Take It To The Board with Donna DiMaggio Berger

Lights, Cameras, Condos-- Film Productions in HOAs

• Donna DiMaggio Berger

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Have you ever wondered if you recognize that stunning condo or picturesque community you see in a movie or TV? Take It To The Board host Donna DiMaggio Berger and Christina Labuzetta, owner of Location Resources and member of the Location Managers Guild International, pull back the curtain on the fascinating world of location scouting for private residences and communities.  

For association boards and homeowners contemplating this unique revenue opportunity, Donna and Christina walk through the entire process: from initial scouting photos to contracts, logistics, and the potential earnings. They address common concerns about property protection, revealing how professional crews use protective materials and detailed documentation to ensure everything returns to its original state—their goal being to make it look "like we were never there."

From CSI Miami to Vogue Magazine and sourcing locations for Martin Scorsese's "The Irishman," Christina shares insider knowledge about what makes properties stand out to production companies. The perfect filming location isn't always about luxury or grandeur—sometimes it's the mid-century modern charm of a modest apartment complex like the one featured in "Dexter" that captures a filmmaker's imagination.

Beyond the financial incentives, there's the undeniable prestige that comes with seeing your property featured in popular media. As Christina notes, it becomes "the cocktail party factor"—something residents can point to with pride and interest for years to come.

Whether you're a board member or manager looking for alternative revenue sources for your community, a property owner curious about monetizing your space, or you are simply fascinated by film production, this episode offers valuable insights into what happens when Hollywood comes knocking.  

Conversation Highlights Include:

  • Types of productions that typically use private residences and buildings-you'd be surprised how many are out there
  • What features or amenities make a property stand out to location scouts? It's not just luxury communities that are of interest to a film crew
  • A step-by-step look at how a building can begin the process of becoming a potential filming location
  • How much control homeowners have in accepting or denying film offers
  • Unique challenges of getting filming approved inside community associations, especially where commercial use is restricted
  • Navigating the approval process with boards, managers, and residents—addressing concerns about privacy, security, and disruption
  • Beyond revenue: additional benefits of filming on-site, including brand enhancement
  • Common risks and potential drawbacks boards should consider before agreeing to host a production
  • Christina’s top advice for associations or homeowners approached for a shoot for the first time.

Bonus Fact: Christina sourced the location where Dexter lived-a cool mid-century modern apartment building in Miami

Locations Sourced by Christina:

Speaker 1:

Hi everyone, I'm attorney Donna DiMaggio-Berger and this is Take it to the Board, where we speak condo and HOA. Most of us have watched a movie or TV show filmed in a luxury condo, a striking modern home, a cozy cottage or a scenic high-rise and wondered where is that? Behind the scenes, there's a whole industry dedicated to finding the perfect filming location and more often than not, those locations are inside private communities. But what does that mean for associations, owners, managers and boards? Today we're taking you inside that world with Christina Labuzetta, the owner of Location Resources, a company that scouts and secures private homes, multifamily buildings and commercial spaces for film and television productions. Christina is a member of the Location Managers Guild International and a board member of the City of Miami Beach's Production Industry Council. From the legal, logistical and liability questions to the potential perks, challenges and inevitable resident pushback, in today's episode we are going to explore what happens when Hollywood comes calling. So, christina, welcome to Take it to the Board.

Speaker 2:

Thank you very much. I'm so honored to be able to speak with you and give people a little bit of an idea of what happens.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, well, you know we've covered a lot of topics on this. We're in our fourth season, but we've never talked about scouting for film crews, and I think it's such a potentially interesting crossover with for our listening audience, who many of them are sitting in locations I have to imagine would be of interest to film crews. So I wanted you to start out telling us how did you get started with location resources? Yeah, how did you get started with location resources? Yeah, how did you get? We're going to back up. See, I'm always the one who screws up when he edits. So, christina, tell us how you got started with location resources and what kinds of productions typically seek out private residences and buildings.

