ASK & DISCUSS INDEX

6 years ago - John Lubran

At point of making an application to a rail company one is just starting to unravel what appears to a a salaried functionary there as a potentially significantly significant palaver in terms of logistics, health and safety and liabilities. It's an institutionally robotic thing.

Then there's the issue of scale, what exactly is required, several people, a carriage to yourselves, if not what about other people on the train. Does the train need to be in motion probably?

If the film is a fiction drama you'll probably need all of the above. If it can be shot guerilla style, without permission, with a small camera while simply travelling on normal tickets, it's very doable and has been done many times before. It's not illegal per se. For a fiction drama a avoiding filming other passengers is essential, bring your own extras.

Otherwise you'll just have to wait for ScotRail to play out their bureaucracy. Hope you offered them at least a visual name drop in the film, a credit and copies.

6 years ago - Paddy Robinson-Griffin

Not the exact question, but might be the answer you need - look at railway museums and tourist railways (like Didcot, only closer!)

Anything to do with live train operations will be significantly more complicated than anything private

6 years ago - Yen Rickeard

Museums are a good idea, with greenscreen out side the windows. (You could even shoot the route through the window of a moving train and then project it onto a screen at the site of the shoot. You need no permission to have a unobtrusive camera on your lap and shoot out of the window.) They too have their bureaucracy though smaller. 'Tourist'/enthusiasts railways are surprising welcoming to film crews, so long as you are equally enthusiastic about their railway, and offer credits and some footage that they can use as publicity. A win win situation. Though If you are going in with a big crew, lots of actors and need to take up a lot of their time exclusively for you, expect to pay a substantial sum.

6 years ago - Marlom Tander

I've read the form and while it's not as draconian as I'd have expected, it does say that you're looking at a minimum charge of £500 and in practice, more like £1000+. It doesn't state that insurance is required, but implies it. You can't rely on theirs because you are indemnifying them.

It implies that if you are shooting ON a train, you'll need to buy seats sufficient to control your set, (though maybe only if they would exceed the shooting fee.) It implies that they will also charge you should you need anything else.

Basically, they are open for people with commercial scale budgets. Is that you?

Heritage (and now there are deisel ones) might be much better - they tend to want costs covered, but still good value. I've had a quote for £500 for my very own steam train running after hours doing what want. The 500 being the cost of the coal.

6 years ago - George Brian Glennon

Unless you need the whole car for a major scene, then shoot it guerilla at a time of day other than rush hours, and as John says don't shoot the public. I dealt with TFL to shoot at a tube station spiral staircase and on the moving tube. They were talking to me as if I was shooting a Bond movie. The cost would have been astronomical.

As we just needed fill ins and not a scene, we did it ourselves to great advantage. Back and forth a few times between two central London tube stations. Had people at both ends.

6 years ago - Philip Carr

If it’s short scene take a compact camera that shoots video and do a bit of guerilla filmmaking!

6 years ago - Matt Thompson

Our team filmed on a railway sleeping compartment at Bo’ness railway museum near Edinburgh. . We used another compartment as a green room and shot through a connecting door. Cost was £250 for 8 hours - no overrun. We used green screen outside the train on big stands. We also filmed on a platform with extras. You might not be able to find the right period but well worth a visit. They were very accommodating. We had lunch in a cheap cafe in town. We then used wide shots of trains we took from near, not too near! rAil lines. Best of luck Matt