1. How do I submit my home to Malibu Locations?
2. What happens next? Explain the process to me.
3. What happens if the company decides to use my house for their shoot?
4. What happens when the actual shoot begins?
5. How do I get paid and when?
6. Will my home be altered in any way? If so, who puts it back together when the shoot is over?
7. What if someone damages my home or gets injured on the premises? Does Malibu Locations provide insurance? Liability?
8. If my home is chosen for a film shoot, a wedding, or an event, do I have to leave the premises during the duration?
9. Who handles security? And if something gets stolen off the premises, how is that covered?
10. If my home is used in a movie, do I get any sort of credit at the end of the film?

ANSWERS

1. How do I submit my home to Malibu Locations?
   
   Call us at 310-457-3926 or email us at [email protected].
2. What happens next? Explain the process to me.
   
   If, after speaking with us, you are interested in listing your home with Malibu Locations, we will send a representative to take a few informal pictures of your house. This usually takes about fifteen minutes, with absolutely no charge to you. We then use those pictures to show to location scouts who are looking for a particular type of house, pool, backyard etc. If the location scout thinks your home might work, someone from Malibu Locations will call you to discuss the details of the film shoot and see if it appeals to you. During this conversation, we will cover the following points:
   
   • The production company's budget for the shoot.
   • How long they require the property.
   • How many people they will have on the set (your property).
   • Which rooms or areas of your property they are interested in.
   If you like what you hear and agree to all conditions, the production company (hence forth known as "company") will send a location scout to your home to photograph those selected areas of your property. During this part of the process, the location scouts will be looking at a lot of other houses to compare. In fact, they may come back again one or two more times with more members of the creative team before they make a final decision.
   
3. What happens if the company decides to use my house for their shoot?
   
   If the company decides to use your house then Malibu Locations re-enters the process and negotiates the rate that they will pay you for the job. Our commission is added to your rate. (Standard commission in the industry is 30%.)
   
   Example: If you are receiving $7,000 dollars for a day of filming, the company pays $10,000. Our commission is $3,000. Malibu Locations will never charge more than 30%.
   
   Next, there will be what they call a "tech scout". This usually occurs a couple of days before the shoot. The company comes to your house and walks through each step of the shoot with the director of photography. Malibu Locations will attend this part of the process and then prepare a contract to specify exactly what was discussed and agreed upon during the tech scout. (Frequently, Malibu Locations may decide to charge the company more after the tech scout because new areas of the house will have been added to the shoot.)
   
4. What happens when the actual shoot begins?
   
   When the actual shoot begins, Malibu Locations will have a site representative on hand all hours of the day to supervise things. This person is there to protect you and your home. They also serve as a liaison in helping the company use the property within the parameters of the contract. And don't worry; our site representatives are experts at watching for any damages that may occur during the process of the shoot.
   
5. How do I get paid and when?
   
   Malibu Locations will pay you in cash or cashiers check before anyone steps foot on the property to begin work on the actual production.
   
6. Will my home be altered in any way? If so, who puts it back together when the shoot is over?
   
   Most times the production company leaves the property exactly the way they have found it. It saves them a lot of money to do it this way. If they choose to move furniture, remove a light fixture, paint a wall etc, it is their responsibility to put the property back the way they found it. Unless, of course, you like it they way they left it.
   
7. What if someone damages my home or gets injured on the premises? Does Malibu Locations provide insurance? Liability?
   
   We pride ourselves very highly on protecting the homeowner, financially and legally, throughout the production. Therefore, we collect a security deposit from the company in cash and hold it in an escrow account until the homeowner has had time to inspect the property for damages. Usually, we will hold the money for about a week or until any damages are completed.
   
   It is important to note that about half of all shoots have had no damages at all. Furthermore, the ones that have had are within a small percentage and the damages are never over a thousand dollars. A scratch on a wall or a broken sprinkler head are common. The production company is responsible for paying for all damages and will take great care to protect your house from damage for that very reason.
   
   Malibu Locations will make sure the company's damage and liability insurance is adequate and properly written before the shoot. Frequently, the policy will cover up to two million dollars. But we have never actually had damages that required the use of the insurance policy.
   
8. If my home is chosen for a film shoot, a wedding, or an event, do I have to leave the premises during the duration?
   
   During a film shoot, the homeowners are welcome to stay. If the whole house is being used or the hours go into the night, the company will put you up at a hotel and lend you a couple hundred dollars for food. Weddings and events sometimes ask to have privacy but more frequently, will invite the homeowners to attend. Regardless, Malibu Locations always has our site representative on the premises to supervise.
   
9. Who handles security? And if something gets stolen off the premises, how is that covered?
   
   Malibu Location's site representative is responsible for opening and closing the house everyday. He or she will meet with the homeowner beforehand to discuss the workings of the house. Lock ups and handling keys are a big part of our site representative's responsibilities. This part of the job is taken very seriously. Any losses are covered by the company. We have never had anything reported stolen in relation to a shoot.
   
10. If my home is used in a movie, do I get any sort of credit at the end of the film?
    
    Credits in the movie industry are negotiated for and don't come cheap. If credit is what a homeowner wants, they will need quite a bit of leverage to get it. In other words, credit is never given for locations. And even if they were, the usher cleaning the popcorn off the theater floor is probably the only one who would see it.