Speaker 2:

I started when I was in Key West. I owned a restaurant and my first client was Playboy and they came in and they shot a woman who was going to be the centerfold like painting the wall. So they kind of wanted to look like she could do something other than looking pretty. First client and uh, and then it just it went from there. Um, I moved, uh to Miami and uh, you know it was pretty good sized um film community here. So I've just gone from there and I've always been a photographer and you know I like shooting. I mean, basically a lot of times when I'm working it's like I just would be doing that if I was at the place. You know I love, I love images. So that's how I got started in it and there's there's probably many, probably maybe 15 location people in South Florida.

Speaker 1:

That work for you, Christina.

Speaker 2:

Not that work for me, but that work in the industry.

Speaker 1:

Oh, so your competition in terms of scouting locations?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, they're sort of competition, but we're kind of different because we're a whole company that does kind of everything for filming on locations and we have 20,000 locations on file for our clients to look at, which you know is much better than them hiring a scout for a day, and they can only get a certain amount of things shot in one day, so they get thousands of locations at their fingertips.

Speaker 1:

I feel like it's like modeling, but for venues. You know, when you're looking for a model of clients looking and they're looking at all the different headshots. It's kind of the same thing for location. So what makes a property stand out to a location scout?

Speaker 2:

A lot of times it's the uniqueness of it, you know, or like the new modern high-rises, the views, you know, the spectacularly beautiful properties and also the ease of working with the building or the home, you know, because we don't want to end up in situations that become difficult and there's, you know, we have to consider all of the stuff that comes with it, like especially for the movie and TV shoots, because we have, you know, maybe a half mile or mile long of trucks and we have to find parking and we have to normally get sign-offs and you know, it's a, it's kind of a big thing. So, um, that's basically what we have to be in consideration with when we're doing something. And then the proximity to other locations. So, especially for episodic tv, it's very fast, so they set up a base camp and then try to find locations right around that area and we all people that scout, we all were always on the lookout, we all, you know, find something. You're just driving down the street and it's like whoa, I never saw that.

Speaker 1:

You know something that's interesting that piques your interest. So there was a home in my community I live in a homeowners association guard gated and this home for years would be used as a location for the front gate catalog. And what was interesting about it is I live in South Florida but this house really had a very northern feel to it. It actually looked like it could have been just dropped there from Williamsburg, virginia. Okay, and it's a unique home and there's a lot. And I do remember there would be just once or twice a year there'd be a big, a big van. There'd be a lot of vehicles. You could tell they were moving stuff in and out In my neighborhood. We thought it was kind of cool. I could see in other neighborhoods that they would think not so cool to have a film crew.

Speaker 1:

And I want to ask you a little later about the commercial usage because that is a particularly important sticking point for a lot of associations. But there's so many communities, whether it's a homeowners association with single family homes or we've got homeowners with attached townhomes that look like it could be. You know Bourbon Street in New Orleans. We've got these brand new unbelievable high rises in Miami-Dade and Broward County. If we've got a community that's looking right now and listening to this and thinking you know what? We've got rising costs in our budget. They're always looking for ways, christina, to kind of offset these costs.

Speaker 1:

Right, these are not-for-profit associations, but it really does help. A lot of them will lease their rooftop space to sell towers. That helps, but there's only so much they can do. I think many, many of them have not thought about offsetting costs by sourcing themselves as a potential location for a film crew. What would be the first steps? Association board listens to this and goes yeah, you know what? I think our building or our clubhouse or our recreational facilities would be a great location. What's the first steps? How do they get involved with this?

Speaker 2:

It would be to reach out to a company like our company, Location Resources. Also, they could contact their local film office. You're in Broward and so there's a Broward film office and you can send pictures to Broward film office, and those are some images we may find as well when we're looking specifically in Broward County for something. Yeah, the contacting location companies and location location companies is probably the best way directly.

