Keep the costs nominal, if possible. There are a lot of ways to get locations without paying extra money. You can always leverage the power of film credits. “Can I use your house for a day in exchange for a credit of ‘special thanks’ in my movie?”
A lot of the time this will work. Sometimes it won’t.
Another option, “Can I use your house in exchange for a roll in my movie, and a ‘special thanks’ credit at the end?” Make sure that this roll is a speaking roll, but not one that is significant or difficult to achieve from an acting point of view, unless you think the individual is capable.
If you have people in the project that are well-known or famous, you could mention that to the location owner. They may be a big fan and allow you to use the space in exchange for a chance to meet your star (or they could perceive that you have a bigger budget than you are revealing – be careful that this one does not backfire on you by emphasizing the fact that the star is doing this roll for free (a lot of the time this is true for low-budget shorts) because he or she loves the roll and/or project.
Finally, some may want to read the script. If it’s a project that they think will be out there in front of people that might be interested in the location in the future, the owner of the location may think that this is a good way to get paying people in to use their spot.
If you end up having to pay, and you have it in your budget to pay, you might want to take that route, too. What do you offer to pay? As little as possible. Again, here in Los Angeles, locations are so used to big budget films coming in and paying off everyone (for permits, clearance, or whatever you want to call it) that a short filmmaker, like yourself, that these locations have become a bit jaded and expect a handout a lot of the time.
Just be sure that however you work it out with the owners of the location, you DEFINITELY have the location.
I know of one feature film producer that paid $1000 ahead of time to secure a car dealership for one day, but didn’t get the deal in writing and when they arrived on the day of the shoot, they ended up being told they could not shoot they there. Well… maybe they could, but the dealership would need an additional $800! They ended up paying it, because it would have cost more to reschedule the shoot, but the location for that one day ended up being a big chunk of their modest budget.
I once negotiated a location at a supermarket if I said I would buy most of my kraft service food and lunch from them and put them in the credits.
Again, thought he circumstances may not be ideal, low-budget short project force you to think creatively when solving problems.
