Film Office Toolkit/Growth - Expanding and improving your film office

  • Β£1,995/yr

Growth - Expanding and improving your film office

  • 126 Lessons

For established film offices that want to grow income, improve service standards, and make the evidence-based case for change. Includes all the training, templates, and real-world examples from Foundations, plus six additional sections.

You get the full FOI benchmarking dataset (4 spreadsheets covering revenue, expenses, filming days, and organisations with no income) so you can see exactly what comparable bodies charge and earn.

Advanced pricing strategy covering fee reviews, tiered pricing, and dynamic elements like rush fees and peak surcharges. Operational excellence guidance on service-level standards, KPIs, and cross-department coordination at scale. Large production readiness tools for when a crew of 150 arrives.

Direct quotes and insights from Location Manager interviews. A Growth-specific implementation plan and leadership briefing pack. 5 Growth-adapted templates (including a fee review builder with current vs proposed comparison).

12 months of access

Contents

Welcome - How to Use This Toolkit

How the toolkit works, what to expect, and how to get the most from it.

πŸ‘‹
Welcome to the Film Office Toolkit
Why Filming Matters For Your Area

Training - How Location Filming Works

What productions need, the types of filming you'll encounter, who you'll deal with, and what Location Managers actually want from you.

πŸ“
What Productions Need From a Location
🎞️
Types of Production and What They Mean for You
πŸ“†
The Production Timeline and Key Roles
🎯
What Location Managers Actually Want From You

Training - Choosing Your Operating Model

Three models for handling filming, from minimum viable to growth-ready. Match your audit results to the right approach for your resources and demand.

βš™οΈ
The Three Operating Models
🧭
Which Model Fits Your Organisation
✍️
Your Operating Model Recommendation

Training - Core Operations

The practical processes: handling enquiries, approvals, permits, department coordination, shoot-day management, resident communication, and reinstatement.

πŸ“¨
Enquiry and Request Handling
βœ…
Approvals and Escalation
πŸ“ƒ
Permits, Agreements and Paperwork
πŸ”—
Department Coordination
πŸŽ₯
On-the-Day Management
πŸ“£
Resident Communication and Complaints
πŸ”„
Reinstatement and Damage Management

Training - Pricing Strategy

Where you're undercharging and how to tell, how to restructure or raise fees without losing bookings, and a framework for handling exceptions at scale.

πŸ’·
Why Charging Matters
πŸ“
Charging Models
πŸ—οΈ
Building Your Fee Structure
πŸ”
Where You're Undercharging (and How to Tell)
πŸ“ˆ
Restructuring or Raising Fees
🀝
Negotiation and Exceptions at Scale

Data - Income and Costs for Benchmarking

These spreadsheets contain the raw data from our Freedom of Information research. They cover filming revenue, filming days, expenses, and organisations that reported no income. Together, they let you see what comparable public bodies charge, earn, spend, and how much filming activity they handle.

Use them to benchmark your organisation against peers of a similar type, size, and region. Filter by organisation type (local authority, national park, museum, heritage site) and sort by the metric that matters most to your current question, whether that is income, volume, or cost.

πŸ“Š
Important notes about the FOI data
Film Office Toolkit - Location Filming Revenue - c.xlsx
Film Office Toolkit - Location Filming Expenses - a.xlsx
Film Office Toolkit - Orgs with no film revenue - b.xlsx
Film Office Toolkit - Location Filming Days - a.xlsx

Training - Operational Excellence

Refining your intake process, setting and publishing service-level standards, cross-department coordination when filming is frequent, and tracking the KPIs that justify your resources.

πŸ“₯
Refining Your Intake Process
⏰
Service-Level Standards
πŸ”—
Cross-Department Coordination at Scale
πŸ“Š
Tracking and KPIs

Training - Servicing Complex Productions

What changes when a crew of 150 arrives instead of 15. Multi-site deals, multi-week shoots, set dressing and road closures, and a readiness checklist for major productions.

🎬
What Changes When Filming Gets Big
πŸ—ΊοΈ
Multi-Site and Multi-Week Requirements
🚧
How Major Productions Use and Transform Public Spaces
βœ…
Large Production Readiness Checklist

Training - Location Manager Insights

What Location Managers actually think, in their own words. Deep-dive interviews covering what makes them book, what makes them avoid, and how reputations travel.

πŸ”
What Location Managers Look For
πŸ’¬
What Good (and Bad) Looks Like, In Their Words
⭐
Building a Reputation With the Industry

Training - Growth Implementation

An advanced 30/60/90-day plan for established offices, how to build the internal case for change with data, a ready-to-adapt leadership briefing pack, and realistic expectations for year one.

πŸ“†
Advanced 30/60/90-Day Plan
πŸ“‹
Building the Internal Case for Change
πŸ“ƒ
Leadership Briefing Pack

Templates - Working documents

Downloadable templates to fill in, adapt, and use internally. These are practical starting points, not finished policies. Adapt them to fit your organisation.

πŸ“ƒ
How to Use the Working Documents
01 - Self-Audit Workbook.docx
02 - Results Summary.docx
03 - Operating Model Recommendation.docx
05 - Approval Matrix Template.docx
04 - Stakeholder Mapping Template.docx
06 - Department Coordination Workflow.docx
07 - Resident Notification Letter.docx
08 - Complaints Process Builder.docx
09 - Reinstatement Checklist.docx
13 - Stakeholder Briefing Checklists (Growth).docx
12 - Advanced 30-60-90 Day Plan (Growth).docx
11 - Exceptions Framework (Growth).docx

Real World Examples - Fee Schedules and Rate Cards

A collection of published fee schedules from UK councils and public bodies, showing how different organisations structure and price their filming charges. These are real documents sourced from publicly available council websites and FOI responses. Use them to see how others present their fees, what they charge for, and how they tier pricing by crew size or production type. They are not templates to copy directly, but practical reference points as you build your own.

