apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

for $5,000? Sign me up.

Yes, I'd do it for free.

$5k would cover new sheets, a new bed, and plenty of cash left over to pocket. so hell yes!

Why the hell not?

My friend has an amazing perfect home designed by the late Pierre Koenig and that she rented out to a film crew and they trashed it. Big nicks and scracthes all over the floors..was not worth it.

Working in the TV industry and being a part of one of the few 'caring' crews - I would still not open up my home for a shoot. Think about a crew of people using your bathroom all day, possibly ruining your hardword floors, scratching your walls, etc. If you agree to do it, make sure you get a good fee and that the production company insures you. Even ask for certain conditions (perhaps port a potty on site, parking not in your neighborhood, no food in your bedroom, etc.) While the company is required to return your home back to the original condition - the fee, even 5k, isn't always worth the aggravation and possible state your home could be left in. Plus your neighbors will hate you.

I would totally allow it, especially for 5k! In fact, I have let a lot of my friends shoot in my place for free (ah, starving art). It is a mess but I don't have wood floors, and I get them to clean up afterwords, so I'm not that picky. :)

I have let friends for film school stuff, but never before a commercial shoot. while in NY law and order SVU tried to use my former apt but the inconvenience factor was too high then.

Now with $$, insurance, sure, even porn, wouldn't that be a fun conversation when they realize where they've seen the settee?

Hell for 5,000 a day they could come to my house every weekend and porn it up for the next few years until my mortgage was covered.

Even if they only filmed on Saturday thats 260,000 dollars a year. That would more than cover my house and all my other debts with over 60k leftover.

I was going to repaint and tear up the floors anyway, go wild.

I've let friends shoot short films in my place, but only very close friends, and only for small films.

$5k seems like a lot, but only before you realize that film shoots very often trash their locations. Film crews are big, they are working very fast, and they have a lot of gear... add that up and you get a lot of wear and tear.

But if I were desperate and about to lose my house, sure.

I second JLBinBrooklyn. My boyfriend, who works in the electrical department, basically said that, after seeing the way crews (even conscientious ones) have left spaces after shooting, he would never never ever allow one into his home. You may get a bundle of cash, but the time and fuss of repairs might not make it worth it.

My parents just rented out their front lawn (all dirt) for craft services for a commercial being shot on my street. $300 for about 3 hours of work. They've also lent the facade of the house and another house to a music video and a student film. I would, but I'd have strict rules.

5K a day? Maybe if you have a large or historical home or your place is going to be used in a tv or film project with a hefty budget.
Try more like $1500-$2K per day and on top of it, all the potential damage and disasters as mentioned in the above posts.

I'm just curious, eoes anyone know if it is the same for design shows like on HGTV? Does Candice Olsen's crew (strictly for example) leave the rest of the house in a shambles while she designs one knock-out room?

The New York Times had on interesting article on just this topic earlier this year:

New York Times, July 20, 2008: "Lights! Camera! Ka-Ching!"

Back in the '80s, a location scout approached my parents about shooting an Atari commercial in and around our house. Mom had been slowly re-decorating the entire house, and didn't relish the thought of a film crew making a mess - particularly with our cats and my baby brother getting into everything. I'd let a film crew in if I were planning on remodeling, but all the really good furniture and breakable stuff would be kept in a locked room.

A word of warning: the lights used for filming can, under certain circumstances, severely fade things or even scorch them. A film crew shooting in a neighbor's house turned my uncle's lawn into a crispy brown mess (just with lights, nothing else) - some feat considering they were only shooting at NIGHT.

Yeah $5k is a stretch. A cable network filmed a made for TV movie for one day at my mom's house and she got $800...and they left broken sprinklers, dirty floors, etc.

two years ago the movie Sydney White was filmed at the small private college I was attending at the time. While they didn't use the interior of the building where i was living (they tried, but the residents complained to the school), they did completely block traffic and functionality all over the campus. it was a nightmare, because obviously we all had to get to classes and such. I don't know what kind of fee the school got, but I hope it was enormous.

Not. On. My. Bed.

Hell yeah. It's time porn had a better backdrop! ;)

I'm surprised that stipulations for this type of arrangement wouldn't cover damages made by the film crew. Like security and/or cleaning deposits on apartments? Surely they should, in addition to the agreed-upon fee.

At $5K per day, I could pay off my mortgage in a month. So hell yes!

I could use $5000....

Friends of mine in LA did this, and the crew was incredibly rough on the house. They taped down wires with duct tape on the hardwood floors wrecking the finish in a few spots, put staple gun staples in one wall, scratched the heck out of the walls, stained the rugs etc. You'd spend $5K just getting it back to where it was before the invasion.

YES YES YES, and i'll stayu and watch the action.

AZKathy, we just had Jackie Davis, one of the redesigners form Decorating Cents give a program at my library. I asked her about whether they give off-air advice beyond the redesign about, say, replacing a rug they get from another room. She assured us that they NEVER leave a home trashed, they always get the homeowner's buy in for changes, and leave it nice -- without actually redesigning other rooms. (Which wasn't actually what I asked, but kind of responds to your question, at least for that show.)

Frankly, if Candace Olsen redid a room in my house, and not on MY budget, I'd probably be willing to clear up any mess involved! (I always wonder who actually pays on her show -- much more expensive than Decorating Cents!)

Another one chiming in with a "nuh-unh" - and I've had the opportunity loads of times, and my partner's a set-dresser. I know all too well how groups can essentially wreck a place, even without malicious intent. (Scrapes on floors, items being knocked over, wandering crewmembers, etc)

Another thing is that in some places it's expressly forbidden, either by a homeowners' association, a city bylaw, or your house insurance.

PS: It is my understanding that on most if not all decorating shows in Canada, such as Divine Design, the labour is free, but the products used are not entirely so (Sometimes they can negotiate a lower price if the product is featured heavily and the manufacturer or wholesaler is a sponsor of the show.) This is to make up for the general inconvenience of having not just a small decorating / construction crew, but a *camera* crew as well, as well as to encourage others to do the show.

In addition, many of the objects which appear on this type of show (I cannot speak of Olson's show specifically, but I do have knowledge of other Canadian design shows), things like dishes, tchotchkes, etc - that aren't furniture or strictly part of the design - are merely optional purchases, that they are rented from a prophouse or loaned by sponsors for the "big reveal", and that the individual who requested the design has the option to either buy or not buy at their will.

In addition, most films do not strictly leave a mess. Most will return the property to a close approximation of the original, depending on the terms of the contract, such as moving furniture back that they had shifted elsewhere, garbage cleanup, etc, but there is usually more work that needs done, that takes more time, which the compensation the homeowner receives is expected to cover (Ie repainting over scratches in order to match the original paint, dings in floors, etc).