Stealing a motel location

M

mikewest13

Well-known member
Have any of you ever stolen a motel room as a location?

I find many motels/hotels don't like to rent rooms to film makers, and I understand why... but that doesn't mean I want to change the location, so I'm thinking of just renting a room and shooting what i need.

Thoughts?
 
I had no problem with Super 8. I rented the small conference room for a weekend shoot, told them we were making a movie and they basically bent over backwards for us. Even gave us a hotel for free for 30 minutes so I get get two short, single shot scenes too. Then again, I also talked my way into free parking while filming and such...
 
Last edited:
So long as you leave the room in pristine condition and don't annoy other guests or staff and don't bring the motel/hotel into disrepute, they don't really care what you do in their rooms. The problems come from a few arrogant/ignorant film makers who drill holes in walls, block corridors and the carpark, film torture scenes at 3am, leave fake bloodstains on the carpet etc etc etc. Seriously.

So when you're approaching a motel/hotel re film making, be very clear and honest about what impact (preferably none) your filming will have. And if there will be any impact, be flexible to work in with them - they may have a particular time of week or a room that would suit them best.

And be absolutely clear over their rules re showing anything with their brand/logo/address etc - very likely they won't want it shown (or their head office won't allow it), although then again a small outfit might love to have free publicity for their place. Again you need to be very honest about your film - they may not think a zombie film would be good publicity :)
 
El Director said:
I had no problem with Super 8. I rented the small conference room for a weekend shoot, told them we were making a movie and they basically bent over backwards for us. Even gave us a hotel for free for 30 minutes so I get get two short, single shot scenes too. Then again, I also talked my way into free parking while filming and such...
Click to expand...

Some people have that gift... the Wife can do this sort of thing, and yells at me for not being able to... This usually happens when we are at a hotel, and she thinks she 'ought' to have an upgrade... more often than not, she gets it... These days, I just stand back and let the scene unfold...

She also does the 'gosh, I didn't know I was not supposed to 'park' there'... then yells at me when she can't get the ticket rescinded... but occasionally it works for her...
 
It's not the moral issue for me, it's the frustration of having to be sneaky about it to get a decent room.

Some may let you but up the fee to Hollywood pricing cause even indies shoot with large budgets right! Lol
 
Yeah I had this same problem... usually it's hotel managers who know what goes on in those rooms is pretty seedy so the instant they hear filming their knee jerk reaction is no. I just rented a room for an hour for 25 bucks or whatever it was and discreetly loaded in my equipment. Once you're in the room as long as your not crazy loud no one's really gonna come asking questions randomly... go for it.
 
The moral concern here would be stealing electricity. I assume you're using good lights. Might also be a fire hazard, since the hotel's wiring may not be capable of handling the load.
 
I've shot in hotel rooms for a few shoots I've done and never really had a problem. So long as you're not overheating the place, disrupting other customers, or wrecking the place, they usually don't care. Just be discreet about it. A ton of porn is shot in motel rooms and managers often tolerate prostitutes staying there so as long as you're cool, they''ll be cool
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top