nyc.locationscout.us

If you are a foreign film / photo production planning to work on location in the United States and / or more specifically, in the New York City area, you may or may not be aware that use of just about any private property, as well as many public venues and towns / municipalities (New York City included, for film / video) as a location will require you to provide proof of commercial liability insurance providing coverage of at least $2m US in the form of a certificate of insurance and naming same (property owner / venue / town or municipality) third-party additionally insured. These or similar conditions apply to many gear / equipment rental agreements as well.

Furthermore, any insurance you may have in your home country must provide coverage abroad and that coverage must be recognized and accepted by all parties involved in the United States.

Fear not, there are many insurance brokers nationwide in the U.S. that offer affordable short-term production insurance packages. The insurance company I usually work with was charging about $650 for a 14 day package last time I spoke with them.

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Google short-term production insurance

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Occasionally, I get emails asking how to get started in location scouting / location management. I am often suspicious that people that write these letters are looking for a way - ANY way - out of whatever it is they are currently doing (and potentially dislike) rather than actually being genuinely interested in the location services field - It’s a “real” job with lots of responsibility and very well not nearly as glamorous as you might have imagined.

Didja know the Location Department is the department in charge of making sure the trash gets carried away at the end of a shoot?

Also, let’s face it, I am a pretty easy target - a quick email requesting a free look into the crystal ball is a pretty cheap investment in a career and I am pretty easy to find.

… so how might anyone really know they want to be a location scout?

It’s almost like, if they did know, they wouldn’t be asking.

…but that’s just me, and as remote as it might be there is a distinct possibility that my thinking on this could be flawed.

That said, this is how things happenned for me:

I attended the Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale (AIFL) in Fort Lauderdale, FL and earned an Associate of Science Degree (AA) in Photography.

Also at the time, I, of course, had aspirations to become a world-famous, world-travelled, filthy-rich, rockstar commercial photographer. When the major ad agencies of the world and top-shelf design firms of the world didn’t beat a path to my door upon graduation, I set about trying to learn more about my craft in the “real” world, seeking work as a photo assistant in the Fort Lauderdale and Miami media markets. At the time I entered the workforce and with considerations toward the size of the market I was in, I found staff positions in short supply, however, there was a blooming market for freelance photo assistants, helped by a blossoming South Beach “media scene” (and of course the generally balmy year-round weather in the region, which includes incredible stretches of pleasant, dry weather in the winter…) being fueled strongly by the fashion industry (as well as interest by advertising and media of many other types…), renovations and rehabilitation of the Art Deco buildings in the South Beach area of Miami Beach and a general boomtown economic environment of South Florida at the time. Miami Vice was in production then. In addition to working with local photographers I had a great opportunity to work with a number of photographers and production companies from all over the world, including a number of European-based teams and teams from New York, southern California and Chicago, to name a few.

One of the photographers I worked with as a photo assistant in south Florida was a fashion advertising photographer from the New York City area, Tom Contrino. I worked as a local second assistant with Tom for two seasons and when his first assistant moved up the ladder to a photographer position in the still life area of the business back in New York City, I was offered an opportunity to move north to the New York City area and become Tom’s full-time, staff first assistant, which I accepted.

In addition to freelance location scouting and production coordination for photography (both of which I discovered very early on that I found very gratifying and enjoyable) once I went to work to work for Tom I had an opportunity to expand my experience in these areas and learn an enormous amount about what it takes to operate a successful commercial photography business from the inside out and on a day - to - day basis - in addition to jobs we produced for clients, which often at times included location scouting and production coordination, in addition to my regular duties on shoots as a camera assistant and lighting tech, I was soon handling many back end chores such as hiring extra assistants, invoicing, equipment rental / purchasing, insurance inventorying, promotion - it all rolls together in a busy photography business.

My tenure with Contrino Photography also offered me an excellent opportunity to travel and even tho I settled in New Jersey, in the New York City metro area, I travelled quite a bit with Tom for work back to south Florida, to California, New Mexico, Nevada, Colorado, Chicago, and other destinations around the U.S.

