Studio Load-in: Planning the Van, the Yard and the Door

Nobody storyboards the load-in, and it decides the day anyway. The first hour of a studio booking is spent moving things from a van to a floor, and at Scope that hour is inside the booked time, the same as the strike at the other end. A load-in that goes well is invisible. One that goes badly — a van that cannot get close, a flat that will not go through the door, a case carried the long way round — takes its minutes off the end of the day, when the overtime is counting.

This is the planning for that hour: what to measure, where the van goes, how Studio A's door works, what a listing page cannot tell you, and the load-out at wrap. The method is short. Measure, ask, pack in reverse.

Load-in decides the day

Every minute between the van arriving and the first case opening is a minute no department can use. Multiply by the heads on the call sheet and a slow load-in is the most expensive thing that happens before lunch. The running order in planning a studio shoot day gives load-in the first half hour of a full day; a badly planned one takes the hour meant for the first set-up.

The load-in is the first set-up of the day. It gets planned like one or it costs like one.

Measure the biggest piece

Before anything else, find the single largest thing coming to the studio and measure it in three dimensions, assembled and broken down. Usually it is a flat, a backdrop frame, a plinth or a stand case. For a car shoot it is the car, with the mirrors. For a set build it is whatever cannot be split, which set building in a hire studio argues should be nothing — build in sections one person can carry through a standard door, and the question of the studio's door mostly disappears.

Then measure the van. The piece has to come out of the van as well as into the room, and a tail-lift changes the working height. Write the three numbers down — piece, van opening, and the door you are asking about — and send them with the enquiry.

The van and the yard

Where the van parks relative to the door is the whole question. A studio with on-street parking two roads away is one where every case travels two roads; a studio with a yard is one where the van backs up to the door. At Scope the parking is on site, in the yard in front of the unit, with every booking. The number of spaces is not published, so say how many vehicles are coming when you enquire. Pack the van in reverse order of need and leave the aisle clear so cases come out from the back without unloading the front.

Studio A's roller door

Load-in to Studio A is at ground level through the roller door. No stairs, no lift. That is the most useful logistics fact about the room, and why it is sold as a drive-in studio: a vehicle, a trolley of grip or a set on wheels comes straight in, and the white infinity cove is behind the same door, so a build arrives on wheels rather than on shoulders. Studio A is the room for the heavy day. The route to the other rooms is not described on the site, so if your kit is going to Studio B, the podcast room or the music studio, ask when you enquire.

What you cannot know without asking

A listing page tells you a room has drive-in access. It does not tell you whether your piece fits. Scope does not publish the roller door's dimensions, the ceiling height, the cove dimensions or the number of parking spaces, and this guide will not guess at them. Send the measurements and the question, and get the answer in writing before the date is confirmed.

• The roller door's width and height. Not published; ask with your biggest piece's dimensions attached.
• The ceiling height, if anything is going up — a tall stand, a flat, a flying rig. Not published; ask. Scope has no lighting grid, so plan for stands and floor rigs.
• The depth and width of the cove, if the build has to sit inside it. Not published; ask.
• The number of parking spaces, if you are arriving with more than one vehicle. Not published; ask.
• The earliest the door can open on your date. Scope is open seven days, but hours are not published, so confirm the call time when you book.
• Whether the lights you need are on site or hired in. 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. Ask about trolleys and stands at the same time.

None of this is unusual; most small studios hold these figures and give them on request. The mistake is to book without asking, because a guessed door dimension is the kind of guess that unloads a van onto the yard and then loads it again. The FAQ covers the general questions; the specific ones go in the enquiry.

Load-out at wrap

The load-out is the load-in in reverse, with a tired crew and a clock that has already run, and it is inside the booked time: at Scope the block ends when the room is clear, not when the last shot is in. Stage cases by the door as departments finish, lights first because they are slowest to cool and case, and bring the van to the door only when there is something to put in it. Leave the floor as you found it and photograph it before you pull the door down. The strike for a built set is longer than the build, which the set building guide covers.

The DJ room is a separate booking

One logistics note that sits outside the rest. The DJ room is its own booking — £75 an hour with a four-hour minimum — and it is the one room not included in a whole-building buyout. It is also the one room where lighting is included, with the booth and the CDJ/DJM kit built in, so the load-in for a DJ shoot is mostly the camera department. If your day runs across Studio A and the DJ room, book both and ask about moving kit between them when you enquire. How to film a DJ set in a studio covers the shoot itself.

The rest of a hire studio's logistics — what the rate covers, what the day costs, what the running order looks like — is in how to budget a studio shoot and what studio hire costs in London. The load-in is the part of it nobody writes down, which is why it goes wrong.