Securing Location?

thatguywiththecamera

thatguywiththecamera

So I'm trying to organize my first music video shoot, and the main location I need is a local roller rink. The band has a very indie-90's sound, so I thought it was a good fit.
Sooner or later I'm going to have to actually call these people (the owners) and see if they'll even consider letting me use their location. But before I did that I wanted to ask some of the more experienced members of the forum what I should even ask/say?
What information should I give the owners? What questions should I ask them/expect them to ask me?
Basically, what's the most professional way to approach them in an attempt to secure a shooting location?

Any and all help would be greatly appreciated.
 
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If you have the money, start off by asking how much it'll cost to rent the place for a night for a private party (don't bring up filmmaking just yet). After you get a firm quote in writing, then present him with a contract which includes clearance for his location to appear in your film AND a location release for filming at his rink. Then see if he signs it.
 
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That seems like a risk. The owner takes different insurance risks
depending on how the rink is being used. That method could seem
like “bait and switch” even if it is not intended that way.

Perhaps it’s worth the risk. If the owner gets a chuckle out of it
and signs; you’re in - but what if the owner feels backed into a
corner? No way will he sign and he might insist on being paid in
full for the party.

I would suggest the more professional method would be to be
completely upfront with the owner of the rink. Tell him exactly
what your plan is, exactly how many hours you need the rink,
exactly how many people will be involved in the shoot and exactly
what equipment you will be bringing in.

You will be asked about insurance. You will be expected to cover
the cost of an employee to open the place up, watch it and close
it up. You may be asked about power consumption.

Are you hoping the owner will donate the space to you or do you
have a budget for rental?
 
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directorik said:
Perhaps it’s worth the risk. If the owner gets a chuckle out of it
and signs; you’re in - but what if the owner feels backed into a
corner? No way will he sign and he might insist on being paid in
full for the party.
Click to expand...

I'm thinking being up-front with using the location to film automatically will add two zeros to the rental quote. The filmmaker can play poker and walk away leaving the rink owner with nothing.
 
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I have found the exact opposite to be the case.

A party will require a full staff - a music video shoot could
require just one person to "babysit" the location. A party
might be 20 to 50 people, all needing skates and a lot of
clean up - a MV shoot might be 10 people with an agreement
to clean up everything. And in many places a video shoot
using a local band seems kinda cool to a rink owner. I have
gotten lower rates - and even free - by being totally upfront.
And, yes, I have been gouged, too. I simply move on to
another location. But I would never take the risk of appearing
to "bait an switch" a business owner.
 
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directorik said:
But I would never take the risk of appearing
to "bait an switch" a business owner.
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How about this . . . Have someone (not you) call the roller rink and ask for a quote to rent the rink for a night with all the works. You'll have a base figure to work with.

Later, the producer calls for a meeting with the rink owner an submits a contract.

Perhaps we do business differently. I like to approach business matters having the upper hand.
 
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I prefer straight forward and honest... so do small business owners. In his shoes, how much $$$ would he be sacrificing to you... and how much risk would he be taking on his property / liability insurance by letting you shoot there? Now, that's your base cost, then there's a little profit to give him a reason to say yes to something new, and turn away his regular customers for a night or two.

The potential risk for the owner is that they lose business in the long run, or end up having to pay deductibles on their insurance if someone from your produciton gets hurt - or if you break something... so you'll want to make sure you're taking on that risk for them IN WRITING indemnifying them from any personal or property damages as a direct result of your production.
 
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GuerrillaAngel said:
Perhaps we do business differently. I like to approach business matters having the upper hand.
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Clearly.

I would never have a business sign a contract for a party and then
present them with a location release because I was planning on
bringing in a film crew. I prefer to approach business matters
openly and honestly.

In the scenario you present I would ask the rink owner up front
what a party rental would cost and what would a music video shoot
cost. If the party rental was less than his video shoot quote I would
ask why and then see if we could work on a deal that is acceptable
to both of us.
 
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knightly said:
The potential risk for the owner is that they lose business in the long run, or end up having to pay deductibles on their insurance if someone from your production gets hurt - or if you break something...
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Unlike other businesses, a skating rink would have the kind of insurance to cover injuries like this. Secondly, renting out the place is something they typically do, in fact, they may rely on it (private parties, et al) to provide income.

As a filmmaker, I would not write into the script anything that MUST occur at a skating rink. If I win the poker hand, I get production value at low cost -- if I lose, well, its down the street to play poker with with another business to find a different low cost PV. :lol:

While we don't know for sure, the OP is apparently married to the skating rink so chances are high he'll pay a lot for the rink unless there are other rinks in the area.

btw: The funding for most everything I shoot comes out of my own pocket. I would not feel bad at all if anyone feels offended for my not offering to give them a lot of my money.
 
