Ultimate Guide to Renting a Hospital Set For a Day

Even with Grey's Anatomy off the air, hospitals are very hot right now. The American healthcare industry is projected to grow by 18% by 2026 and add an estimated 2.6 million new jobs. Along with this growth, comes a wide range of filming and photography opportunities.

The big challenge for film makers is actually being able coordinate a hospital location rental. Even though there are 154 hospitals in the Greater Los Angeles Area, actually locking one down for a production is very difficult. Very few are represented by location agencies, and those that are, require a lengthy approvals process and demand an exorbitant rental minimum (day rates at LA's St. Vincent Medical Center are well over $10,000). We at Giggster know this, which is why, in addition to writing a piece on how much does it cost to rent a hospital set for a day we've complied this ultimate guide to renting a hospital set.

Fortunately, if you live in a large city like Los Angeles or New York there are plenty of more affordable medical filming location options for getting the job done. Like jails and schools, which are also expensive and hard to rent, many hospital shoots take place on fake production sets and stages (check out our article on The 10 Best Medical Film Sets in Los Angeles). Not only are hospital sets affordable (many start under $100) it also makes them highly adaptable to the needs of different types of film and photo productions.

How does renting a hospital set actually work?

The value of renting a medical stage for filming probably speaks for itself: low prices, easy angles, and instant access to scene-establishing props. What's probably less obvious, is the process required to actually rent a hospital location for a day. To answer this question, we’ve put together a comprehensive guide based on our experiences coordinating hundreds of hospital and other standing set shoots.

Here's what all we cover in this blog:

1. How to conduct a location search
2. Tips on budgeting
3. Advice on permits
4. A summary of features to expect
5. A list of important questions to answer before renting a hospital for filming
6. Links to some of the best hospital locations

Where can I find an affordable hospital for rent?

The first place to start to find an affordable hospital filming location is conducting a quick search on Giggster.com for options in your price range. Even if you don't have a firm budget, you should have a range in your head before starting you search. If you don't know how much to spend, keep in mind that low-budget indie productions allocate around 50% of their TOTAL budget to location rentals, and larger productions (that need to hire expensive talent) typically allocate 20-30%. This amount should cover all location costs: rentals, permits and scouting.

Once you have a budget estimate and a few potential options you're going to want to assess three main points in order to make an informed final decision:

1. Availability

• Is the hospital location available for your production dates?
• If not, is the location valuable enough to change production dates?

2. Price

• Does this location fit within the budget?
• If not, can we use this space for additional scenes that would justify the cost (many hospital sets also include residential stages)?

3. Amenities

• Does this location offer parking, gear, props, lighting, power, facilities needed for a successful shoot?
• If not, are there facilities nearby that cover production needs?

If you're booking on Giggster the location owner should be able to very quickly inform you on most of these points (simply include a list of questions in your initial inquiry). If you’re looking in a city where Giggster isn't available, you can also cold call standing sets in your area, and the owners or managers will provide that information up front.

How Much Does it Cost to Rent a Hospital for Filming?

The price to rent a hospital or other medical facilities varies significantly. The average rental price for hospital locations on Giggster is $1,283 for motion shoots, and $998 for still photography. However, there is a significant range between high and low-end options with standing sets starting at $80 per hour and real hospitals charging as much as $2,000 per hour.

Generally speaking, a budget of $1,500 per day will allow you a good range of medical themed rental options and good leverage in booking your top choice.

While you're welcome to try negotiating with owners to get an extra sweet deal, since hospital sets are high-demand low supply category you're not going to have very much leverage. In almost all cases you should expect to pay the minimum listed rates on Giggster, and potentially 15-30% more if you have a large crew or there are competing bids on the filming dates.

To get a more detailed understanding, please go through our blog on 'How much does it cost to rent a hospital set for a day'.

Location Budget Example

To give you a better sense of how much you're going to spend on your hospital location. Let’s walk through how to budget locations for a $10,000 fictional project. The first thing we’re going to want to do is break down the project down into thirds:

Pre-Production Costs: $2000
Production Costs: $5000
Post Production Costs: $3000

If we follow a standard industry breakdown of spending 30% of your total budget on locations that would give us $3,000 to spend on this $10,000 video. $3k might seems like a ton of money for a simple medical set, but keep in mind location rentals have additional costs beyond just the property rental.

How Much Do Film Permits Costs?

The cost of film permits is going to depend on what exactly you need to shoot. The only way to determine what you need is by contacting the local office that handles film permits in your area (these people are almost always a part of an official Film Office or the local Parks & Recreation Department). If you live in Los Angeles, New York or Atlanta, you can also contact Giggster Support for our advice at contact@giggster.com.

