How to make your house a film star

First you need to let companies know that your home is available. Contact your local BBC locations department or a local film production company—or try one of the national locations libraries, such as Sarah Eastel Locations (film-locations.co.uk), who will send you a form.

Ordinary homes are often in demand for TV dramas—although, because of travel costs, they shouldn’t be too far from the major film-making cities. There also needs to be enough room to film and, ideally, good parking.

Think about what your home has to offer what type of show. For example, historical series might want a property with original period features.

The average home fee is around £1,000 per day, but this largely depends on the size of the property. Less would be paid for a smaller home and more for a larger one.

In London, documentary makers pay around £300–£500 a day—but if you happen to have a stunning stately home to offer, you could make up to £2,500.

If the film crew takes over your home for more than a day you and your family might need to find alternative accommodation.

Don’t forget, either, that film and TV crews can be big. You might end up with 30–40 people in your house, along with their equipment, which means there’s a risk that some of your personal belongings could be damaged. Your carpets will certainly be affected!

You’ll need to check with your insurance company to see if you’re covered for filming—and what happens if something is broken or damaged. Film crews will usually replace broken or damaged items but you might find damage later on that’s not recoverable from them.

So if there are any items you don’t want being used, damaged or put at risk of being stolen, you might need to consider hiring storage and this could also eat into your overall income from the job.

Read more articles by Jasmine Birtles here