The short film I’m working on is going to take place primary at a hotel.
I did lots of research and visited the top three hotel choices. We are coming to the conclusion filming in an actual hotel is expensive and limited. One of the more rundown hotels wanted a lot of money, $4000, for two rooms three days. If we had rented the rooms on their own without telling them it was for a film, it would be around 800 bucks. They might be charging me more because I told them that we were using generators.
The other hotel wanted close to $5000. The room was set up well for filming but didn’t have the look we were going for. We would still have to do major production design.
We then looked at standing sets that have a bedroom set and using a production designer to help put it together.
The cheaper standing sets are about 750 to 1500 bucks a day. You have a lot more control over lighting, and noise, electricity, etc. It seems like the way to go.
Yeah, it was a drag to go out and look at those hotels, but it was necessary.
A friend asked why don’t I try to negotiate? After talking to Matt, and thinking more about it, a standing set will allow for a lot more versatility versus working at a hotel. No point negotiating.
Other stuff I’ve been working on, casting through LA Casting. Over 150 applied for lead role. I offered 100 bucks a day. Which reminds me, I need to sit down and work on the budget.