Permits in a city like Los Angeles or New York will cost more than a smaller city that’s less inundated with filming requests. One of the reasons permits can get expensive is add-on fees. Los Angeles, for example, lists more than 100 possible fees it can apply to any given production. Most of these fees won’t apply to you, but you still need to talk with someone in their film office to get permission. If you’re in LA, estimate permit costs by emailing the LA film office with details of your shoot and your planned locations. You can email them at info@filmlainc.com and they aim to reply with fairly accurate estimates within 24 hours.

Fortunately, if you're planning to shoot on a hospital standing set (not a real-world address) permits will not be required, just confirm with the location owner whether the space is officially zoned as a studio.

Approximate Budget Breakdown

Project: AFI Thesis Short Film (About a Death in the Family)
Budget: $10,000
Crew: 5-15 people
Location: 4 Hearts Studios - Affordable Hospital Set (pictured above)
Location size: 2,200 sq. ft.
Shoot duration: 2 days
Location booking cost: ~ $1,800
Hospital set permit cost: None (permitted as a studio)
Location Scouting Cost: None (booked on Giggster)

In this scenario, by booking a location on Giggster (avoiding costly scouting fees) and dealing directly with the location owners Kevin and Ci Ci, you would be able to source a very affordable high-quality hospital location for well under the 30%/$3,000 location budget range.

This is a good thing, because you now have a $1,200 location discretionary fund to be spent on additional props or unforeseen costs such as parking tickets, or location damages.

What Features Should I Look For When Renting a Hospital?

If there's no obvious "all-in-one location" and you're debating between several options, you're going to want to consider the location amenities and how they will impact the happiness and productivity of your talent and crew.

1. Parking – Where will cast and crew park? Is it free? If no parking is available at the medical location, are there options nearby? Most studio sets and doctors offices are located within active business districts. While most have parking lots for at least 20 cars, in some cases you will need to could mean trucks on streets, deliveries being made, and other forms of activity. Eight, twelve, or fifteen cars parked on the street could cause unwanted frustration and interference from neighboring businesses if you don’t scope out your options beforehand.
2. Bathrooms – Not every hospital set will provide adequate indoor facilities, so make sure yours has clean and functional bathrooms if you’re going to be there for more than a few hours. If none are available, find viable options that are close-by or look into providing some temporary options.
3. Power/Electricity – This cost is usually baked into the rental cost, but be sure to talk to the location owner about outlets, make sure you have access to working electrical lines, and ask to be shown the breaker box if a location host or manager won’t be on set.
4. Food – If you’re not providing it, are there reasonable food options near your location? Many of LA and NYC's studio sets are in post-industrial districts with very limited access to walkable food options.
5. Air conditioning/Heat – Are you shooting in New York City in February or Los Angeles in August? Ask the host or owner about your location’s insulation and find out if your shooting area is temperature controlled. If not, you will want to weigh the aesthetic value against the challenges of inclement shooting conditions.
6. Accessibility (for personnel and equipment)- You don’t need accessibility only to help those who can’t handle steps. Most hospital sets will have relatively large entrances, but make sure your team and equipment can access these entrance points.

Are There Legal Obligations for Renting a Hospital?

Filming in on a hospital standing set is very simple from a legal perspective, assuming the owners have properly zoned and insured their space for production (if the set is in someone's garage be sure to press them on this). However, if you're filming in a real-world medical location or any on-sight location (even indoors) its always a good idea to have production insurance. The cost of production insurance pales in comparison to the potential cost of not having it. If you’re not insured already, now would be the time to look into it. Average annual costs range from the $400 to $2,500, but your price will depend on your size and what gets covered.

Do I Need Production Insurance?

Some companies, like Insureon, specialize in Photography and Videography insurance, but other insurance providers may be able to offer you a tailored solution.

Start by contacting your existing insurance agent. They already have a relationship with you and they could be willing to write you a plan with custom long-term coverage, or create a short-term policy for your hospital shoot. He or she may not be able to cover you, but you won’t know until you talk with them.

When you speak with an agent, ask them about a few of your most relevant options. Such as:

• General Liability Insurance
• Business Owner Insurance
• Professional Liability (Errors & Omissions) Insurance
• Workers Comp Insurance

The differences between these insurance policies can get confusing, so don’t hold back any questions when you talk to a specialist. You want to be sure you’re covering all your liabilities. For example, “General Liability Insurance” will cover most damages that can occur to the standing set while you’re filming and it will cover harm/injury to people on set who are not working on the film. “Errors & Omissions Insurance” can cover you in the case of a dissatisfied client taking you to court over the final product. The only way to ensure that you’re adequately covered is by speaking with an agent and being clear about your needs.

How to Rent a Hospital Set for Your Next Project

Finding and renting affordable filming locations can be a challenge. But solving complex problems is part of joy of being a producer (at least that's what I'm told). Fortunately, hospital sets are one of the more affordable and straight-forward location categories, and thanks to Giggster, getting in touch with dozens of options only takes a couple of minutes.

Need a hospital location to rent for film or photoshoots? Explore our inventory on Giggster.com