Ask a location manager what a location costs and you'll get a question back: for how many days, how much of it, and how disruptive is the shoot? That isn't evasion. A private owner sets the price, and the same house can rent for very different amounts to a two-person commercial and a feature that paints the kitchen. What can be pinned down is how fees are structured, what public agencies publish, and which costs sit around the fee.
The public figures below come from official fee pages checked on September 14, 2026. The private-location figures in the worked examples are illustrations of the math, not market rates.
How private owners price a location
Private fees usually break down by day type. The glossary entry for location fee has the definitions; here's how each one moves the total.
| Day type | What's happening | How it's usually priced |
|---|---|---|
| Prep | Art department dressing, rigging, pre-lighting | Lower than a shoot day |
| Shoot | Full crew, cast, trucks | The headline rate |
| Hold | Nothing happens, but dressing stays | Negotiated, often lower still |
| Strike | Removing dressing, restoring | Lower than a shoot day |
| Overtime | Past the agreed base day | Hourly |
| Lost business | A shop or restaurant closes | Separate from the rental, based on revenue |
What raises the number:
- Footprint. One room is cheaper than the whole house plus the driveway and the neighbor's side yard for the generator.
- Disruption. A family moving to a hotel for three nights, a restaurant closing on a Friday, a factory shutting down a line.
- Hours. Night work, early calls, and long days, especially where the owner lives on site.
- Alterations. Paint, wallpaper, removing fixtures, or anything that needs restoring.
- Effects. Rain towers, smoke, fake blood, and stunts raise the owner's risk and usually the price.
- Experience. Owners who have rented to productions before often have a rate card. First-timers may ask for a number with no basis, in either direction.
What public locations publish
Public agencies are the one place you can quote a real number, because they publish fee schedules.
Los Angeles
FilmLA's City of Los Angeles page lists these department fees, charged on top of the city film permit:
| Location or service | Fee |
|---|---|
| Recreation and Parks, film use | $450 per day |
| Recreation and Parks, prep or strike | $150 per day |
| Recreation and Parks, base camp only | $450 per day |
| Recreation and Parks, crew parking only | $100 per day (1 to 15 cars), $300 per day (16+ cars) |
| Recreation and Parks, catering only | $225 per day (1 to 74 people), $450 per day (75+) |
| Recreation and Parks, monitor | $38 per hour |
| Department of Water and Power facility, film use | $800 to $2,000 per day |
| Port of Los Angeles, use | $300 per day |
| Port of Los Angeles, prep or strike | $100 per day |
| Port of Los Angeles, police officer | $112 per hour |
New York City
New York works the other way. The Mayor's Office of Media and Entertainment says its permit gives access to most exterior city locations free of charge, with free police assistance and parking privileges. The permit fee is $500 per consecutive 14-day period of your project. Some city property costs more: filming inside a building managed by the Department of Citywide Administrative Services, such as a Borough Hall or the Municipal Building, requires a DCAS permit with a $3,200 administrative fee plus possible staff costs.
Chicago
The Chicago Film Office charges $250 per day, per location for permits, or $25 per day, per location for verified student and independent projects. No Parking sign posting is included. City services are separate, such as police officers at $65 per hour with a six-hour guarantee.
London
Film London's September 2026 parking spreadsheet lists what boroughs charge for unit bases on council property. A sample:
| Borough | Unit base on council property |
|---|---|
| Bexley, Bromley, Croydon, Kingston upon Thames | £1,355 to £2,720 per day |
| Greenwich, Hounslow | £1,640 to £4,285 per day |
| Southwark | £1,950 to £4,950 per day |
| Camden, Islington | No off-street bases |
Film London notes that grey rows in the sheet may be out of date, so confirm with the borough.
The lines around the fee
The first budget for a location usually has one line: the rental. By wrap it has eight or nine. Most film charts of accounts group them under a location expenses account, often numbered 3600, in the below-the-line section. See the film chart of accounts post for how accounts are laid out.
| Line | Why it appears |
|---|---|
| Site rental | The fee in the location agreement |
| Permits | City or county film permit, per its schedule |
| Police | Traffic control, prop weapons, or city requirement |
| Fire safety officer | Effects, generators, or city requirement |
| Parking and posting | Posted curb, bay suspensions, crew lot, shuttle |
| Security | Overnight on hold days, when dressing or gear stays |
| Utilities or generator | House power isn't free, and many owners won't allow a tie-in |
| Cleaning and restoration | Paint, lawn repair, floor refinishing, trash haul |
| Lost business | Shops, restaurants, and offices that close |
| Neighbor payments | Some productions pay neighbors for inconvenience or use of a driveway |
Worked example: a house in Los Angeles for three days
A feature uses a house in the City of Los Angeles for three shoot days, with one prep day, one hold day over the weekend, and one strike day. The owner's rates are illustrative: $2,500 per shoot day, $1,000 prep and strike, $750 hold, $250 per hour overtime after a 12-hour day. Day 3 runs 14 hours.
| Line | Math | Total |
|---|---|---|
| Prep | 1 x $1,000 | $1,000 |
| Shoot | 3 x $2,500 | $7,500 |
| Hold | 1 x $750 | $750 |
| Strike | 1 x $1,000 | $1,000 |
| Overtime, Day 3 | 2 hours x $250 | $500 |
| Site rental subtotal | $10,750 | |
| FilmLA application | Published fee | $931 |
| Notification | 1 location x $232 | $232 |
| LAFD Spot Check surcharge | Published fee | $287 |
| Posting | 2 runs of 300 feet x $69 | $138 |
| Fire safety officer for a rain effect on Day 2 | (4-hour minimum + 1 hour travel) x $127 | $635 |
| Overnight security, hold day | Vendor quote | Get a quote |
| Restoration and cleaning | Vendor quote | Get a quote |
| Total before security and restoration | $12,973 |
Permit, notification, posting, and fire safety fees add $2,223, about 21 percent on top of the rental, before security and restoration. Those two lines depend on quotes, so leave them as open items rather than guessing.
Worked example: a small shoot in a public park
A two-day short film shoots in a City of Los Angeles park, with a prep day for the art department.
| Line | Math | Total |
|---|---|---|
| Rec and Parks film use | 2 days x $450 | $900 |
| Rec and Parks prep | 1 day x $150 | $150 |
| FilmLA student permit (complex) | Published fee | $134 |
| Estimated total | $1,184 |
FilmLA notes that park use requires reservations through its online system, at least four business days to coordinate, and that a monitor may be assigned (Rec and Parks lists $38 per hour), which would add to the total.
Negotiating without burning the location
- Ask for the rate card before you describe the shoot. Once you've mentioned a rain tower, the number goes up.
- Quote by day type and write the math into the agreement.
- Trade things that cost you little: fewer trucks on the street, a firm wrap time, a promise to keep crew out of the upstairs rooms.
- Hold back part of the fee until after the wrap walk-through.
- Budget a hold day honestly. Owners notice when the schedule slips and the dressing stays.
- For businesses, agree on how lost revenue is measured before the day, not after.
The location manager negotiates within a number the line producer sets, so bring that number to the scout.
Keeping the numbers connected
In Storiara's budget module, the chart of accounts includes 3600 Location Expenses, and rates entered on locations feed into it when you use Sync from story data, with manual edits preserved. It won't know your owner's overtime clause or the permit fees above, so add those as line items. The film budget template has the same account structure if you're working in a spreadsheet.