can i borrow your house?

Your Home on the Silver Screen!

You may be looking at our website because a flyer was dropped at your home or business. Also, this means your property has an allure to filmmakers and could potentially be in a movie or commercial. We want to help make that a reality for you!

What happens next? 

If interested, please connect with us by phone or email. You can ask us questions, find out more about us and most importantly, find out how we can help you get into the film business. 

Once we mutually agree on listing, its time to add your property to our web site. The Alby Group will make an appointment to photograph your house. We will professionally shoot every room in the house, including bedrooms and bathrooms. Think of the process as if you were showing the house to a prospective buyer. To prepare for our visit, please look over this basic checklist: Put away children’s toys, stacks of papers, and boxes and bags. Remove clothes from chairs or beds. Make all the beds. Hang up towels in the bathrooms, remove items from sink and vanity, close the toilet lid. Tidy up the kitchen counters. Put away dishes and groceries or items on islands and counters in the kitchen. Less is more and now you’re ready!

If you have someone who cleans your home or landscapes your property on a regular basis, make your appointment with us for just after they have finished.

The Alby Group will be in your home or business for approximately 2 hours. Your property will look best on a sunny day, so we may reschedule if weather is an issue.

If you’re planning on selling, or are in the process of selling, please tell us before we set up an appointment. And if you’re planning on some major renovation, also tell us; it will be best to photograph the house after the work is completed.

If you have any other questions about the process, feel free to ask us.

There are no costs associated with listing on The Alby Group web site. 

Listing Your Home: Roll Camera, Background and ACTION!

After we take the pictures of your home, we add them to our location library at thealbygroup.com. Location managers and scouts, photographers, producers and directors look at our site when they need a home or business for a film, commercial or still shoot. If your location fits the bill, we then call you to see if you are interested in the project and to make an appointment for a scout to come over and photograph your house.  This happens for each and every job. Although pictures of your house are on our site, the scout must re-shoot it for the particular angles he needs and as it is scripted.

The scout shows his pictures to the location manager, production designer, director and producer and usually they will come out for a director scout to see the house in person. It is after this that a decision is usually made to choose a house as the location for the job.

Having someone you trust and that knows what will happen when your property is used as a film set is invaluable! 

• Your home will be showcased to potential film, TV, commercial and still projects coming to the state of Georgia.
• We are the liaison between you and the production company to inform and guide you through all aspects of the filming process ensuring an enjoyable experience.
• You will be educated in the art of film making.
• We make sure you understand everything in the contract, including the schedule and exactly what will happen at your property.
• We make sure deposits and payments are paid up front and prior to filming.
• If needed, we negotiate lodging for you and your pets during the duration of the filming.

 Two additional facts to keep in mind!

1. The film industry will pay generously for the use of your property.
2. The State of Georgia allows up to 14 days of filming tax free every year.

Benefits to You:

Continuing income and bragging rights

Location fees will vary for many reasons: the size of the production, the production budget, the length of time needed at a location, whether interiors or exteriors will be used, the size of space needed, use of furnishings or other personal property, etc. We will sit down with you and determine the best way to settle on location fees depending on the extent of the production. Once your property is used as a film location it probably won’t be long until another production comes calling.

Not to be overlooked is the promotional or resale value in being able to say “My office building was featured in three episodes of “The Walking Dead” or they used my home as the “hero” location in a major motion picture.

Unexpected Home Improvement

Industry regulations govern how production companies treat your property. They are encouraged not only to leave the site in the same condition as when they found it, but in many cases to leave the property in better condition. Based on the needs of the production, and with your permission, experienced construction personnel might need to mend cracks in walls, give a room a fresh coat of paint or plant new landscaping. You may even get a new kitchen or bathroom. Any changes the director deems necessary to make the film look authentic could result in substantial improvements. Not only will you be making money, but your property gets a fresh new look!

For homeowners, allowing your house or yard to be used for filming is a chance to meet production crews and famous actors, and get a unique behind-the-scenes view of movie-making magic.

