Registering your property with Location X can offer extra income and occasionally, increase the market value of your property. Some regularly used properties achieve an income of between £15-25,000 a year from location filming, though this is unusual. Most owners simply enjoy the experience and appreciate the extra cash.

Like most libraries Location X charges the owner a percentage of the total fee generated by filming, plus a library fee to the film maker. There is no charge for registering your property with Location X or our sister company Location Works.

It’s not only the chic and lavish locations that are in demand. Every location has something to offer and every brief is different. We've been asked to find everything from rat infested alleys to stately homes. For interior shoots, there should be enough room to contain actors, crew and equipment. The smaller the room, the fewer productions it will appeal to. It's always easier to make a big room look smaller than enlarge a small room; and as a rule of thumb, it’s not worth offering up anything (other than bathrooms) smaller than 12’ x 14'.

The economics of filming mean that locations situated outside the M25 are less likely to attract work than those closer to London unless they have something unique to tempt a London based production further afield.

Here are three examples of what you could expect in your location:

Stills shoot - A small stills camera shoot for say, a magazine editorial could involve 5-6 people and a single van for a 6 hour shoot - fee £300+ or £750+ for a larger advertising shoot.

TV Commercial – 1 day changing over furniture and light “dressing”, 1 or 2 days shoot (generally 12 hour days but often longer) and 1 day reinstatement. Generally between £1000 & £2000 per day plus overtime. Prep and reinstatement (or “strike”) days are charged at half the shoot day fee.

Feature Film - A feature film or TV Drama may visit 3 or 4 times prior to confirmation. Once confirmed, they may wish to spend 1-2 days redecorating and changing your furniture, followed by a further 2-3 days of shooting their film. It may then take another couple of days to repaint your walls, (to your choice of colour), and generally get the place back to state in which they found it. Preparation (Prep) days can see 6-10 people at your property, whilst shoot days can mean over 40 people for a 12 hour shoot day - fee £1000+ per day plus overtime.

Location X takes the worry out of renting your property to film companies. Our experience in the business means that we know exactly what each shoot involves, even if we have to read between the lines a little at the briefing stage. We will work to your guidelines (which we will confirm prior to any filming), and discuss any unusual requests before anything is agreed. We will then draw up an agreement between you and the production company, clearly stating what they can and cannot do at your property. We will check that all liability insurances are correct and ensure that the agreements are signed before anyone begins work on your property. We will also ensure that the fee matches the work to be done, and organise payment before work starts. Location X pays on the fee (minus its 15%) within a week of the cheque clearing.

The trick to happy filming is to match to the production’s demands to the owner’s criteria, and to be absolutely open, clear and specific about what the shoot is likely to involve.

Be aware though, that filming is speculative, and many initial requests will amount to nothing; so don’t rearrange your schedule or clean the house until we say it’s in the bag. In fact don’t clean up at all. The Prop Man is responsible for moving furniture and replacing items exactly.

Registering with Location X is easy. Just click on the register a location button and fill out the form (details first, images later). Your details will then go onto Location X’s location database, where your property may be scouted by our own location managers. If your property is suitable to be presented to a director, we will contact you to confirm that both the dates and the production’s requirements are acceptable. Location X will then inform you of the outcome and begin to draw up the contract.

Can I register (or stay registered) with other libraries? Yes, Location X does not believe most owners should sign exclusive deals. We feel rather that location owners will soon decide who provides the best level of service and volume of work.

In order to market your property as a location we need photos. We prefer digital photographs but can scan from prints if that is all you can supply. Ideally the images should be jpegs (the most common format) and must be larger than 1200 x 800 pixels. If this sounds a little technical, don’t worry, most digital cameras automatically produce jpeg images many times this size. There is no maximum size, provided you burn them onto a CD rather than emailing them, when files sizes of greater than 330 kilobytes (1/3 megabyte) might cause problems.

The Camera: Almost any camera will do but the wider angle the lens the better (most compact cameras do not have a sufficiently wide angle lens to really do interiors justice). Don’t worry too much though, because we will usually photograph the property professionally when an appropriate job comes in.

Imagine that you are taking a director or photographer on a tour of your location. Try to be methodical and shoot one room at a time, starting from the front door looking into the hall and stairs, covering first the ground floor, reception rooms and kitchen, then the first and other floors, and ending with the front and rear gardens, view to and from the front and rear of the house.

It’s best to take a shot from each corner of a room but take at least one, looking in each direction. Show as much of the room as possible in each shot. Historical details might be of interest to a guest but rarely attract a director or photographer.

The most commonly requested interiors of a house are in rank order: kitchen/diner, reception rooms, hall & stairways, then bedrooms & bathrooms. Exteriors are: front drive, garden (both to & from the house), outdoor pools and gates/entrance.

You cannot take too many photographs. Location X prefers to upload between 12 and 40 images per location but expects to edit the images you provide to maximize your property’s impact.