Eventually, after six years with Tom, it was, of course, time to move on and I became, once again, temporarily, a freelance photo assistant / production assistant, with aspirations AND experience needed to develop my own freelance location scouting / production business, working with photographer / director / producer clientele; subsequently, providing location services / locations for film / television / photo / events and production services for photography is what my current occupation consists of. Thru networking and marketing / promotion I have extended my location services beyond still photography to include video, motion picture and event clients.

The “new frontier” for me (when I started out there was no email / we photographed locations using print film and made manila paper location folders filled with panoramic photos made by taping together 4×6 color prints…) is HDRi and image-based lighting for digital imaging (still and motion) and I have an association with Q-spheres to this end.

I keep a running blog and online resume of sorts of jobs as I complete them which can be found at rrhobbs.us

My website and home page, nyc.locationscout.us is both a blog and resource for location services and production. Please spend some time on the FAQS page! Use the search page and web and dig around for results for relevant location scouting search terms.

Look on the sidebar, I can be found on most of the popular social networks (i.e. Twitter, Facebook, etc.)

Anyway, that’s how it’s happenned for me - there is no magic formula for entering and developing a successful location scouting career - everybody is different and in the beginning it is often difficult to tell what you are truly interested in personally and / or how / if you might be of problem-solving service to enough people to make a career for yourself. SO much is tied up in personalities, personal priorities and changing needs, business relationships, aptitude and developed skills. - You really may only THINK you want to become a location scout / location manager… The only sure way to find out is to get out there and start DOING.

I always tell aspiring newbie location scouts to look for film school student film projects and productions to work on - attending film school is an excellent background for a location scout, some grounding in filmmaking is a very neccesary prerequisite. Look for start up and no / low budget short films and movies to volunteer for - you get out what you put in - hell, even if you are “just” sweeping the floors, you still get to watch - and learn - you have to expect you are initially likely letting yourself in for a period of going hungry and still, somehow, making ends meet - you have to be generally resourceful, develop keen communication / negotiating and research skills and you have be willing to toot your own horn (without being annoying) - but as you learn and start becoming a problem solver - if you love your work and are good at it, it will show! - making someone’s life easier, they will tell their friends and associates - The rest is yours to discover and grow by.

Wikipedia - Location Scouting (I started and regularly contribute)

Go For Resources | Getting Started in the Film Industry

Location Works | How to Become a Location Manager

LocationTalk

Budget Travel Online | How Location Scout Kevin Hodder Got His Awesome Job

Cash B’s My Life As A Location Scout

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It is summer and I have been receiving a number of requests lately for beach and waterfront houses, so I have pulled a number of beach house locations from my location files an added them to a beach houses album on Locamundo:

Beach Houses Location Album


Beach Houses Location Album
These are beach houses, ocean-front and bay-front houses of many diverse types and architectural styles, located all over the New York City Tri-State area - Jersey Shore, Long Island, Hamptons and the Connecticut Shore; in the album look for the town and a short description of the style of the house.

Location Scouting Notes:

Not all houses shown “own” the beach they are near, this in fact would be the exception rather than the rule, and since a private beach is a considerable real estate asset, rates for use of houses with private beaches could be reflected accordingly.

Beach towns and other waterfront recreational communities exist primarily for the leisure pleasure of their residents which provide much in the way of economic development and most attempt to create a pastoral, peaceful ambience, however, in the northeast U.S., some of the population density and traffic congestion from the cities and adjacent suburban areas is transferred to vacation / recreation areas during the summer months (specifically between Memorial Day and Labor Day) and can strain local vehicular traffic control, local law enforcement and local government resources in general. That said, there may be restrictions in place by towns in popular beach, other waterfront and get-away areas or there may be permits and permit fee requirements for shooting in these towns. You should check with local government (i.e. Town Clerk’s Office / Police Department) in any municipal area in which a location under consideration for use as a location may be located to find out if filming and / or photography is allowed and if there are restricted areas. A measure of common sense is in order; be realistic about what levels of impact or disruption your production vehicles or set and crew may have on traffic patterns or day-to-day life during peak times and discuss your needs with local authorities to find out if agreements can be made to accommodate all. City, County, State and National Parks may have also have restrictions with regard to areas available for filming during peak periods. Just about all have permit requirements, altho the fees can be very reasonable *if* the areas needed are, in fact available. Most, if not all have restrictions regarding filming on weekends, when the utilization of park resources are likely to be highest by the general public.

