What should I expect if I let film crew in the house? Someone knocked on the door this afternoon. They are scouting for a house to film their upcoming movie. My immediate reaction was no. Reading the handouts more carefully, I see one of the films they made is one of my favorites. That piqued my interest a bit.
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My neighbor has done this a number of times. They’ve had to vacate the house (with their kids and pets) for the duration of the filming and had to OK the crew moving things around as they saw fit.
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How much are they paying? I would!
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Did you just ask “do you want to get paid for someone else to come in and fix up all of the little to-dos in your house that you haven’t gotten around to doing?”? Sign me up!
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I just received my 3rd letter, I need work done inside my house (outside is very nice). Our town gets filming around 4 - 6 times a year, we’ve had friends do it, actually some friends were paid to let crews use their driveway for the house next store, easy money. One of my kids got photos with a celebrity at a house up the street. I haven’t heard of any negative stories.
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Err- no. Not every film set is looking for a picture perfect home. Sometimes they’ll paint cracks in your walls, install creepy looking light fixtures, put ugly formica countertops on top of your own kitchen counters. It depends on the production designer and the look they are going for. Definitely not for everyone.
You can make money at it- when it’s all said and done. And maybe it will compensate your family for the hassle and expense of moving out- or not.
Do the math.
And don’t get me started on the neighbors-- if it’s a two day shoot, fine. But to have trailers parked on the street for two weeks- strangers trampling your hydrangeas to take a shortcut to the snacks/craft trucks, traffic cones blocking someone else’s driveway for hours…
My neighbors did it once. They made enough for a modest vacation. We got nothing for the hassle and some folks are still steamed about it. But the neighbors house most assuredly did NOT look gorgeous after the alterations although the crew put everything back exactly the way it was, including saving the front door which had a broken pane of glass (which was removed during shooting, NOT repaired!)
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$5,000 a day while filming, $2,000 while setting up/take down. 3-4 days of filming, so I guess about $25K.
I doubt it’s that easy. They will probably do a lot of things I dislike to the house.
@Mjkacmom What do you mean getting a third letter? To film in your house?
@blossom It probably won’t be as bad as that but there’ll definitely be unpleasant surprises as these things go. 20-30 people trampling the house can’t be good. My brand new house will age for sure.
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Are you sure it’s not a scam?
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Looks legit on the surface. They do list who to contact to verify. Of course, it can still be a scam.
Have an attorney check the contract. My husband worked in tv commercials for a long time and you must make sure that the crew has all the right insurance. He still has nightmares about the time they dropped a coffee table on a slate floor during a shoot and obliterated it.
On the fun side though, a very famous Christmas movie was filmed on my street when I was a teenager. We all got fake snow and Christmas lights and we used to be woken up by blasting Christmas music in the middle of the night. It was June 
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We had a one day shoot in our kitchen for a cooking show. She paid us with two dinners up to 10 people. This was the promo for the show which she got. We got a signed copy of her cook book and the two dinners were to die for. We actually became friends. It was at small crew and it was actually a lot of fun to watch and learn. It wasn’t a major film or anything but it was really satisfying seeing someone grow a. D seeing her on TV afterward was fun. She went on to own her own catering business and diner.
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I would! My house was a finalist for a window commercial once. $5k for them to film the outside and open the door into our foyer. I was bummed we didn’t get it.
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A famous movie was filmed at a house near us, over 30 years ago. There are people taking pictures outside that house every day, at all hours. The traffic pattern in the neighborhood is changed around Christmas time, with 24/7 police presence.
Chances are the movie/show your house is in won’t rise to that level of notoriety. But I bet the people who rented their house back then didn’t think things would turn out like they did either. That family is long gone and I’m sure made a nice profit on the sale…later owners added fencing and security cameras.
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And then, there is this house.
The house made famous by "Breaking Bad" TV show up for sale in New Mexico - CBS News.
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I remember reading that the people who live in the San Francisco house that was used for the outside filming of Full House had to deal with something similar. Also, the house in Oregon where The Goonies was filmed. We actually drove by it when we did a west coast vacation - there are very strongly worded signs outside that say even if you stop to take a picture, they will call the police 
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I wonder if the police would respond? Nothing illegal about standing in the street or on the sidewalk and taking a picture of a house at least in my neck of the woods!
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Brody’s house in Homeland was in a neighborhood near me (a lot of the first season was filmed in my city). I remember when it went up for sale after the show ended. It was a nice house in a nice neighborhood.
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Agree - but the signs would definitely make you think twice. They don’t even want you to stop! I took a pic from the car as we were driving by 
This was 8+ years ago.
My family watches The Goonies on repeat so we couldn’t not go see it.
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A sign like that would make me stop Even if I had no idea what the house was.
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We were approached several times about doing this, but my kids were young at the time, plus we had pets. We decided the money wasn’t worth the disruption. One famous director came to our home, and we were surprised because he only wanted to use the exterior of our garage, our trees, and our driveway. He chose a different location in the end.
Apparently your house may well not be left as they found it. I have heard many stories such as already described above. My understanding is the longer they are at your home, the worse the destruction. And yes, your garden will be trampled.
We had a student group film a short, but they only used the driveway with exterior shots of the house. It was fun and that was only a day long. They didn’t get in our way at all.
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