An Economic Boost for Local Businesses

Are you involved in your community? When production companies set up in your home or business they’ll also eat, shop and maybe even stay in your neighborhood or town which can be a nice economic bonus for your community.

A Global Benefit for the State of Georgia

Restaurants, hardware stores, caterers, new and used clothing shops, and myriad businesses benefit from productions, and money spent in Georgia benefits the entire state economy.  A growing number of Georgians are employed directly by the entertainment industry, which contributes a growing amount of money annually in state sales tax. If a company is denied use of a preferred property, it is forced to look somewhere else. Sometimes that means outside of Georgia. And, when productions leave the state, they take their checkbooks with them. We want to do everything we can to ensure that they stay, reinforcing Georgia’s newly acquired image as  “filmmaker-friendly.”

A quick fact: The main reason for the industry’s staggering growth is Georgia’s  film incentive program, which awards up to 30 percent of what a production spends back in transferable tax credits that can then be sold on the free market or rolled back into the films budget. The most recent iteration of the credit was rolled out in 2008.

FAQ’S

How does a film or TV production find its locations? That’s the job of a location manager and scouts. If you’d like to see your house or business in a movie, managers and scouts in the area have to be aware your property is “film friendly”. This is where The Alby Group comes in; your property will be showcased on our website and presented to all types of production from still to multimillion dollar features.

Does the owner have to get the permits for shooting?

The production company is responsible for any permits associated with filming.

What do you think of filming commercials?

Commercials usually are shot in a single day. A lot of people like commercials because the film crew is smaller and moves in and out more quickly than with TV or movie shoots. We certainly don’t dismiss commercials as less glamorous than TV or movies.

How is my information protected?

No personal information is shared on your listing or provided to any producer without your consent. Your listing will show photos of your space, state the area of Atlanta or neighborhood and be defined by a property ID only.

How is my house protected?

The Alby Group works with only fully insured production companies and will ensure there is an insurance copy naming your home, business or property as additionally insured. In addition, we will collect a security deposit which is held until the shoot completes and is used to cover minor damage or overtime. We make sure a release is signed after the completion of filming.

Another quick fact: Georgia had 455 qualified TV and film productions in Fiscal Year 2018 – a record-breaking year including 2.7 billion in direct spending  surpassing California.  Among the films shot at least in part in Georgia that were released into theaters the past year include “Black Panther,” “Ant-Man and the Wasp,” “Rampage,” “The Spy Who Dumped Me,” “Life of the Party,” “Den of Thieves,” “I, Tonya,” “Love, Simon,” “Blockers” and “Game Night.”  TV shows in production last year include CBS’s “MacGyver,” Netflix’s “Queer Eye,” AMC’s “The Walking Dead,” and Netflix’s “Stranger Things.”

Hero Homes of the Silver Screen

THE PROPOSAL

Remember that beautiful house in Sandra Bullock’s romantic comedy The Proposal? Owned by the Kaneb family, the house is a real life early-20th-century cedar shingle house in Manchester-By-The-Sea, Massachusetts. With a few touches of Hollywood magic, the Kanebs’ home became Ryan Reynolds’ secluded family home in the small town of Sitka, Alaska.

 

 

 

Silence of the Lambs 

The house featured in 1991 classic thriller where “Buffalo Bill” stalks Clarice Starling (Jodie Foster) is actually located in rural Pennsylvania near Pittsburgh. And, in 2016, it sold for nearly $200,000. However, luckily for the new owner, the basement used in the movie was actually on a soundstage. The scariest part of this house? It has five bedrooms but only ONE bathroom. Talk about a horror.

 

 

 The Odd Life of Timothy Green

One glance at this stunning property and it’s easy to see why it was chosen as the home of Jennifer Garner’s fictional family in the Disney film The Odd Life of Timothy Green. At the time of filming it was a bed & breakfast and even from the outside, you can see its southern charm.

 

The House With A Clock in its Walls

The Victorian Parrott-Camp-Soucy House in Newnan, GA  insired the spooky setting for “The House With a Clock in Its Walls,” starring Cate Blanchett and Jack Black.