The sample is the salvage yard SALT FLATS uses for Days 3 and 4. It's a good one to learn the form on because the owner keeps running a business during the shoot, which means the release has to say what stops, for how long, and what the production pays for it.
For background on why releases matter to distributors and what goes wrong without them, read the location release forms guide. The glossary entries for location release and location agreement explain how the two terms overlap. This page is about filling in the form itself.
Use this form as a starting point and review it with an entertainment attorney before anyone signs. The clause rows summarize terms in ordinary language so the owner and your crew can follow them, but the signed agreement needs proper contract wording.
The blocks on the form
Property and owner
Describe the property in a way a stranger could walk to it, then list the areas you're allowed into and the areas you aren't. "Front yard, car stacks along north fence, office interior" tells the grips where they can put a C-stand. The excluded list matters as much. If the crusher pad isn't on the form, the owner can reasonably object when a PA wanders onto it to make a phone call.
The signer's authority row exists because the person who says yes on a scout is often a manager or a tenant. Check who actually owns or controls the property. On SALT FLATS, the location manager checked the county parcel record before the fee was discussed.
Put the fictional name in the form when the script uses one. The script calls this place HARDESTY SALVAGE, and the owner should know his yard will appear under that name with his signs covered.
Dates, hours, and fee
List every day the production is on the property, including prep and strike, with hours. Owners remember that you said "two days," and a set dresser showing up on Tuesday with a truck is a third day.
The arithmetic on the sample:
- 2 shoot days x $750 = $1,500
- 2 half or partial days (prep and strike) x $250 = $500
- Crusher shutdown for two mornings = $300
- Total: $1,500 + $500 + $300 = $2,300, paid $1,150 on signing and $1,150 after the wrap walk-through
The fees are example figures for this fictional deal. What a real location costs depends on the city, the kind of property, how much of it you take over, and how disruptive the shoot is. The post on filming location rental costs goes through what drives the number.
Holding back half until the walk-through is common, and owners usually accept it if the release says exactly when the walk-through happens.
The clause rows
Each row is one term in a sentence the owner can read without a lawyer in the room. That's useful for getting to yes, and it's useful for your own crew, who will never read the full agreement but will read "No climbing stacked cars."
Footage rights are the row a distributor will look for. The production needs to own what it shot at the property and be able to use it in any media, worldwide, with no end date. A release that limits use to "the film" can cause trouble when the trailer or a festival clip goes out.
Insurance is usually handled with a certificate of insurance naming the owner as additional insured. Request it from your broker a week before prep, because brokers are slow and owners won't open the gate without it.
How to fill it in, from scout to signature
- After the scout, write the property description and the included and excluded areas while you still remember the layout. Take photos of each area.
- Confirm who has authority to sign. Look at the parcel record or ask the tenant for the lease clause about filming.
- Pull the dates from the shooting schedule and add prep and strike days from the art department's plan.
- Agree on the fee and any business disruption payment with the owner, then write the math out in the fee block so there's no argument later about what was included.
- Ask each department head what they need at the property (power, parking, holding, restrooms) and add special conditions for anything the owner has to do or stop doing.
- Request the certificate of insurance.
- Send the form to your attorney with any changes the owner asked for.
- Walk the property with the owner before prep. Photograph every wall, floor, and fence you'll be near, with the date visible.
- Get signatures from both sides and give the owner a copy.
- After strike, walk it again, compare against the photos, and release the second payment.
Mistakes that show up on the shoot day
The owner's business keeps running. Nobody told the tow drivers the yard was closed, and a truck arrives mid-take. If the business stays open, the special conditions row should say who the owner will tell and what they'll do.
Hours on the form end before the crew is done. A night shoot scheduled "until 9:00 PM" that wraps at 9:40 means someone is loading out on property they no longer have permission to be on. Build in an hour.
Neighbors weren't in the deal. A signed release covers the owner's property. Street parking, noise, and lights on the house next door are a separate conversation, often handled with a neighborhood notification letter, and sometimes a permit.
The release was signed by the wrong person. A tenant or an employee says yes, the real owner finds out from social media, and you lose the location halfway through the schedule.
Where the release fits with the rest of the paperwork
The release gets logged with the location's address on the call sheet, and its special conditions go into department notes for the day. The fee lands in the 2600 Locations account of the film budget, on line 2603 for Hardesty Salvage. People appearing on camera need their own talent release form, which covers a different set of rights. At wrap, deposits returned and any damage claims go on the wrap report.
Keeping locations in Storiara
Storiara doesn't generate a release form. Its Locations module is where the rest of the location information lives: it pulls settings from an uploaded script, and each location holds an address with a map, photos, a parking map upload, availability dates, and comments. You can import a location list from CSV or XLSX and print it. See the locations feature page.