Industry Warning: *This caused some significant traffic, when first published, it has now been edited without the day rates and salaries. We have censored these sections. We apologise for our lack of sensitivity in this matter, particularly to our Location Scouting chums.*
Warning: Read the whole article, it isn’t all sunshine, rainbows and counting the gold.
Disclaimer: I am not an expert, an accountant, a tax solicitor, a film rates expert, nor am I qualified to give tax advice; In fact, I am not qualified to give any advice at all. This is just based on personal experience. This might read like a novel, and I have painted with broad brush stroke throughout.
The life of a location scout is frequently interesting, exciting, and varied. The scout might be speaking to a residential owner in the morning and then exploring locations which are off-limits to most people, in the afternoon. They get to see what is behind the curtain at the end of the corridor or what the view is like from the top of the valley.
The location scout needs to be an artist who paints with his camera, stays on brief, and understands the problems of servicing locations. Get these right and you will be paid accordingly. Bear in mind that if you love money and want to live in Kensington and Chelsea, you should go work for a hedge fund.
So how much does a Location Scout earn? A tough question Let’s look at the basics and then break it down.
Car allowance: For people that know they can claim it, is £20-£40 a day. Traditionally, Location scouts hired cars because the work is punishing on a car, and the cars would burn out quickly (European Location Scouts still do this). Many now lease or own and this will depend on your personal preferences. Remember to insist on the allowance, ring fence it in a different bank account, and ONLY spend it on your car. This is in addition to your day rate.
Kit allowance: For people that know they can claim, it is £5.00-£35.00 a day. Again, insist on it, ring fence it in a different bank account, and ONLY spend it on computer, hard drives and camera gear. This again, is in addition to your day rate.
How many days will I work a year? You will live and die by your relationships, networking and marketing. Let’s say there is 260 workdays a year, and unless something has changed, the film industry is in denial that bank holidays exist. Let’s assume 4 weeks of holiday a year, leaving 240 days. Estimate sick days at 2 weeks which you will not get paid for, leaving 230 days. For the Christmas period, when you will not be paid or employed, let’s average 2 weeks, which gives us 220 days a year. Aim for 200 a days a year working with 20 workdays job hunting.
Warning: It is hard to get 200 solid days of location scouting a year, 100 days may be all you will get in a tough year.
Not taking allowances and per diem into account. This is what you earn based on your daily rate:
You might think, ‘Oh my god, I’m gonna be rich and travel the world taking photos!’ A good scout can earn a decent income, explore amazing places, use their charm and resolve to open location doors for production, and meet an incredibly diverse range of people. However, while a top earner can earn up to 
you need to be a smart operator to achieve it.
Please check out these important sources:
Just a guide:
Expenses:
- Car: Something is always going to break, even you rent or lease. You can lease but your lease company will most likely be gunning for you if you drive their car through forests, or over beaches and desserts.
- Tyres: Two sets of tyres a year could set you back between £300.00-£1000.00.
- Car service: You could be lucky if you spend less than £1000.00 each service, once a year minimum. Even then things will break as you go. Budget for around £3000.00 a year. Roughly 15,000-40,000 miles a year, but this could be higher if you are driving to Scotland and Europe a few times a year. Then the purchase of the car, minimum £2000. However, expect up to £4000.00 a year.
- Computer: Usually a Mac, but most people know that because it is a Mac you expect to be overcharged. Expect £2000-£4500 every 2-3 years. Always get the Apple care, as it will eventually fail, and they do not like the location scouting lifestyle. Expect £1500 a year roughly.
- Storage: Cloud storage. Key drives, mini-hard drives, desktop hard drives and back-ups. Costs might run at £200-£700 a year. If you are concerned with decent storage, expect to pay around £350.00 a year roughly.
- Camera: The meticulous will have two camera bodies, or nowadays some may use a phone as a backup. That said, you will most likely have two camera lenses. Costs for these might run at £500-£1000.00 a year. Cleaning can cost £150-£200 each time, but you should learn how to do this yourself. Budget for £500-£1000 a year.
