Make the most of your locations budget

For a number of projects, we’ve recently been turning to Airbnb. Yes – that site where you rent a room from someone called ‘Dennis’ instead of a costly hotel room.

The beauty of Airbnb is, you can browse types of homes within certain locations. You can ask for specific amenities, you can look at photos and most importantly, you can see the price without having to enquire (resulting in you then sheepishly saying you can’t afford to pay £650.00 / Day for a location.). It’s not even just homes listed – you can find camper vans, yurts, whole fields etc!

The best bit we’ve found, is that generally, it’s a win win for both you and the Airbnb host. The host is paid their usual rate but you’re not using things like towels, bedding etc. At the same time, you’re getting a great rate on a location. We’ve even found that hosts still leave their little ‘thoughtful touches’ as if you are a normal guest – biscuits, milk, tea, coffee = happy cast and crew.

Shooting in an Airbnb studio apartment for our RAFA project.

Shooting in an Airbnb apartment for Dead Air

There is however a catch. Well, not a catch per se, more of an unwritten set of rules which comes from respect for the owner. It’s something that should be done across the board within the film making world, but we all know the reputation some locations departments have when it comes to leaving a property…

We give the following guarantees to any Airbnb host who kindly agrees to let a film crew traipse through their property:

1. We are always 100% upfront with what we’re doing. We message the owner and tell them exactly what we would like to do, how many people will be involved and when we need the property. It’s also good practice to talk through the process – that way they won’t be alarmed when they see you taping blackout material to their windows.
2. Upon arrival, we always take photos of every room in the property and ensure it is left like that upon departure.
3. We respect the house rules as advertised on Airbnb. If we’re using things like haze, we check that they are fine with it in advance.
4. We always share the final film with the property owner. They’re often curious, and seeing that you weren’t actually filming some… *ahem* ‘adult content’ puts them at ease.
5. Ensure that you have the correct insurances in place. If you put a hot 2K blonde down and burn a hole in their carpet, you’re going to need to pay for the damage.

So there you go – our top tip for locations. We’ve used this method a number of times in the past year, all of which have yielded great results. Happy scouting!