More remote locations with lower utilization of resources by the general public are more apt to be receptive to hosting film / video or photo shoots during the summer months, however, you must build in increased travel times, crew fees for remote locations (including possible overnight stay-overs) and other considerations into your budget. Private estates with plenty of acreage for shooting and off-street, private parking could be viable options, too, but locations of this type, close to large metro areas, when available, are likely to reflect the convenience and amenities in the fees charged by the property owners. A matter of fact that seems to be oft-overlooked is the owners of leisure / get-away / recreation / vacation properties are likely to want use of their property during the summer months for themselves and availability is likely to revolve around times when the owners have made plans to use their property or a premium rate may be charged to accommodate production during periods planned as “personal” or “quality” time. Accordingly, please be realistic about your budgetary resources when making location enquiries about beachfront / waterfront and other recreation / vacation properties during peak use times. The same could be said of many “public” properties, such as hotels, motels, bed-and-breakfasts; you are advised to plan your production well in advance and should expect to pay premium rates during months of highest demand. The summer is the “bread and butter” time for most hospitality establishments in recreational areas (including restaurants) and they must generate enough income during peak times to see them thru the lean periods such as winter.

Other Location Scouting notes:

Any enquiries regarding availability and rates should be accompanied by our location number and information requested on our Location Request Questionaire.

We are available to perform custom file searches, do detailed research as well as provide location scouting and location management services for your production. Please contact us for rates.

Other Location Scouting / Production Information

FAQS

Location Request Questionaire

Search Our Locations

Location Research Guide

Contact Us

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Rhode Island Film and Television Office

Mission Statement:

“The Rhode Island Film & Television Office, a state agency under the Rhode Island State Council on the Arts, exists to promote Rhode Island as the ideal site for film and television projects, and to help our state’s film and video artists, and others, benefit from their filmmaking experience in the Ocean State.”

FAQ

Locations

Production Guide

Tax Incentives

…find out more…

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Featured Location: Horse Farm Estate NJ / 175 Acres | 45906 is currently available as a location for film, photo video and possibly, events.

Slideshow
Preview set on Flickr
Location Scouting Notes

This property is NOT in the New York City local film zones - figure about an hour from inside midtown Manhattan to reach this location in New Jersey by automobile with no traffic.

Property is currently occupied full-time by caretaker / part-time by owners; availability is very good at this writing. There is a tenant horse trainer with active clients so live, trained riding horses may be available by special arrangement.

Property includes a Georgian-style three-story mansion with a living room / ballroom, wood paneled library / parlor, giant foyers, balconies, sweeping stairways and hardwood floors all in good or excellent condition. There is a very kewl retro service kitchen-cum-exercise-room, a spooky walk-in cooler and an industrial looking hvac room, all in the basement. There is an outdoor pool (closed, but functional and could be opened by special arrangement), numerous barns / stables and outbuildings and a well-maintained equestrian riding ring.

Main house is currently mostly empty and undergoing remodeling in areas so tech scouting for current status is required; available by arrangement for qualified parties.

Because the house is mostly unfurnished, propping and possibly remodeling / painting may be needed. Contact us with detailed specs for your production to find out if your needs are a good fit.