Brighton Hove - Location Fees Schedule.pdf
Screen Hackney - Fees and Charges 2025-26.pdf
Islington - Filming Fees.pdf
Shere Parish Council - Filming Policy and Fees 2024.pdf
Ealing - Proposed Schedule of Licence Fees.pdf
Camden - Fees and Charges.pdf
RBKC - Filming Fees Appendix 2025-26.pdf
Liverpool - Film Permit Fees 2023.pdf
Islington - Rate Card December 2025.pdf
Ealing - Fees and Lead Times 2025.docx
Bristol City Council - Film Office Fees.pdf
Hackney - Fees and Charges 2025-26.pdf
Northeast Screen - Location Fees Guide 2022.pdf
Lambeth - Fees and Lead Times 2024-25.pdf
National Archives - Filming Fees.pdf
Lambeth - Filming Fees and Charges.pdf
Hammersmith Fulham - Fees and Charges.pdf
RBKC - Filming and Photography Fees 2024-25.pdf
Royal Parks - Rate Card 2024.pdf
Hillingdon - Fees and Charges.pdf

Real World Examples - Filming Policies and Codes of Practice

Published filming policies and codes of practice from UK councils and public bodies, covering everything from general filming guidelines to specific policies on drone use. These documents were publicly available at the time of collection. Review them to see how other organisations set out their rules, conditions, and expectations for productions filming in their area.

Dacorum - Filming Protocol 2025.pdf
South Gloucestershire - Code of Practice for Filming.pdf
Film Hampshire - Code of Practice and Guidelines.pdf
Screen Highland - Code of Practice.pdf
Northern Ireland Screen - Code of Practice.pdf
Royal Holloway - Location Filming Code of Practice.pdf
Royal Parks - Filming and Photography Policy.pdf
Filming in England - Code of Practice 2024.pdf
Windsor and Maidenhead - Drone Filming Policy.pdf
Film London - Code of Practice 2025.pdf
RBWM - Filming Code of Practice.pdf
North Herts - Filming Code of Practice 2023.pdf

Real World Examples - Contracts and Agreements

Real filming agreements, terms and conditions, and licence documents used by UK public bodies and cultural institutions. These were sourced from publicly available council and institutional websites. They show how different organisations structure the legal relationship with productions, including liability, insurance, reinstatement, and permitted use. Have your own legal team review any language before adopting it.

Sheffield - Filming Conditions of Use.pdf
Lambeth - Full Terms and Conditions with Permit Licence.pdf
Network Rail - Location Agreement Template Scripted.pdf
Cumbria Archive - Media Licence Agreement.pdf
Hart District - Open Spaces Booking Terms.pdf
Film Birmingham - Film Permit Agreement Terms and Conditions.pdf
DCMS - Reproduction Agreement Sample.pdf
Islington - Northampton Road Unit Base Terms and Conditions.pdf
Network Rail - Location Agreement Template Unscripted.pdf
Portsmouth - Event Land Hire Terms and Conditions.pdf
V&A Museum - Filming Conditions Form.pdf
Islington - Finsbury Square Unit Base Terms and Conditions.pdf

Real World Examples - Application and Enquiry Forms

Filming application and notification forms published by UK councils. These show what information other organisations ask for at the enquiry stage and how they structure the intake process. Use them as reference when designing your own form, but adapt the fields and format to suit your organisation.

TfL - Application to Film on Roads.docx
Glasgow - Filming Notification Form.pdf
GLA - PSG Application Form Filming and Photography.pdf

Real World Examples - Filming Guides

Guides produced by UK public bodies for visiting productions, covering how to make an enquiry, what to expect from the process, local information, and FAQs. These are some of the better examples we found during our research. They show what a genuinely useful filming page looks like when it goes beyond a phone number and an email address.

Guildford - Filming Guidelines.pdf
Kingston - Filming Guide.pdf
Islington - Drone Guidance.pdf
Film Edinburgh - Location Factsheet.pdf
GLA - Guidance for Filming on Trafalgar Square and Parliament Square.pdf
Dacorum - Key Information for Productions.pdf
Royal Parks - Guide to Filming 2021.pdf
Westminster - Event Guidelines.pdf
Historic Environment Scotland - Filming Guidance.pdf
Windsor and Maidenhead - Filming FAQs.pdf
Creative Wales - Location Guidelines.pdf
Screen Scotland - Film in Scotland Brochure 2024.pdf
VisitScotland - Set in Scotland.pdf
Cadw - Filming Locations Brochure 2025.pdf
Hammersmith and Fulham - Film Guide.pdf

Real World Examples - Highways and Road Closures

Published guidance documents covering how road closures, parking suspensions, and traffic management for filming are handled by different UK authorities. Road closures are one of the most complex and time-sensitive elements of location filming, and these documents show how other organisations set out the process, timelines, and responsibilities.

Film London - Application Process Flowchart.pdf
Wokingham - Responsibilities for Highway Filming.pdf
Glasgow - Events and Filming on the Road.pdf
Islington - Road Closure Application.doc
Met Police - Guidelines for Filming on the Move in London 2025.pdf
Northern Ireland DfI - Special Events on Roads Guidance.pdf
Wokingham - Filming on the Public Highway.pdf

Real World Examples - Events Frameworks

Events policies and frameworks from UK councils that include provisions for filming alongside other outdoor events. These show how some organisations handle filming within a broader events management structure, including charging, health and safety, and stakeholder coordination. Useful if your council manages filming through its events team.

BCP Council - Events Framework.pdf
BCP Council - Events Policy (Appendix 2).pdf
BCP Council - Outdoor Events Handbook (Appendix 3).pdf