Speaker 1:

So they? So they contact you. Then what do you tell them? What do you need from them? I assume you need good pictures of the location.

Speaker 2:

We ask them to take some photos, even with their iPhone, so we just get a sense of it, to see whether or not it's worth it to make the trek and take the photos. So we at least kind of get a little bit of an idea of what you know what the place looks like and whether to expend the time and energy to go and scout it.

Speaker 1:

Okay, and let's say they get past that. You get the amateur iPhone photos. Then do you send out a professional crew to take better photos of the location.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, sometimes we do and sometimes we can manage to make the iPhone photos work on our website. We have a great digital tech. Then if we really think it's an exceptional location, then normally I will go out and shoot it and then we'll put it on our website. So we'll have professional pictures on the website that help sell it better.

Speaker 1:

So are there any costs to the association or the homeowner at this point? Like you know, models have to pay for their headshots. Are there any costs if they say come on out and take a photo?

Speaker 2:

Depends. It depends on what we the time we think it may take to get to the place, shoot the place, and sometimes we do do a small fee not it's nothing major and uh, you know. So that helps, you know, get the whole thing started.

Speaker 1:

So does the homeowner sign a contract with location resources, with the production crew or both?

Speaker 2:

Uh, with the production crew for the shoot itself? Yes, so we have contracts that we send to the homeowners to sign. We send them all the details of what the potential project is and then they can decide whether they want to do it or not. We let them know when it is, how many hours, how many people. So size and scope is something that matters to people. You know, that's kind of how things are priced, depending on what the impact is on the location, and then we work on getting the permits done. When they're shooting we'll send a location manager out to supervise. We arrange all the parking and take care of all the loose ends. We use cardboard and ram board to protect floors and walls. We do whatever we can to protect furniture, maybe putting pads over furniture, whatever we can do to make sure it's best protected well, I wanted to ask you about that.

Speaker 1:

So in a typical and I know this is going to vary depending on the nature of the shoot, but a lot of times they're looking at these, whether it's a building or it's a home, and they're going to want to change things right. They're going to want to move away some of the private you know, personal mementos that are on the walls and the artwork and take all that down and put up what they need for the shoot, correct?

Speaker 2:

That does happen on the larger productions. Yes, so you know we take pictures of, you know a lot of pictures of how the house is before we start, so that at the end it looks the same. Some people get a little freaked out and it's like my house is never going to look the same and then they say it's going to by tomorrow morning or tonight it's going to look like we were never here. That's our, that's our.

Speaker 1:

Our goal is to look like we never were there that house I there was another house that had a shoot. They painted the outside of the house. I think the homeowner liked it because they kept the color. So I would imagine that happens sometimes too.

Speaker 2:

In your neighborhood, that area I'm not sure which house that was, but yeah, and there's a brick house in your neighborhood people love because that looks like it could be New England or anywhere.

Speaker 1:

That's the one, but there's another one where they painted it. That one looks a little more California. But my point is, sometimes they do actually do some significant changes.

Speaker 2:

Depends on what they're shooting and what they need, you know, and the larger the production is, the more changes they may make.

Speaker 1:

So talk to us about the productions. Who's looking for this? Is it TV commercials? Is it, you know, episodic series? Is it a film crew?

Speaker 2:

It could be anything. It really, you know, we do all kinds of stuff here. I'd say that what gets shot the most here is fashion, um, after that maybe products like cough medicine or something you know, pharmaceuticals, um, but yeah, I would say mostly it's fashion. Those are pretty easy ones. There's not not a lot of things that they move around and, uh, they usually don't need to have too much staging space. They may ask the homeowner for a room to do hair, makeup and wardrobe in. So the fashion shoots are really the easiest ones, and we always have a location manager on set. So they're watching out for the homeowner and they take pre-existing photos prior to the production coming in. So there's no guess of oh, was that scratch there or was it not there?

