The short answer is that the film industry will pay you for use of your property. Productions create other benefits as well, which we've listed below:

Property Improvement

Numerous industry regulations govern how production companies treat your property. Like campers in the wild, they are encouraged not only to leave the site in the same condition as when they found it, but often film companies will leave property in better condition. Based on the needs of the production, and with your permission, experienced construction personnel might need to mend cracks in walls, give a room a fresh coat of paint or plant new landscaping. It's an unexpected way to give your property a fresh look!

Promotional Opportunities

From the first use of your property - and your reputation in dealing with the crew - positive word-of-mouth can attract other film, television and commercial producers. Then there's the promotional or resale value in being able to say "My office building was featured in three episodes of CSI" or "they used my home as the hero's house" in a major Hollywood hit.

Regional Economy / Global Benefits to the State Major productions can be a boon for entire communities. Restaurants, hardware stores, caterers, new and used clothing shops and myriad 2 other businesses benefit.  Furthermore, money spent in California benefits the entire state economy. More than 250,000 Californians are employed directly by the entertainment industry, which contributes more than $1 billion annually in state sales tax. The overall economic benefit is more than $33.4 billion. If a company is denied use of a preferred property, it is forced to look somewhere else. Sometimes that means outside of California. And when productions leave the state, they take their checkbooks with them. We want to do everything we can to ensure that they stay, reinforcing California's image as a "filmmaker-friendly" state.

 WHO IS THE FILM INDUSTRY AND

The film industry seems glamorous to most people - until a film crew sweeps in and takes over their property. While there's a great deal of pressure to "get the shot" and move on, there's also a great deal of waiting around while equipment must be moved and people serviced. The same scene can be shot over and over until the director is satisfied. Days are long and tempers sometimes get short. It's just like any business, except suddenly it's in the midst of your home or office! Don't worry. If you know what to expect, you can minimize the impacts and enjoy the filmmaking process.

Types of Productions, Schedules & Budgets

Locations for all entertainment projects are scouted and secured during the period before filming known as "preproduction." The time allowed for this can be as little as a few days, depending on the production. The main types of production most likely to be interested in your property are feature films, television and commercials.

Feature Films

Feature films typically have a cast and crew size of 85-100 people. The average budget is $35 - $75 million, and preparation may begin up to 60 days in advance of the start of principal photography. During this time, budgets are set and locations are chosen. The average shooting schedule for a film is three months, and one location might be utilized for only a few days or for the entire production. (although there are examples, such as Terminator 3 or Gladiator or Titanic, which shot for over a year and cost in the hundreds of millions of dollars.)

Made-for-Television Movies and Mini-Series

The average crew size for a mini-series or made-for-television movie (also called movie-of-the-week, or MOW) is similar to feature films. The budget per television movie is approximately $3-8 million. Mini-series budgets can easily triple that figure. Pre-production for this format is usually 30 days. A two-hour MOW can be filmed in four weeks.

Episodic Television

These are usually one-hour dramatic series that regularly shoot on the streets of Southern California and other California communities. Cast and crew sizes for television shows are slightly smaller than for features. Weekly series production has an average shooting budget per episode of $750,000 to $1.5 million. They film an episode in eight working days, with three to four days per episode shot on location. Most action series average nine locations per episode. Episodic television and commercials almost always suffer from severetime crunches. Quite often, a series is given script approval just days prior to production. In addition, episodic television often uses the same locations multiple times, creating a recurring source of revenue for the homeowner and the state.

Commercials

Commercials have a very short turnaround time. They frequently shoot and edit in one week, and the spot is aired the following week. Often, if the advertising agency is from outside of Los Angeles (as most are),

final decisions on locations are not made until these executives arrive.