Anyone have ever filmed in a convenience store before? If so, how did you acquire the location? I would love to get some tips from you guys as I'm really finding it hard to find one for my next film!
Filming in a Convenience Store!
- Thread starter justinisfilming
- Start date
I've done it before, back in film school.
I contacted my local independent store and organised to shoot outside of trading hours. I shot it as quickly as possible, ended up taking a few hours. They had someone staffed on, but they didn't charge me! These days, I'm sure they'd charge you for the person's time.
Contact the independent stores, the chains/franchises won't be able to help you at all no matter how much the local managers might want to as all such things have to go through head office
I contacted my local independent store and organised to shoot outside of trading hours. I shot it as quickly as possible, ended up taking a few hours. They had someone staffed on, but they didn't charge me! These days, I'm sure they'd charge you for the person's time.
Contact the independent stores, the chains/franchises won't be able to help you at all no matter how much the local managers might want to as all such things have to go through head office
I did the same..... asked the store owner.....
we shot inside of their hours of trading, he let us know the quietest time of the day and we ran in to film a little bit of shop lifting.
good luck on your search.
we shot inside of their hours of trading, he let us know the quietest time of the day and we ran in to film a little bit of shop lifting.
good luck on your search.
What did you guys give in terms of compensation and how exactly did you guys asked them?
We picked a grocery/deli in a small seasonal town, for one flick, in the off-season.
We didn't have enough to have the place closed for the day, but their business was so slow that it was no biggie to stop for five minutes whenever a local straggled in for a sammich. I don't recall how much we paid, but it wasn't much. The store was owned by a friend of one of the producers, which is how we got it, essentially. People knowing people.
Do you know people, who know people? People who'd be willing to call in a favour from a local business/friend, in order to see the words Associate Producer or Location Manager next to their name on your film credits?
We didn't have enough to have the place closed for the day, but their business was so slow that it was no biggie to stop for five minutes whenever a local straggled in for a sammich. I don't recall how much we paid, but it wasn't much. The store was owned by a friend of one of the producers, which is how we got it, essentially. People knowing people.
Do you know people, who know people? People who'd be willing to call in a favour from a local business/friend, in order to see the words Associate Producer or Location Manager next to their name on your film credits?
I rented a liquor store once. Sent out letters to all kinds of stores in the area I wanted to shoot at without even scouting the stores. Just picked them out of the yellow pages. I got about 5 responses. One of the stores was in a great area and had lots of space to shoot in. I offered I think $800. They also wanted me to pay for having an employee watch the place and make sure we didn't break anything. We shot at night when they were not going to be open anyway. This was back in 2005. Fortunately the owner was well familiar with going rates for indie film shoots. Others wanted $5,000 because that's what the big studios pay.
I found a privately owned little market that let me film for free on an off day as long as I wrote in a part for the owner's 18 year old son, a wanabe actor. I wrote in a part and killed him off. The son had a blast, and we got a great location. We were able to shoot a fight scene over the course of two days this way.
I find it curious that nobody is addressing the issue of trademarks and products in these locations. While much of the background scenery may be considered 'incidental' - this is a question of degree and will depend on the circumstances of the particular case. Is there artwork on ads and products? Now you are dealing with trademarks and copyrights. Is there any interaction with products? Trademark holders should be given the choice whether they appear in your fictional story. If your character talks about, uses, buys or examines any products, it is arguable whether it is incidental. So be prepared to create some fake products.
Don't believe me? Watch you favourite TV show and see how many 'brands' in the background of bars and stores actually exist. Most of the time you can argue and win that it is incidental, but can we in the ultra low budget realm afford to defend ourselves by paying a retainer to a lawyer for those $1000 letters or trial.
In my opinion, prepare for complete avoidance of issues. Also, if the business name will be shown in the film, make sure that the location agreement specifies that. Best of luck!
I am working on launching a resource that will answer these types of questions - by both indie filmmakers and lawyers.
https://www.facebook.com/chainoftitle
Don't believe me? Watch you favourite TV show and see how many 'brands' in the background of bars and stores actually exist. Most of the time you can argue and win that it is incidental, but can we in the ultra low budget realm afford to defend ourselves by paying a retainer to a lawyer for those $1000 letters or trial.
In my opinion, prepare for complete avoidance of issues. Also, if the business name will be shown in the film, make sure that the location agreement specifies that. Best of luck!
I am working on launching a resource that will answer these types of questions - by both indie filmmakers and lawyers.
https://www.facebook.com/chainoftitle
Chain of Title brings up a valid point, albeit in sort of an alarmist way.
Largely, the two greatest variables are A) will the background items in the store be absolutely incidental? and B) where will your "next film" be shown?
Just as a layman's understanding of "fair use", if your story brings ZERO attention to any particular product then pretty much all is good. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_use
My 2ยข: Crank that aperture wide open as possible and tighten down the DoF, blur the cr@p outta that background.
And if your character picks up a bag of chips and a candy bar A) make a fake, B) keep that label off screen, C) keep the product off screen, D) be "good" or favorable to/about the product, or E) attempt to get corporate clearance. (Good luck with that!)
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/15...=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=1556528337
http://www.gcglaw.com/resources/entertainment/filmcontent.html
http://www.avvo.com/legal-answers/trademarked-logos-appear-in-a-low-budget-film-i-ma-478241.html
--> But all this may or may not matter depending upon where the film is to be seen.
If for largely private use or a limited number of people then it's academic - no one cares.
If this is for a film festival or VOD then it gets complicated and the best route is to just avoid the hassle as much as possible.
Fair use is really one of those things that we as low budget filmmakers can't decide. There are arguments to be made for it/against it equally either way. I've enjoyed employing fair use in one of my films but it was deemed such only after:
1. several attempts were made to acquire the copyright legitimately and
2. after consultation with a lawyer.
In the ultra low budget realm, fair use is something that should never ever be decided by a filmmaker - as we are likely to make the argument for our own desired outcome and open ourself up to litigation. Plus, without a legal opinion attached to our 'fair use' an E&O insurer will charge you through the nose AND ask you to sign a waiver for those scenes not to be included in the policy. Best to avoid it.
However, I agree 100% with rayw - if the film isn't going to be exhibited...have at it.
1. several attempts were made to acquire the copyright legitimately and
2. after consultation with a lawyer.
In the ultra low budget realm, fair use is something that should never ever be decided by a filmmaker - as we are likely to make the argument for our own desired outcome and open ourself up to litigation. Plus, without a legal opinion attached to our 'fair use' an E&O insurer will charge you through the nose AND ask you to sign a waiver for those scenes not to be included in the policy. Best to avoid it.
However, I agree 100% with rayw - if the film isn't going to be exhibited...have at it.
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