How to Rent Your Home for a Movie or Catalog Shoot

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By eHow Contributing Writer

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Lights, camera, paycheck! Getting your home in a movie, on TV or in the next glitzy housewares catalog can be fun and pull in some cash to boot. But there are issues to bear in mind, not only to increase the chances of making your home a star, but to protect it in the process.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Step 1

Submit your home as a possible location with film studios, production companies and advertising firms, which maintain lists of properties available for shooting purposes.
Step 2

Ask what the rate is. Depending on how long they'll be in your home and the scope of the project, pay ranges from a couple hundred to more than a thousand dollars per diem. If the location is in a television series, they could come back year after year.
Step 3

Expect your home to be taken over by people setting up shop in all parts of the house, including the bathrooms. Find out whether you should remove your furniture or make any changes before they come in or whether the production crews will. Ask if they plan to make any temporary changes and what they'll be.
Step 4

Ask for a written policy outlining what the company does in case anything is damaged. The contract should include a provision to "return the house back to its original state," which may involve repainting or carpet cleaning, and the time frame for doing so.

Tips & Warnings

Don't expect to make gobs of money renting out your house. Keep in mind that while the production crew is filming, you'll likely have to pay to live somewhere else.
Production companies use trucks to haul cameras, and tracks and cranes that need off-site parking locations, which could significantly inconvenience you and your neighbors.

Comments

jensallave said

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on 11/19/2009 How can you rent your home out to the Film Production staff, so they have a place to temporarily live during the production?? Does anyone know how or where to go for that?

butcho said

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on 4/13/2009 Want to list your house for movies visit www.rent2film.comlisting prices start as low as $14.95 yearly fee.

Marsluvpower said

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on 11/7/2008 You can go through a listing agency, here's a few that you can take a look at, but there are fees for getting listed:

http://www.castlocations.com/app/homeowners.php

http://www.universallocations.com/ul_listing.php?locscout=8308fa334d6a55f2f060e101fb703cae

You can also list your home on Craigslist

As for the money earned. . . last I heard, if the filming is less than 14 days straight, you do not have to report, but that's something you will have to discuss with your accountant/CPA or tax preparer in your state.