hugely disruptive. Agree that tv crews can be very disrespectful and it’s is a lot more work for you. I have friends who do it a lot, they have a very unusual living room, but it’s a part time job for her and takes a lot of coordinating. If you can manage the disruption and have an interesting space to rent then go for it!

I day shoots fine I'd day. Anything bigger is intensely stressful though the money is good. I knew someone who did it for about a week. Film crew disrespectful and they had a battle to get them to make good a room they redecorated. Another friend's house was in a major drama, filming took weeks so obviously they moved out. Highly stressful and again battles about making good.

I remember this one. The dude who owns it was very odd so the porn doesn't surprise me!

My apartment building was used for outside shots for a movie once as it was “architecturally interesting”. They drilled holes in one of the architecturally interesting (and structurally significant) mid century concrete posts to hang a fake shop sign. I wasn’t thrilled about this. They did fill the holes afterwards. The experience was lucrative I believe but wasn’t repeated.

I have a friend who did this - was very lucrative even after cost of a week rental elsewhere. But very disruptive for neighbours - many many vans for crew etc and a lot of noise and disruption.

My neighbours did this with a very typical mid terrace house. It doesn’t have to be an expensive or unusual house, they also need ‘typical’ family homes.

A villager does this, they own a very beautiful manor house and it's been featured in several films/tv shows. But there are a lot of people involved - they use two fields by the house for parking as there is truck after truck, film crew, actors, catering, toilets, make up trailers.... and they often stop cars going by when they are filming a take. It's on the only road into the village, so does cause some kicking off on the village FB page occasionally. Their arguement is that it allows them to maintain the house which is extremely costly as it's listed. You do need some degree of outside space and a lot of parking nearby.