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The problem here is that they may not be covered if someone is injured by something that is not normally in their facility. If someone falls while skating and breaks their nose that will be covered by the rinks insurance, and most probably the responsibility of the person who fell anyway; their injury was not caused by the facility but their own recklessness, inexperience or whatever. If a light stand not normally in the facility falls and injures someone, it is in all probability not covered by the facilities insurance policy, so they would be liable. Legal contracts are written to very exacting specifications and lawyers are trained to shove an elephant through the eye of a needle; they will find any loophole no matter how small.
 
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GuerrillaAngel said:
btw: The funding for most everything I shoot comes out of my own pocket. I would not feel bad at all if anyone feels offended for my not offering to give them a lot of my money.
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I am certainly not offended. In my post I said your method is a
risk. I have been completely up front with business owners - roller
skating rink, bars, restaurants, movie theaters, the full floor of a
law office - and gotten excellent deals. Even use of the location
for free.

Your bait (we'd like to have a private party) and switch (now that
we have a contract with you we want to you sign a location release
because the party is a music video shoot) method seems more likely
to go wrong than being honest from the start. Since this is a method
you are comfortable with I understand why this would be your advice
to thatguywiththecamera. Has this method worked for you in the past?
 
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I would find out how much it would be to rent for a private party just to have that number when I approached them for the shoot (about which I would be honest).

Work downward from that rental number based on the fact they won't need as much staff (just one person to babysit), you'll take their crappiest night of the week when they don't do much business or have many rentals, etc...
 
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Would agree with Directorik. While it can depend on the "waters" you swim in, sincerity about what you're after works wonders (and it has for me). Many people LOVE the idea of their location being in a *film.*
 
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directorik said:
Has this method worked for you in the past?
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I just "rented" a location and started filming, didn't tell them what I was going to do in advance. Of course, I had a small crew and knew I could pull it off.

If the music video producer just wants skating shots in the video, they can guerrilla it when the rink is open, keeping framing tight so the actual location of the rink is difficult to recognize. If you've a DSLR with crap attached to it, it will not work.

I like the "Church" excuse -- its a good one! Almost as good as the "wake" excuse -- my best friend loved this place, he died from cancer and I'm filming something to show at his memorial service.
 
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kjones said:
Many people LOVE the idea of their location being in a *film.*
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This has been my experience. The only places that have told us no in the past were big corporate owned locations where the manager doesn't really have that much say, all permission had to come from up the chain off property, sometimes in another state! Some of the big companies too had dealt with film crews in the past and had facility rates in place for a shoot that were way too high for most independent budgets.

Mom & pop places on the other hand are usually happy to have someone want to shoot a movie in the business or property they've spent every waking hour of the past 15 years slaving over. They (and their baby, err, business) get to be a part of something "glamorous." I've actually not had to pay for any locations yet, and I've always been up front about it; "just to make sure, you do realize it means there will be 30 or do people crawling around your space for 10 hours, right?"

One tip I've learned, an attractive woman with a nice smile is a lot more likely to get a yes haha. I spent a day hitting up restaurants and hotels for locations on the phone and in person and didn't get a yes. Decided to delegate and she got a yes for the locations we needed in a few hours haha.
 
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finderskeepers said:
DAMN! Where were you guys with all these clever tricks when I was filming my no budget feature in Los Angeles last year!!!:(
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I was right here in L.A. wondering why you didn’t contact me.

I used Jillian’s Bowling on CityWalk for a shoot two years ago. I
know they do private parties, but rather than bait and switch I
just set an appointment with their event manager and told her
what I was doing. A private party was $250 for four hours on a
mid weekday. I got three days from 1AM until 8AM (a total of
21 hours of facility time) for $350. They required a location
babysitter at his overtime wage so I talked to the guy. He was
an aspiring actor (no surprise in L.A.) so he agreed to be there
on his own time. I threw him $100 and gave him a small part
with three lines. Total of $450 or about $22 per hour. Yes, I
spent $200 more - I got 21 hours instead of 4.

I suspect if I had signed for a party and then presented them with
a location release I would not have gotten the deal I got. For me
being up front about business has worked.

I got a restaurant for a day in Aberdeen WA for free. The deal was
we would feed the cast and crew two meals at their employee discount
rate. In the end they comped all the meals because they were so
fascinated by the process.
 
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