More House Facts

23-room Georgian-style manor, circa 1930’s / 13,500sf living space

10 bedrooms

7 Full bathrooms / 4 half-bathrooms

Wood burning fireplaces w/ marble details in living room, dining room, library, and dressing room/sitting room

11-12 foot ceilings

15ft ceiling in living room

Butternut-paneled Library made with wood found on property / handcrafted custom moldings

New tile roof, windows, and state of the art electrical, heating, and air-conditioning systems

Restored the wide plank flooring

Original mahogany doors

Hand carved plaster moldings, wood paneling, and leaded windows throughout

More Location Scouting Notes

Landscaped grounds are available as well as rural rolling fields with pastoral views that include a live running stream on the property. Some areas may be environmentally sensitive - contact us with your needs to find out if your specs are a good fit.

There are several cottages on the property currently in distressed condition that may lend themselves to special aesthetic needs. Some of these areas are currently undergoing rehabilitation so status may change over time. Location scouting photos of these areas and tech scouting appointments are available by request from qualified parties - contact us.

A complete, comprehensive scout of this location of over 300 photographs, current 7/3/2008, is available to qualified production parties. For access to these images as well as availability / fees / tech scouting / booking and other additional info about Featured Location: Featured Location: Horse Farm Estate NJ / 175 Acres | 45906 You MUST supply us, in writing (you can email us) with ALL the information requested on our email form and per our Location Request Questionaire. Also, please see our FAQS for general information about working with us.

45906 denotes our Locamundo digital location scouting folder for the aforementioned featured location; please use this number (45906) in ANY correspondence with us regarding this location.

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This post is a continuation of a series of posts I began a while back beginning with this post: New Location Featured. If you would like to see a collection of these posts as I add them, use this link: http://rrhobbs.com/category/featured-locations. RSS Feed

Slideshow
Preview set on Flickr

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From time to time we feature various remarkable locations from our online location library of more than 3000 locations for film, photo, video / tv and events.

• “Featured Location” posts on nyc.locationscout.us | RSS Feed
• We have a Page with links to all our location albums of featured locations

There are pages set up with links and screenshots to many of our location albums of featured locations:

• Apartment and Lofts Locations
• Cabins and Camps Locations
• Education Locations
• Farms and Ranches Locations
• Healthcare Locations
• Houses and Mansions Locations
• Industrial Locations
• NYC Roofs and Views Locations
• Offices Locations
• Sports Locations
• Swimming Pools Locations

Many of these location albums are also featured on our companion website, locationfiles.com.

We have a large number of locations available online for searching / research:

• Search Locations
• Location Research Guide
• Location Request Questionnaire
• FAQS

All the above resources can be extremely useful for your pitches and presentations; we are always willing to help you get that job so we can work together and of course, we are at your service to provide a diverse range of fee-based location services including file pulls and location research, location scouting, tech scouting and location management for all film, video/tv, photography and event productions as well as other production services, including complete production coordination and production management for still photography production and smaller video productions.

• Contact Us Today!

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• R. Richard Hobbs EditorialPhoto (EP) Profile

“Editorial Photographers (EP) is a non-profit organization dedicated to improving the health and profitability of editorial photography. Our mission is to educate photographers and photography buyers about business issues affecting our industry, and in the process raise the level of business practices in the profession.”

…read more…

Resources:

• FAQS
• Forms
• Find A Photographer
• …read the rest…

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• photoshoot-production.com

The Maryland Film Office in Baltimore, MD has a wonderful general film production FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) page - what follows is a small sample of the Q / A contained therein (altho this FAQ is contained within the Maryland Film Office website, many of the questions / answers could apply to just about any locality and all are relevant in some way…) :

What does the Maryland Film Office do?

How can I have my property used in a film?

How can I be an extra in a movie or television show?

How can I get a job on a movie crew?

…read the rest…

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New Hampshire Film and Television Office | About the New Hampshire Film and Television Office:

“The New Hampshire Film and Television Office, as part of the New Hampshire Department of Cultural Resources, works to expand business activity and employment throughout the state by acting as a liaison between the film industry and an established network of government agencies, the state’s film industry workforce, and private residential and business property owners.

