A production company is thinking of filming a car commercial on our block They want to set up their cameras and film the street from our living room. They want use of the house from 6 AM to 7:30 AM on two consecutive days. This is for a major company with megabucks. I have no idea what to charge. Any help from someone in the know would be greatly appreciated.
Here’s my one bump. Thanks for any info.
Depends, I’d guess, on what sort of leverage you have. I had a film company use my house before we moved in and they rebuilt the upstairs bathroom for us (they shot in there).
A “fair” way to do this would be to use your monthly mortgage payment to figure out where you break even on what amounts to renting the house out for the two days. Then add in a bunch more (double it?) to figure in utilities usage (presuming they’ll be plugging equipment into your plugs and not generators) and probable “wear and tear”. If you’re going to spend the two days in a hotel (I’d rather not have to plan my schedule around a 6am call) and they aren’t offering you separate “per diem” money for that, add that in as well.
Thanks for the suggestions so far. Still hoping someone will drop in with something like "I’m a producer and we pay $ (insert very large number here) per day for something like this. 
3 million dollars.
You won’t get filthy rich on this, but you’ll be able to say “Hey, they shot this commercial at my house!”
It’s looking like location fees for commercials are running around $1500-2000 a day. Your scenario will probably be charged as two half-days. For an hour and a half of shooting, they’ll have probably three to four hours of setup and “strike” and will shoot maybe five minutes of film/tape.
Be sure to have everything in writing - are they using your electricity, or (more likely) will they use their own generator? Will they protect your floors, walls and doorways against damage caused by dirty feet or someone banging into a doorframe with equipment? Are they going to cart off all of their garbage? (coffee cups, donut boxes, etc.) Will they do anything to your lawn? What is their exact schedule? If shooting starts at 6:00, they’ll probably show up at 4:00 or earlier.
Consider the neighbors, and hope the crew does as well - your neighbors may be grumpy when half a dozen grips and gaffers start clomping around, unloading trucks and setting things up. Not to mention a block-long no-parking zone. For a two-day shoot, wil they leave their equipment set up in your living room overnight, or will they strike and re-set?
And so on…
How unique is your house? If your price was too high, could they find another just as good for their purposes in a matter of minutes? If not, you’ve got something special and they should be willing to pay good money for it. I don’t think 2/30 of your mortage is sufficient at all. Shouldn’t you make some profit on this?
The only frame of reference I have is a diner in North Hollywood that was often used for movies. The proprietor insisted that they pay the equivalent of one entire day’s receipts plus $1000, and he took a vacation. Of course any damage had to be compensated for as well; it was a one-of-a-kind diner; and that was 30 years ago, so you do the inflation math.
And yes, get it all in writing.
The movie **Call Me: The Rise and Fall of Heidi Fleiss (2004) ** was shot on our street at the house next door to us. It starred Meadow from the Sopranos. They used the house for about two weeks. I have no idea what our neighbor got paid because he is an asshole and we didn’t speak. However they closed down our street for that two weeks. The narrow street was lined with all manner of trucks and trailors and they were trying to prevent gawkers from entering our street. So everytime I tried to get home some security guy would block my way and say there were not allowing people in. I figured he was not a cop and towards the end I barely slowed down for him to get out of the way. We got zero compensation for not being able to use our street for two weeks. I would have been pissed at the neighbor, but like I say, he’s an asshole.
I like that idea!
It’s a car commercial, so get them to give each one of you of driving age one of the type of cars being promoted in the spot
hey, free car! 
Follow-up: They offered $500 a day, my wife asked for more, they offered $600 a day, she accepted.
Thanks for support, stories and humor.
I’m guessing that it’s unique in that a shot of the street would look better without the house in it than with…
It’s hard to say. From a home buyer’s perspective not unique at all. It’s a row house, practically the same blueprints as 60 other houses on the block. But maybe a cinematographer would notice the trees or lampposts blocking the view from other houses. Maybe we could’ve held out for big bucks, maybe they could’ve gone next door. 
I’ve got to ask - did the filmmakers have some special permission from the town or Police Dept. to block off the street like that? If not, why didn’t you call the police on them?
Fair warning … your house/yard will probably get messed up.
I’m the marketing director for our company, and I’ve worked with ad agencies shooting commercials multiple times. They’ve come to our offices to shoot commercials, and they’ve used our products in commercials. Things ALWAYS get messed up – nicks in walls, damage to the products, stains on carpets, dings in doorframes.
I would strongly suggest you document the condition of your house/yard with video or pictures prior to the company showing up. Have the video/photos dated, witnessed and notarized. IF you have some damage to your house/yard, these will be invaluable in getting compensation.
Agencies don’t mess stuff up on purpose, but they’ll probably have between 10 to 40 people wandering around your house and yard. Not all of these people will follow the instructions of the director/site coordinator.
Simple answer is I don’t know what my “rights” were - I assumed none. It was kind of neat at first having Meadow filming next door in the back yard and seeing the other characters in costume. They were filming summer scenes in winter by bringing in palm trees, artificial grass and really hot lamps. I think the house they used got trashed. But the novelty wore off pretty quick. I assume they had a permit as quite a few movies and tv shows shoot in Calgary, blocking streets all the time. I was busy at the time and really was just annoyed by the inconvenience.
What I would have appreciated is some sort of notice by the film company as to what their plans were, and to maybe have been offered a lunch or something with the cast at their catering truck to help make up for the disturbance.
I worked with a guy that owned the house that was used as Marty Mcfly’s house in the Back to the Future Movies.
IIRC he got 5K for the first one, plus a paint job, and new landscaping. I think he got 7K for the second 2 (they were filmed together).
He got all the damage repaired on the movie company’s nickel.