Speaker 1:

can the homeowners stick around when they're shooting?

Speaker 2:

yeah, they can. Some, some do some, don't. You know some people, I guess it depends what they're doing.

Speaker 1:

I have a. I have friends where they use their home for the victoria Secret catalog. They wanted to stick around. They wanted to stay for that shoot, I don't know why.

Speaker 2:

Sounds boring so yeah, some people stay, some people go. You know they don't stick around. They trust us, they don't have to worry about it, so they know that we're looking out for them all right.

Speaker 1:

So now we have to talk money. How much money can can people make, whether it's an association and I'm going to talk to you about that in a few minutes but let's say it's an association that has a fantastic pool area okay, and you're going to do a fashion shoot out there how much can they make?

Speaker 2:

um, like you're talking about, like a large pool area yeah, it's, it's fantastic. You could do a whole runway show there so I would say it would probably start with, I don't know, maybe six, seven thousand for the day, the 12 hour day.

Speaker 1:

And if it was a, if it was a film crew, have you ever done, have you ever done shoots where it's it's multiple days?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I have. Yeah, yeah. So if it's, if it's for a show, then depending on the impact of how many people and what areas people are going to shoot, if it's inside, outside, then it can go up to around $10,000 a day.

Speaker 1:

And I'm going to tell our listeners this is a contract that you will want to have reviewed by counsel, because you will need to ensure that you're getting properly indemnified for any damages and that there's insurance and all the rest of it. This is not a contract that you will necessarily want to want to just sign out the dotted line, but it is a very interesting option for a lot of our communities. Now, it doesn't have to be a very upscale building, does it, Christina? I would imagine sometimes you've got people looking for more modest locations.

Speaker 2:

Well, it can be anything. You know it's like wherever people live, you know there's stories that go with them or there's things that they want to advertise. So it, you know, it doesn't have to be super upscale. We did for years, we did Dexter and Bay Harbor Islands, which was an area that was mostly built in the 1960s. So we've gone back to that place over and over again.

Speaker 1:

Wait, I remember that location that little. It was like a two-story apartment complex.

Speaker 2:

Exactly, you did that one. Yeah, I did it for two, three years. I worked on the show, yeah. So it's a really cute complex. So Dexter's apartment was all the way in the back by the water and then the front side of it has like a staircase that goes up the front. So it's a really unique mid-century modern building.

Speaker 1:

I always thought that was a sound. Did they actually shoot in the unit? Because I always thought it was a sound stage and they just did exterior shots yeah, well, the the for the inside of the apartment was a sound stage.

Speaker 2:

This department is not very big, you know for him, but then we also, like, every time they came, he'd see, you'd see him walking up and down the catwalks or down by the pool. So, yeah, so it was. Yeah, because the apartment was so small, it wasn't. They couldn't do that much, so they rebuilt it in the soundstage.

Speaker 1:

So that was an older, charming, modest location. Oh, wow, okay. Well, let me ask you this how much control does the owner have? So let's say somebody's you go through it, you love their home or the or the building. They sign up, a crew looks at them and says we want them. Can the client say no, I don't want that particular crew to come out and shoot. I would imagine there's a possibility there.

Speaker 2:

The condo association owns it or a homeowner owns a specific apartment. They, you know they're not obligated to do a shoot, but if they do decide they do want to do it, that they can't back out after signing the contract right, well, without penalties, yeah, which goes gets me back to my first suggestion.

Speaker 1:

Make sure you get it reviewed. In a lot of our condos we've now got these magnificent units, especially the penthouse units, which could really accommodate a great fashion shoot or a film crew you name it. Do you check, or does the production crew check, to make sure that the owner has association approval to do the shooting inside that unit?

Speaker 2:

We yeah, we normally do. We don't want to get stuck, you know, with not knowing. I mean we we're not going to go in. We're not going to go in a building without talking with the management and they have a fee or they need certain certain insurance language. So, yeah, we don't. We always talk to the HOA.