Working in tandem with the New Hampshire Film Commission, a fifteen-member advisory board made up of film industry professionals, government officials, and representatives of state associations, the Film Office is responsible for location research, public relations, literature publication and distribution, and general production support in an effort to broaden the cultural and economic impact of film and television production in the state.”

…read the rest…

Production Guide

Locations

News and Events

Filmography

Resource Links

FAQs

Media Room

Contact New Hampshire Film and Television Office

If you have never been to New Hampshire - it is something else - it really is a gorgeous gem in this great big ole USA of ours!

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New Hampshire Film & Television Office | A Property Owner’s Guide to Filming Locations (pdf) | From the New Hampshire Film & Television Office | What you need to know when a production company comes calling

“Significant dollars are added to the state’s economy each year by film and video production companies and commercial still photographers who choose to work in New Hampshire. One of the ways those production dollars get into New Hampshire’s economy is via the fees paid to private property owners for use of “locations.”

…read the rest…

While written specifically for New Hampshire property owners, this guide is pretty universal, chocked full useful information for anyone with an interest in having their property used for film, tv / video, photo or even events.

NH Film’s Property Owner’s Guide to Filming Locations is highly recommended reading so I will be adding a link on the FAQs Page on nyc.locationscout.us

Other Film Offices and related content on nyc.locationscout.us

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New York State Film Office

About the New York State Governors Office of Motion Picture and Television Development:

“Our office is your liaison with city and local governments, state agencies, a network of statewide contacts, local film offices and professional location scouts. Call us and we’ll get you what you need or find the people who can help.” …read the rest…

About Film Production in the State of New York

Regions + Location Photos

Resources

Union + Guild Information

Film Production Tax Incentives

New York State TRIPLES Film Production Tax Credit!

News

NYS Film Office Contact Information

Links

FAQs

The New York State film production market is one of the largest in the United States as well as world-wide and has a world-class film office located in New York City equipped and eager to service the needs of the production community while furthering economic development in the State of New York.

Being located in New Jersey, very close to New York City and the lower Hudson Valley of New York, I call on the NYS Film Office (as well as the NYC Mayor’s Office of Film, Theater and Broadcast (MOFTB) - the film liaison for New York City) frequently for assistance with location and production needs for film, video, photo and events productions; the NYS Film Office (as well as MOFTB) are always helpful and knowledgeable helping me solve any location or other production-related challenges as New York (state and / or city might avail themselves.

• Other Film Offices and related content on nyc.locationscout.us

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• Metromotion Productions
  MetroMotion is a production company based in New York City, NY and Miami, FL offering a full range of services for the photo, film, video / tv and events industries
  (tags: production productioncompany RVs motorhomes photoproduction filmproduction locations)
• The Very Complete Answer B!tch FAQ | When a column becomes a breakout, planet-conquering phenomenon (ahem!), word gets out, and the public swarms. But there are so many questions you people need answered about Hollywood! Of course, we’ve already nailed quite
  The Very Complete Answer B!tch FAQ

  When a column becomes a breakout, planet-conquering phenomenon (ahem!), word gets out, and the public swarms. But there are so many questions you people need answered about Hollywood! Of course, we’ve already nailed q

  (tags: answer-b!tch fun humor Hollywood E! tv movies FAQS)

Period Features Newsletter | …via rrhobbs.us

“Period Features is a small company based in the attractive market town of Leek, on the edge of the Peak District . We aim to be an outstanding source of products for period homes, and to always provide excellent, friendly service.”

I found a trackback on rrhobbs.us and asked myself, “what in the world would a period furnishings shop in England have to do with a location scouting website like mine?”

So I followed their link to their newsletter to the “Enquire Within” column - which contains an article with tips for owners of period homes to use getting their homes used by location scouts and production companies:

“Have you ever wondered what it takes to get your home featured in magazine advertisements and as a TV and film location?”

