Location Scouting Checklist: What to Check Before You Say Yes

A scout that comes back with twenty pretty photos and no idea where the generator goes costs you a second trip, and sometimes a location. The checklist below is built to prevent that. It's organized in the order a scout actually moves: prep at the desk, the walk-through, then the photos and notes that go back to the office.

Before you leave: pull the set out of the script

Scout for the scenes, not for the address on a scouting site. From the script breakdown, make one short sheet per set that lists everything that happens there.

A worked example for a feature with a parking garage set:

Total: 11 + 4 + 18 + 3 = 36 eighths, or 4 4/8 pages, all at one location, mostly night. You now know what to ask the garage manager: can you hold level 3 and the roof, can we have an elevator on independent service, which way the roof faces for a dawn shot, and whether we can run a car alarm at 3 a.m. You also know this is probably two nights, which affects what the owner charges. The page count calculator handles the eighths if you're building sheets for thirty sets.

Also take into the scout: the director's reference images, the rough shooting schedule dates and hours, and the budget ceiling for the location fee. A scout who knows the ceiling doesn't waste a morning on a place that wants five times it.

On site: the checklist

Access and authority

• Who owns it, and who is showing it to you? Get names, phone numbers, and whether the person has authority to sign. A building manager or tenant often doesn't.
• Days and hours available. Blackout dates (a restaurant's Friday service, a school's exam week, an HOA meeting).
• Rules the owner will impose: shoe covers, no smoking, no food inside, rooms that are off limits.
• Has it been filmed before? Ask what went well and what didn't. Owners remember crews that left damage.

Sound

Stand still for two full minutes with your eyes closed and write down everything you hear.

• Traffic, freeway hum, sirens, flight paths. Note the time you visited, because noise at 11 a.m. isn't noise at 7 p.m.
• HVAC, refrigerators, ice machines, fluorescent ballasts, elevator motors. Ask whether they can be turned off and who has the switch.
• Schools (recess and dismissal), churches (bells), construction nearby, dogs next door, a leaf blower schedule.
• Hard surfaces that echo, like tile kitchens and concrete garages.

If you can, record 30 seconds of room tone on your phone for the sound mixer.

Light and sun

• Which way do the windows and the main exteriors face? Take a compass reading or a screenshot of the map with north marked.
• When does the sun hit the main playing areas at your shooting hours on your actual shoot dates? Use the sunrise and sunset planner for the date, not the day you're scouting.
• For the dawn scene, where does the sun come up relative to the skyline you want?
• Streetlights, neon, and signage that will spill into night exteriors. Can any of it be turned off?
• Can windows be blacked out for day-for-night?

Power

• Location and photo of the electrical panel, with amperage if it's labeled.
• Which outlets are on which circuits, if the owner knows.
• If the plan is a generator: where could it sit, how far is the cable run to set, and is there a spot far enough away for sound?

The gaffer will make the real calls at the tech scout. Your job is to get enough information that nobody is surprised.

Parking, base camp, and the street

• Where do the work trucks go, and how close to set? Measure curb length or count spaces. In Los Angeles, FilmLA posting requests are written by street, side, and footage (for example "W/S of Yellow St, from Blue Street North 200'"), so note the street side and rough footage now.
• Is there a lot for base camp: the honeywagon, wardrobe and makeup trailers, catering?
• Where does crew park? Many cities don't allow crew cars in posted spaces. FilmLA's page says cast and crew vehicles must park on private property. Find a lot and note the distance for a shuttle.
• Truck clearance: low bridges, tight turns, overhangs. NYC requires a separate permit for any single vehicle over 35 feet long, 8 feet wide, or 13'6" high, which gives you a sense of the sizes worth measuring for.
• Nearby hot spots or restricted streets. Atlanta's permit portal links a Hot Spots Map of streets that need a break from filming. Other cities have similar lists; ask the film office.

Load-in and working space

• Path from truck to set: stairs, elevators, door widths, turns. Photograph doorways with a tape measure in frame.
• Freight elevator size and whether you get it exclusively.
• Floors that need protection (hardwood, marble).
• Room for camera and video village outside the shot, and a place to stage gear.
• Holding for cast and background. The roof scene above has 12 extras who need somewhere to wait that isn't the set.
• Bathrooms the crew can use, and how many.

Practical safety and logistics

• Nearest hospital with an emergency room, and the drive time from the location. It goes on the call sheet.
• Cell signal and whether there's Wi-Fi. A dead zone means walkie planning.
• Hazards: roof edges, water, unstable floors, pests, lead paint in old buildings.
• Weather exposure for exteriors, and whether there's an interior at the same address that could serve as weather cover.
• Is there a second set nearby that avoids a company move?

Neighbors and permits

• Which jurisdiction is it in? Which film office issues permits there? A "Los Angeles" address can be county or another city.
• Standard filming hours for the area. The City of Los Angeles standard is 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. weekdays and 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. weekends, according to FilmLA, and filming outside that may need a survey of residents. Your night garage scenes live outside those hours.
• Who are the immediate neighbors (houses, businesses) who will need notice?
• Does anything in the scenes need police or fire (car chases, prop guns, smoke)?

The city guides for Los Angeles, New York, and London cover each office's lead times.

Photos and notes that go back to the office

Take photos so someone who has never been there can decide. A consistent set:

1. The approach from the street, the entrance, and the address marker.
2. A wide from each corner of every room or area the script uses.
3. A slow 360 panorama from the center.
4. The view out each window, and the ceiling (height and rigging points).
5. Doorways and elevators with a tape measure visible.
6. The electrical panel.
7. The street on both sides for parking, and any possible base camp lot.
8. Problems: the freeway overpass, the school yard, the neon sign.

Label every file with the set name, the area, and the date: "GARAGE_Roof_NE-corner_2026-09-10." A folder of IMG_4471 through IMG_4539 is how the wrong roof ends up in the director's deck.

Write a one-page summary per location: contact and signing authority, availability, rough fee discussed, the sound and sun notes, parking plan, and the problems you found. Put the problems in writing, including the freeway, because the crew will find them on the first shoot day anyway.

After the director says yes

The decision turns into paperwork. Get the location release form or longer agreement started, request the certificate of insurance, schedule the tech scout with department heads, and put the permit application on the calendar with the office's lead time. The location scout and location manager role pages cover who does which part on a bigger show.

In Storiara, the Locations module pulls settings from the uploaded script, and each location can hold an address with a map, photos, a parking map upload, availability dates, and comments. You can use find in script to see every scene that uses a location, import a list of locations from CSV or XLSX, and print the list for the scout folder.