Speaker 1:

That's I'm going to tell you bravo, because we see this with Airbnb a lot, that you know. Owners will list their units for short-term rentals and short-term rentals are not permitted under the documents and then the guests show up. They've already, you know, listed the unit, they've already paid their deposit. They show up and the front desk or the guard gate says I'm sorry, you know not going to let you in. So you know, when you're talking about units inside multifamily buildings, it's absolutely crucial. Also applies to homeowners associations, not as much because normally there's not that prohibition against commercial usage or it's a little more hands off with a homeowner association when you're dealing with single family homes, but certainly in the multifamily buildings there's that typical unit can only be used for single family residential usage. Think that if this business model appeals to associations and to owners, I think you can do a carve out for this, assuming that there's not an inordinate amount of noise or other inconvenience associated with the shoot.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, no, it's definitely been done. You know, there's certain buildings we've shot quite a bit on, like on Biscayne Boulevard. A lot of them have set up policies and there's a whole procedure that we go through and then, like, they let us know, you know, can we use an elevator, or what hours can we use the elevator and can we get space in the loading dock and put the trucks in? So we have to work closely with the management of the building. We don't just show up.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, no, I would say that would definitely be advisable. You know I have to say, christina, when I'm contacted by a client about filming in the community by an owner in the unit or on the limited common element balconies, nine times out of 10, it's an adult film production that's going on that no one knew about and the board gets tipped off and obviously it's not something we want happening inside the community because it's not a good look.

Speaker 1:

Obviously it's not a good look and it doesn't help enhance their brand. But I would think that you know, having the new James Bond movie filmed in your building might enhance your brand. So I was going to ask you, other than just the location fee, which is not huge, nobody's going to get rich off of it from one or two shoots. But if you use the location, I would say, consistently, it might be a nice source of revenue. But what other benefits are there? I mean, I got to imagine that in some cases it might just be the cool factor, right?

Speaker 2:

Definitely is, and it's the cocktail party factor as well Something to talk about at the next cocktail party. So so there's definitely that scouting a house recently and the woman told me she was at a cocktail party in Connecticut and they were talking about my company and that they had shoots in their house. They, they met there and you know. Very strange coincidence, but yeah, so I think people like it because it's cool, it's, it's very interesting. You know, people that work in the film industry generally come from all walks of life. They're, you know, intelligent, educated people, and watching the process of how the sausage is made is interesting.

Speaker 1:

It could open you up to just a whole other network of people that you meet via this experience of opening up your building or your unit or your home to a production crew.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, we become friends. I mean some of these, some houses that we shoot in, I've been shooting in for like decades, and they'll sell the house and they'll tell the new owner, hey, you can make money off of your house. And they'll give them a phone number and keeps going on the house. And they'll tell the new owner, hey, you can make money off of your house. And they'll give them a phone number and it keeps going on and on and on.

Speaker 1:

What have been some of your favorite homes or units where productions have been filmed?

Speaker 2:

Strangely enough, Dexter, because I'm just a mid-century modern nut and I just love that. I just love that complex and it's a real gem.

Speaker 1:

Do you source elsewhere, or is it just in Florida? Christina?

Speaker 2:

It's generally just in Florida, but different places down in the Keys. I've had jobs where they sent me to places like Italy and Morocco and where else.

Speaker 1:

Well, the Keys. Did you see that new show with Vince Vaughn Bad Monkey. Was it called Bad Monkey? I think?

Speaker 2:

We worked on that, yes.

Speaker 1:

Oh, you worked on that. Yeah, that was a cool building and a not-so-cool kind of ugly new home going up next door.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I think that was. I didn't watch the show. I think that was the point.

Speaker 1:

It was the point that he felt that the new construction going up next door was a monstrosity. So he kind of did everything he could to dissuade people from from buying it yeah, no, that was it, and that's kind of what it's like in the keys. You know, people don't want a big, big ugly house next to them so do you have any exciting projects in the works right now you can talk about?