… read the rest …

The article lists my Information for Property Owners article from my FAQS as well as links to several other websites with links for listing properties for use as film, photo, video / tv or event locations:

Shoot Factory (UK) | Location Company

Historic House Assn Film LocationsHistoric Houses Association (UK) | Film locations

The Spacemen (UK) | Film / Photo Location Company

It’s always fun and interesting (and often useful) to find out about other people, companies and organizations around the world involved in activities the same / similar or otherwise related to what you do

There is a valuable informational article on VideoMaker entitled 11 Tips for Location Scouting which includes some basic flight-checks relevant to location scouting.

By virtue of being included in an article on a site called VideoMaker, the tips would seem to be suggested specifically for those in the video production profession, however, I feel the points raised are also general enough to cover many issues and challenges typically encountered location scouting for film and photography projects as well.

Here are the titles of the tips:

1. Know your script
2. Scout at the right time
3. Look at light
4. Follow the sun
5. Check for power supplies
6. Listen (not quite as important for stills - RH)
7. Examine the elements
8. Decide where to set up
9. Get permission
10. Evaluate the area
11. And finally, take notes!

Merely listing the tips doesn’t do the VideoMaker article justice, much more valuable additional information is available if you read the actual article.

A while back I included a link in a post on locationscout.us to another good article on VideoMaker entitled Video Pre-Production FAQ. Admittedly, there are lots of production links in that particular article on locationscout.us; the quickest way to find the link (if you don’t want to simply follow the link above? - duh …or maybe some other production-related link you might have in mind (?) is to do a term search using your browser (Windows: CTRL-F in both IE and Firefox).

I will be adding a link to this article (which obviously includes links to the two VideoMaker articles) on my FAQS Page.

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More of me playing around with online maps and geotagging, from the Wikimapia FAQ:

“Wikimapia is a Web 2.0 project to describe the whole planet Earth. It was created by Alexandre Koriakine and Evgeniy Saveliev, inspired by Google Maps and Wikipedia.”

…read more…

My Wikimapia Profile

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Hi- I am R. Richard Hobbs.

I am a location scout and I work in film production, which loosely includes television production, video production and photo production.

I am also a location manager.

I am also a photo producer; I take care of all kinds of production details, from estimating and bidding to crewing up a shoot, casting and on-set production coordination.

I find the interesting back drops, (or locations) you see in movie scenes, tv commercials, televison programs, music videos and corporate videos, as well as in photos used for ads and editorial features in magazines, printed brochures, books and billboards. I also find locations that can be used for various public events, such as art/marketing installations, corporate and personal social events and marketing focus groups.

I live and have an office in New Jersey, not far from New York City. Living in this geographic situation has allowed me to get to know NYC and allows me to get there and back quickly and also leaves me a lot of freedom to take advantage of the more suburban flavored location resources of NJ and the lower Hudson Valley. Did I mention I love to travel?

Over the more than 15 years I have been doing what I do, I have accumulated a sizable library of locations that can be used for production, nearly 3,000 at last count as a matter of fact. All the photos are digital and are stored online at www.locamundo.com.

Location scouting is a somewhat arcane end of the production process and it is tough to say exactly what we do all the time, but we do a lot of different things at different times. What might be doing different under different circumstances. This link may help you understand some of the things we might do. Someties we might “wear several hats”, so to speak and we are always flexible and willing to pitch as needed as long as what is expected of us is understood and agreed upon up front. The bottom line is we always do our best to help you solve your production problems while making an income that affords affords a comfortable lifestyle. Give us a call and let’s see how we can work together!

Also, here are some FAQS (Frequently Asked Questions) that might help you understand some of what the locations department might be involved with.

Here is my resume of sorts.

Please give us a shout and let us help you solve your location challenges!

Do you own property that would look great on film? Go here.

Technorati Profile

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filmmaking.net | internet filmmaker’s faq : Location Scout:

Location Scout | By Benjamin Craig , filmmaking.net

“A location scout is a person that reads the script for a film and goes about finding appropriate locations for shooting. Scouting locations may be a simple as doing local reconnaissance or be as complex as tripping all over the world in the search for the perfect location. Budget will of course dictate how much work a location scout will do.”

…read the rest…

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