Fuel: You could fill the whole blog with this! Just remember that you don’t get everything back. Usually, production do not pay you when you drive to the studio,
These are the core, there are many, many, many, more.
Pro-tip: Get Insurance.
Tax:
In the words of Peter Jackson:
“No corner of the world is hidden from sight; no secret safe. It is the embodiment of fear, a relentless sentinel for its master’s will, casting a shadow of despair on the hearts of free peoples. The eye sees all, knows all, and from the fiery depths, it commands the legions of Mordor, ever ready to extinguish the last flickers of resistance”.
This is all you really need to know:
They dislike small service ltd companies, company directors, sole-traders and freelancers, you will get treated roughly. The assumption will be that you are thief that doesn’t contribute, you might have to prove otherwise.
Prop tip: This is the biggest source of misery, usually because the tax owed has already been spent. RING FENCE IT! It needs to go into a separate high interest bank account for both the corporation and personal tax. Set aside 45%, if you can, as you probably won’t spend it all on the tax bill, but it gives you a bonus at the end of the year. Psychologically never think of it as your money. Keep your sticky fingers out of this biscuit tin.
Small, limited companies: Expect 19%. You then get taxed again as you withdraw personally from the company.
Corporation tax rates:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/rates-and-allowances-corporation-tax/rates-and-allowances-corporation-tax
Expect a total of 30-60% including national insurance, depending on how much you pay yourself.
Pro tip: It is not labour free to be a freelancer or a small business, expect lots of extra labour.
PAYE: If you got unlucky, expect 40-60%. Unless you are an entry level scout or a junior Location Scout, then you will pay much less tax, but not in your first payslip.
Prop tip and PAYE: At least the HMRC sends you less letters.
Freelance and sole trader: Expect a total of 30-60% including national insurance, depending on how much you pay yourself.
Personal tax rates: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/rates-and-allowances-income-tax/income-tax-rates-and-allowances-current-and-past
Be proud to pay tax but do try to legally reduce the size of the shovel they put in your coal store, that is your right. Knowledge is power here, know the tax legislation inside and out.
Pro tip: IR35 is a moving target. Stay legal. Know your rights or the accounts department will make your decision for you.
Your hourly rate:
Expect a minimum of 10 hours going up to 16 hours, not per week, BUT PER DAY. Remember that it gets dark early in the winter, but the summer days are VERY long. Warning: I have been edited here, so you need to do your own calculations. Work out your hourly rate for yourself and see what you think.
To summarise:
I could write much more as this is the tip of the Iceberg. Broad brush points: Expenses set aside 10% of what you get paid for expenses. The average scout spends Roughly £7600 a year on just the core expenses, lets round it up to £10,000 and assume £5,000 in allowances, to help cover costs.
Tax is a whole book not a blog, but let’s assume you will lose 45%, for the sake of argument.
A good book on expenses and how to claim them:
Warning: This is based on 200 days worked, if you do 100 days, take 50% off all these final take home numbers, it is the difference between paying your rent or mortgage and not. No paid holidays. No paid sick days. Perhaps our take a salaried job at Disney as a Location Scout, WRONG, this job doesn’t exist.
A little sunshine: If you are keen to be promoted, this week’s location scout, is the next decades UPM and film producer, you will get paid handsomely and then you can live in Kensington and Chelsea but, It’s a long winding hard road.
Location scouting for a living is a lifestyle choice but sometimes not a good financial one. Once you have worked out the hourly rate, you might decide to work in Insurance. However, it is the one of the most interesting and fascinating jobs in the world, but once you do the math there might not be much left once you pay a mortgage and rent.
Location scouting is for people who value their experiences and exploration over their earnings. It gives the ability to work in one of the most exciting industries in the world. It can be difficult but ultimately, extremely rewarding. It is not for the faint hearted but can reward you with memories and friends that last a lifetime.
