The Location Scouting Checklist (Power, Sound, Parking, and Everything Else)

The Location Scouting Checklist (Power, Sound, Parking, and Everything Else)

A location that looks perfect in photos can still sink a shoot day if nobody checked where the crew parks, whether the building has three-phase power, or if a leaf blower runs next door every afternoon at 2pm. Location scouting is really a risk-elimination exercise disguised as a real estate tour — you're not just picking a pretty backdrop, you're pre-solving every logistical problem before the crew shows up and the clock starts running at day rate.

Below is the checklist we'd actually run through on a scout, organized the way you'd walk a location in person: power first, then sound, then the boring-but-critical stuff that kills schedules when it's missed.

Power

• Confirm amperage and panel location — is it 100A residential or a proper commercial service?
• Ask if the space has been "tapped" before (previous productions, events) — a good sign it can handle a truck's worth of gear
• Identify where generators or a genny truck could park if house power isn't enough
• Check for dedicated circuits vs. shared circuits with the rest of the building
• Note distance from likely camera/lighting positions to available outlets — cable runs cost setup time

Sound

• Stand still and listen for two full minutes — HVAC hum, refrigerators, fish tanks, aquariums, fluorescent ballasts
• Check what's outside: traffic, flight paths, train tracks, construction permits nearby, school bells
• Ask neighbors directly about recurring noise (leaf blowers, garbage pickup, church bells) — they'll usually tell you the truth
• Test how well doors and windows seal against street noise
• If it's a "quiet" residential street, ask about landscaping schedules — most HOAs run them the same days weekly

Parking

• Count real, legal spaces for crew vehicles, cast vehicles, and at least one grip/electric truck
• Confirm whether street parking requires permits, and whether the city will issue temporary "no parking" signage for production
• Identify base camp location for craft services, honeywagons, and trailers if the shoot is multi-day
• Measure distance from parking to set — this becomes your load-in time estimate, not a guess

Bathrooms

• Confirm working plumbing and how many stalls, not just "there's a bathroom"
• For larger crews (25+), budget for a portable restroom trailer regardless of what's on-site
• Check ADA access if any cast or crew need it

Cell signal and connectivity

• Test signal strength for every major carrier, not just yours — crew and vendors are split across networks
• If you're pulling video village or remote monitors, confirm Wi-Fi or hotspot reliability
• Basements, warehouses with metal siding, and rural exteriors are the most common signal dead zones — flag these early so the AD can plan radio-only comms

Permits

• Confirm whether the jurisdiction requires a film permit for this specific location and activity (parking, generators, weapons, drones, and closing a street each trigger different rules)
• Check permit lead times — some cities need 10+ business days
• Confirm insurance and certificate-of-insurance requirements the location or city will ask for
• If it's private property, get the owner's written consent in addition to any city permit — see location agreement basics for what that document should actually cover
• Whatever gets confirmed here (address, contact, parking notes, permit number) is exactly what belongs in your call sheet checklist later, so capture it in a form you can reuse rather than a scout notebook you'll retype from

Sun path

• Note the location's compass orientation and where the sun rises/sets relative to your key shots
• For exteriors, walk the location at the actual time of day you plan to shoot, not whenever the scout happens to be scheduled
• Flag hard midday sun on west- or east-facing glass — it can blow out interiors shot through windows
• If weather is a real risk for the date, this is also the moment to think through a backup plan

Load-in

• Measure doorway widths and hallway turns for anything larger than a C-stand
• Check for elevators (size and weight limits) vs. stairs-only access
• Confirm freight/loading dock availability and reserved time windows
• Ask about any noise curfews or "no filming before/after" hours in the lease or HOA rules

Putting it together

None of this replaces walking the space yourself, but a checklist keeps a scout from becoming a photo-taking exercise. Most locations fail on the boring items — power and parking — not the ones that look good in a still. If a space raises more than two or three flags here, it usually means a tech scout with department heads before you lock it, so gaffer, sound, and the 1st AD can weigh in before the location is written into the schedule and reflected on your day out of days.

Locations also drive how your days get grouped. If you're stacking two locations into one day, you're planning a company move, and every item above (parking, load-in, permits) gets checked twice — once per location. And if budget is tight, a lot of these checklist items double as leverage points when you're negotiating: see how to find film locations on a low budget for tactics that work even when you can't pay a location fee.

Keep every location detail where the crew can find it

A checklist only helps if the answers make it into the schedule and onto the call sheet — parking instructions, load-in times, and permit numbers shouldn't live in a scout's notes app. Production Slate's locations module keeps address, contact, permit status, and logistics notes attached to every location so they flow straight into your schedule and call sheets without retyping anything.