Speaker 2:

um, what's coming up now? We've got fashion shoot with tom brown. Um, I think we're doing another shoot with megan thee stallion I think you sent me this with megan thee stallion.

Speaker 1:

You did the. Was it the? The Swimsuit? Sports Illustrated Swimsuit cover.

Speaker 2:

Where did you shoot that Golden Beach near your friends. Was it my friend's house. No, it wasn't Okay, it was a new modern house that was built and kind of just when you're driving north on Ocean Bowl, little little like a 200 block, I think it was, and uh yeah I see you sent me some notes the irishman martin scorsese's film.

Speaker 1:

You you sourced location for that we did.

Speaker 2:

We did, um, some of the oddball locations. Um, there was supposed to be one of the kennedys watching tv under his portico and that was a house on north bay road. And um, there was a, there was a field, a field of corn, that I came upon and it was very graphic, the light in the afternoon and there was a whole strand of trees that were about a mile long the road and so they shot that. That was one of the shots that they they used and I think the dog track, I think they may have shot a dog track, I think south florida has no end of interesting locations, I'm sure oh for sure I to get you out to my neighborhood.

Speaker 1:

I want you. We have like a tree canopy down the main street, which is kind of what drew us to the community in the first place that every home in there was completely different and, yeah, I can see somebody with your eye looking around at different, at different spots, it's it. It could be, depending on how you film, it could look like it was somewhere else in the south, Because there's a gazebo and a park and live oak trees and a whole alley of trees. I could see that You've been out to our neighborhood, haven't?

Speaker 2:

you. I think we shot there recently at that brick house. I don't know the own current owners names.

Speaker 1:

Um I won't say it on here.

Speaker 2:

They may not want me to yeah, so we shot at that house. Um, they had a number of of shoots in that neighborhood over the years and I think I, you know, I think I first met you, at least over the phone, was like I don't know.

Speaker 1:

It was a while ago, it's been. It's been a minute because, I remember I got your name and then you did a shoot in our office, where we are now in downtown Fort Lauderdale.

Speaker 2:

Really amazing office. We got to go back.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, well, you know what I think that as attorneys it was, uh, a little disruptive. We did a, it was a makeup, it was some sort of makeup shoot, I think, but it was in our, it was in our, um, our conference level uh floor, which had that beautiful conference with the, with the light coming in and the views. So, yeah, I'd have to convince my managing partner to do that again. I'm not sure. I'm not sure he's ready for the hubbub. Yeah, probably not, probably not. Well, any listen, christina, is there anything that I didn't ask you that I should have asked you about location, resources and what you do and what, how people should think about what you do?

Speaker 2:

I think, just to be open to it. If, like, somebody knocks on their door or maybe we hunt them down, you know to have a discussion about it and you know see if it's something that's a good fit for them and you know it's a good way to make money. There's an IRS rule that if you use your house 14 days or less than a year, you don't have to pay income tax on it. But I'm not a tax expert, so you can't take that as gospel.

Speaker 1:

But Nor am I. I would say consult your accountant.

Speaker 2:

So a lot of people take advantage of that.

Speaker 1:

Fantastic, well, okay, how do people find you?

Speaker 2:

Locationresourcescom.

Speaker 1:

Couldn't be easier. I'm going to go home. Well, actually, my home isn't disarray right now. We're changing out the flooring, but after we're done, I'm going to take some pictures. I'm going to send them to you.

Speaker 2:

Okay, that sounds great. I look forward to it.

Speaker 1:

Okay, christina, thanks so much for joining us.

Speaker 2:

Thank you for having me Appreciate it.

Speaker 1:

Thank you for joining us today. Don't forget to follow and rate us on your favorite podcast platform, or visit TakeItToTheBoardcom for more ways to connect.