What is the deal with School Locations?
Getting a location for school scenes is like ripping hairs out of your head one by one. I cringe every time I breakdown a script in which we have school locations. Not because the scenes are not awesome, but because I’m filled with anxiety about the logistics of the scene. As an AD, I immediately ask:
- Where the hell are they going to find a school that’ll let us film 7 consecutive days in?
- Most of these scenes happen during school hours, what school would let us film during school hours?
- Weekend shooting would be fine, but would the school keep doors open for us? Will janitors and security guards be notified of filming?
- Would filming interfere with school activities such as after-school or weekend programs, athletics, extracurriculars, etc.?
- THE COST! Would that hinder scheduling even more?
- Can the space accomodate a large crew?
- Are we going to need extra time for lighting set up if we can’t pull power from the school?
There’s a million more questions too. I realize that as an AD and not a production manager, some of these things I don’t need to *really* worry about, but on smaller productions, I often do, as we don’t have a PM or our PM is also a producer or some other huge position (hence why PMs are FUCKING IMPORTANT FOLKS, BUDGET FOR ONE).
In the past, we’ve filmed at abandoned schools, which are awesome but also pose a number of issues for the production: power, clean up, safety/security, massive set dress, hard time hunting down the owners, etc. We’ve also used spaces that could LOOK like schools, such as office buildings, but that utilizes a lot of set dress to make look authentic.
ONE set I was on was able to shoot in a real classroom after classes were dismissed one afternoon. It was great because it was authentic, but it was also difficult because there were still a lot of students milling about that needed to be wrangled all over the place, as well as after-school activities in nearby classrooms causing sound issues such as band practice.
Most actual working schools immediately say no to the idea of having a film crew at their location. Whether they’re familiar with the bunch of animals we can be, or they’re just worried to be portrayed in a poor light (probably don’t want to approach that awesome looking private catholic school to be featured in your Jesus Zombie bloodbath film). There are tricks you can employ to get around this. Not showing any real identifying aspects of the school (hallways and classrooms tend to be pretty generic, but the auditorium might be a special wing that’s donated and crafted/unique to the school), or name/school colors. Showing them an abridged version of the script that doesn’t show the graphic violence and sex scenes you probably have sprinkled throughout. Be completely open and willing to working with THEIR schedule and be willing to throw all time sensitive elements in your production under the bus in order to do so. Hire students from their AV club and say it’s a student production.
I’m interested in hearing how others here have been able to film school scenes on low budgets. I have some tricks up my sleeve for this next production, but I may find some inspiration in your stories…
