How Agencies Brief and Book a Studio for a Campaign Shoot

A brief can reach a studio in one of two shapes: a forwarded deck with "availability?" on top, or three words and a date. Neither lets a studio say yes, no, or "not in that room". This guide is the version in between: what an agency producer sends, what the studio needs answered, and what a booking commits each side to.

It is written for the producer booking on behalf of a creative team or a client, and it stays on the room side of the job. What gets shot, and in how many versions, is a separate piece of planning: see the campaign asset matrix. Scope's page for this kind of buyer is studio hire for advertising agencies.

The brief a studio can use

One page is enough. Send the plan the treatment produced, not the treatment. A studio reads a brief for two things: what takes space and what takes time. A vehicle, a built set, a green screen, a cast of twelve and a client review on the day each change the answer. The tone of the film does not.

• The job in one sentence, the date, and the fallback date if there is one.
• Set-ups: how many changes of lighting or background the day holds. A change of shot is not a set-up.
• People on the floor, agency and client included, and whether anyone is under 18.
• What arrives: vehicles, built flats, furniture, products that need securing.
• Sound: is spoken word recorded on the day, or is the film shot to a track?
• What leaves the day: stills, motion, or both.

The questions a studio asks back

Answer them in the brief or on the first reply; the same ones come back either way. Each decides a room, a block or a quote.

• Does anyone speak to camera? Studio A is not sound treated; Studio B is.
• Is there a green screen? Studio A is the room used for it, and whether Scope supplies the screen is confirmed on enquiry.
• Is a vehicle driving in? Studio A has drive-in access. Say what the vehicle is.
• Who is bringing the lighting? In every room but the DJ room, lights are charged separately from the room rate — please enquire about our lights and we will quote for what your shoot needs.
• Is anything being built? The build and its strike happen inside the booked time, which usually makes it a full-day booking.
• Does the client need nobody else on site? That is the whole-building day, and the DJ room sits outside it.

Choosing between the rooms

Two rooms are the usual starting points for campaign work, and they are different tools. Studio A is 1,200 sq ft with a white drive-in infinity cove and full blackout curtains: £160 for two hours, £320 for a half day of four hours and £620 for a full day of eight. It suits products, vehicles, movement and anything built. Studio B is a sound-treated room within a room with a colour-washable cyclorama, an adjustable backdrop system, make-up and styling zones and an edit and playback area: £120, £220 and £420 for the same blocks.

The rule of thumb is short. If anyone speaks to camera, start with Studio B. If something is large, moving or arriving by vehicle, start with Studio A. If the day has both, that is two rooms, not a compromise, and commercial work can be split that way. The arithmetic for a mixed day is in how to budget a studio shoot.

What a booking is, and what it is not

A booking is the room, for the block you booked, at the published rate, with set-up and pack-down inside that time. That is all it is, and a producer who treats it as more finds out on the day.

Crew, kit, set builds, props, talent and casting, catering and post-production are not in it. Scope is more than room hire: the team can source and manage what a shoot needs and run productions end to end, of every size. None of that is priced on the site. It is quoted by the team, by email, once you describe the job, and nothing is assumed to be included in a room booking. Keep the two apart in your own budget: a room line you can look up in the rates, and quoted lines you cannot until someone has asked.

A booking is a room and a block of time. Everything the room does not do is a quote, and it belongs on its own line.

Nothing is held until it is booked and paid for, so sending a brief does not reserve a date. Studios A and B, the podcast room, the music studio and the workshop book online through the booking page; the DJ room is by enquiry.

What to confirm in writing

Before the day, get these into one email you can forward to the client. Where the studio has not published something, the right answer is "ask", not an assumption.

• Room, date, and the start and finish of the block, with set-up and pack-down inside it.
• What the room rate covers. In every room but the DJ room, lights are charged separately from the room rate, so ask for the lights quote alongside it.
• Anything the team is sourcing for you, as its own quote, with what it does not include.
• Access: the vehicle, the load-in route and the door and yard specifics, which are not published. Load-in to Studio A is at ground level through the roller door from the yard.
• The deposit, the cancellation fee and the overtime rate. These are confirmed when you book rather than published, so ask for them with the quote.
• Terms: 48 hours' notice to cancel; same-day cancellations and no-shows are non-refundable.
• Insurance. Clients must hold appropriate cover; releases and paperwork covers the principle.
• Ownership: the client owns the content. Anyone under 18 must be supervised.

A worked eight-hour day

Take a campaign day with three set-ups: a hero product on the cove, the product in use on a prop table, and a pack shot. A full day in Studio A is £620 for eight hours. Times run from the start of the block.

• 0:00 — load-in through the roller door. Camera and lighting build the first set-up from a plan drawn before the day.
• 0:45 — first set-up lit on a stand-in. Agency and client in the lounge until it is lit, not watching the rig.
• 1:30 — first set-up shoots, wide first, then the detail.
• 3:00 — relight and dress for the second set-up, then shoot it.
• 4:30 — lunch, everyone at once. Catering is the production's line.
• 5:15 — third set-up.
• 6:45 — pick-ups, and the shots the day revealed you needed.
• 7:15 — strike. 8:00 — floor clear and out.

Now add a presenter to camera. That set-up wants the treated room, so the same eight hours becomes two half days: Studio A for £320 and Studio B for £220, £540 in rooms. Moving between rooms is time inside the blocks, so plan it on the call sheet. If the client wants nobody else on site, the whole building is from £1,500 for the day. Every figure here is the room only; lights are charged separately, and crew, kit, talent and post are quoted. The running order in planning a studio shoot day takes it from call sheet to wrap.