FILM OFFICE PRODUCTION SET UP SHEET (In the Entertainment industry.)

Production Office Los Angeles – Feature Flight of the Phoenix 2004 / Photo Credits: Bruce Bisbey

FILM OFFICE PRODUCTION SET UP SHEET (In the Entertainment industry.)

Bruce Bisbey…please follow me at: https://dumbdogproductionsllc.blogspot.com or https://www.facebook.com/DumbDogProductionsLLC/ thank you.

FILM OFFICE PRODUCTION SET UP SHEET (Some ideas and needs for setting up and establishing a shows production office)

Office Space

This is a list I have used when looking for a production office location. It is a tentative list that helps with a generalization of a shows production office needs.

The title photo and the photo above, I photographed in part of the production office of Fox's 'Flight of the Phoenix 2004' in Los Angeles. We did some of the development and pre-production here before relocating to Swakopmund and Walvis Bay, Namibia for the principal photography. We would maintain the LA production office into post and release.

Every show is set up differently.  Sometimes an art department will choose to work at a different location to be closer to the set construction, the transportation department will work out of its own self-contained trailer, the wardrobe department will work out of a wardrobe house and the prop master will work out of a prop house. There are also shows where everything is set up at the same location. I have worked in production office spaces from 3,500 spare feet on up. You won’t know how much space is needed until you know who you need space for. Generally production offices house:

• At least one executive producer
• At least one producer
• The director
• The production manager and/or production supervisor
• The production coordinator
• The accounting department-generally one to three offices, depending on the size of the accounting staff and the size of the offices
• The location manager and one or two assistant location managers
• Two or three assistant directors and a couple of set Pas
• The transportation department (coordinator, captain and a driver or two)
• The art department (production designer, one or two art directors, art department coordinator, set designers, set decorator, and lead man, a set dresser or two, property master and assistant property master (with gold room), one or two art department Pas,. This department will require one enormous space that can be sectioned off, or possibly a row of smaller interconnected offices.
• Although the stunt coordinator and director of photography are not in the office all the time, (and then only during prep), desks and phone should be allocated for both
• A bullpen area for the assistant production coordinator, production secretary and at least two office production assistants
• An area for meetings
• A kitchen or area that can be set up for craft service
• A separate office or bullpen area for photocopying, faxing, assembling scripts, shipping, etc. 

Now for the question that will determine additional space requirements:

• How many more producers will need offices? And will those who won’t be there on a full time basis be willing to share an office?
• Will the casting director and casting assistants be headquartered there? If not, where will casting sessions be held for the producer and director?
• Will the wardrobe department be working out of these offices, and if so, will they need and office, fitting room, sewing room and/or space for clothing racks?
• Will Props and Set Dressing need locked storage spaces, gold rooms?
• Will you need a desk and phone for visiting production executives?
• Will Hair and Makeup department heads need space?
• If office and stages are together, how much set construction space is needed? And will there be a need for secured rooms to lock up equipment?
• One the amount of space is determined, the search begins.
• Can you get an option for month-to-month extension on the lease at the original rate should your schedule be pushed?
• Do you need stage space near or next to the offices? If not, how far are the offices from the stage space you might already have lined up? How far away will you be from your location sites?
• Is additional space available to rent if or as needed?
• Do the facilities provide sufficient parking is the parking area secured and is there easy access into and out of the parking lot?
• If the parking lot will not accommodate cast, crew and production vehicles, would you have access to a sufficient amount of street parking, or could you rent additional (secured) parking facilities from someone else in the immediate vicinity?
• Does the property come with a security system or patrolling security personnel?
• Are you in an area that is safe enough so that those walking to their cares late at night won’t fell apprehensive?
• Will you have access to the property twenty-four hours a day?
• Are the offices already wired for phones? Is there a phone system already in place? If not, how long will it take to have one put in?
• Do the offices come with furniture, or will you have rent furniture from an outside source?
• Does the building have heating and air conditioning?
• Do they office have windows, and if so, do they open?
• Are there noise factors in the surrounding area that might affect your operation?
• Are you in a area where your staff and crew cannot create and loud noise after a certain time at night or before a certain time in the morning? 

Sources, References & Credits: Bruce Bisbey, Google, Wikipedia, Wikihow, WikiBooks, Pinterest, IMDB, Linked In, Indie Wire, Film Making Stuff, Hiive, Film Daily, New York Film Academy, The Balance, Careers Hub, The Numbers, Film Maker, TV Guide Magazine, Blurb, Media Match, Future Learn, Quora, Creative Skill Set, Chron, Investopedia, Variety, No Film School, How Stuff Works, WGA, BBC, Daily Variety, The Film Agency, Best Sample Resume, How Stuff Works, Bright Hub, Career Trend, Producer's Code of Credits, Truity, Production Hub, Producers Guild of America, Film Connection, Variety, Wolf Crow, Get In Media, Production Beast, Sony Pictures, Warner Bros, UCAS, Frankenbite, Realty 101, Liberty Me, Careers Hub, Sokanu, Raindance, Film Connection, Cast & Crew, Entertainment Partners, My Job Search, Prospects, David Mullich, Gear Shift, Video University, Oxford Dictionaries’, Boredom Therapy, The Bold Italic, Meets the Eye Studio, The Guardian, Elliot Grove, Jones on art, Creative Plant, Studio Binder, Film Tool Kit, Still Motion, Film Under Ground, Steves Digicams, Improve Photography, Guy Nockels, Namib Films,

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Production Office Los Angeles – Feature Flight of the Phoenix 2004 / Photo Credits: Bruce Bisbey