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475. Solo

Introduction and Listener Spotlight

Sarah Karakaian: [00:00:00] Hello. Welcome back to another great [00:01:00] episode. My name is Sarah Karakaian.

Annette Grant: I’m Annette Grant, and together we are Thanks for Visiting.

Sarah Karakaian: Let’s start this episode like we do each and every week, and that is sharing one of you our incredible listeners who’s heading on over to s str share.com, sharing everything you can about your property so that we can celebrate you here on the podcast and on our Instagram account every Sunday.

Annette, who are we sharing this week?

Annette Grant: This week we are sharing @sugarpinecabindahlonega

Sarah Karakaian: dahlonega.

Annette Grant: I can never say that, right? Um, sugar Pine Cabin Dahlonega.

Sarah Karakaian: Yeah. Nailed it. I got it.

Highlighting Sugar Pine Cabin

Annette Grant: And I think this is very fitting for today’s episode because this cabin stands out in a crowd. All right. It has got some wow factor.

The use of color is bold. Catherine is the host. I give it to her because she is bold. The colors are bold, but the reason, um, [00:02:00] I love all these colors is they’re showstoppers. Yeah. People are, stands out online. She stands out in the crowd and um, and from the artwork to the paint colors. To every detail.

She’s infused color, and the reason we wanted to highlight her today is that we’re gonna talk about. Standing out online and having people reach out to you wanting to create content in your space, and I’m sure she’s had a few people reach out to her, but I want you to check out her handle, check out her house, because I feel like all of us could use a little more pops of color to stop the scroll on on the OTAs.

Handling Photography Requests

Sarah Karakaian: All right, we’ve all received that message. Hi, I’m a local photographer. Can I use your space for a shoot?

Annette Grant: Your place is beautiful.

Sarah Karakaian: It’s so beautiful, and I just need it for a couple hours. And if you haven’t received this message, hang tight because [00:03:00] you probably will. And today we want to break down how we respond to these requests.

What we ask and why it is so important to set clear boundaries. Ask us because we know,

Annette Grant: yeah, we, we go through a lot of hard lessons learned here and we left a lot of money on the table also.

Sarah Karakaian: And it doesn’t matter if it’s an influencer swap a full production or a quick brand shoot, you want to make sure that you are going through your checklist of what to ask this person who’s inquiring. ’cause they may not offer up. All the information unless you do so. And here’s the thing. If they are a professional content creation company, if they’re a professional production company, the things that we’re gonna go through today. Are not going to be a shock to them.

Annette Grant: They’re standard. They’re standard operating procedures for them.

Sarah Karakaian: Yes. So if you do ask for after this episode today, you write these things down and the next time someone reaches out to you start asking these questions and they’re like, uh [00:04:00] uh, I don’t, you know, I don’t really have it. This is gonna be really easy, really simple, really, really quick. That to us is a red flag and we’ll go over some reasons why.

But also if they are an actual production company and you’re not asking smart questions. They may not offer it ’cause you’re gonna simplify their process and we don’t want you to lose out on protection or money or making your life a little bit more upside down because they didn’t offer up all the things that you needed to know to get your property back to square one. Back to welcoming overnight guests.

Understanding Content Types

Annette Grant: So step one, when you get this, uh, photography content shoot request is understanding the type of content that is going to be filmed.

Sarah Karakaian: Yeah. So. And ask that and be, have them be very specific. So things that could happen are influencer swaps, but who the influencer is, what kind of content do they create? What is this [00:05:00] content specifically about? Brand photography. Well, what is the brand? Mm-hmm. Where are they located? Commercials, what is the commercial, uh, movies and documentaries, but like, what kind of movie is it?

Is it with, is it a high production, low production? What is the documentary on, uh, a boudoir shoot? And if you don’t know what that is, Google it. Are you okay with that? And then adult content, um, you don’t wanna find out after the fact that what was shot in your space is something that you don’t align with?

Mm-hmm. Or that your brand doesn’t align with because content is created and then it’s shared. Mm-hmm. They want people to watch it. And if your property is recognizable, if there’s something inside of the property that ties the content to you, are you proud of that? Are you okay with that? Mm-hmm. Do you want your property to be tagged?

Maybe you want it to be tagged. Maybe you love what’s being filmed there, and you are so proud and ask them, can my, can my, I don’t know if you ever watch a movie and the credits go and they tell you where it was filmed. Mm-hmm. Um, you could be, uh, [00:06:00] given credit for that. Maybe you’re like, okay, with the content, but you’re like, as much as possible, I don’t want people to be able to understand where this is being filmed, so please don’t include us.

Like, just know that we’ve got some stories for you.

Annette Grant: Yeah. And I want, we have stories on. Both positive experience, negative experience. So I wanna talk about, um, I, I don’t wanna say even a negative experience, but just not knowing. For instance, I was I did not know, but my professional photographer was doing a lot of boudoir photography with many different, um, models, if you will.

And like my neighbors saw it and they saw a, a gentleman shooting fixtures. Lots of women with not very many clothes on inside and outside the house. So for me. It was more of what my neighbors were, um, reaching out to me about. And so I didn’t understand that that was the type of, um, photography that was gonna be going on.

And unfortunately I was excited because him and I were gonna work, hopefully, [00:07:00] uh, have a long relationship. Together, but that didn’t work for my neighborhood and I couldn’t continue on with that relationship. But on the flip side, I also had, um, some commercial shoots take place with some really big brands here in Columbus, and those relationships continued on.

They love the space. I had multiple spaces, and so it can be the start of a really fruitful relationship where they, you are their go-to person for any sort of commercial shoot and making that higher dollar because it is. For commercial use or, you know, I’ve had the flip side of not so not going, not so well.

Again, they were great guests, if you will, but it just, for my neighborhood wasn’t the vibe.

Sarah Karakaian: I said at the beginning of this tip to get specifics from the, from the creator because we had a property and I actually was co-hosting it. And they asked if they could do a maternity shoot. And I talked to my, the owner about it and I’m like, you know, we haven’t addressed this.

Are you okay with, um, and we’ll get into all the [00:08:00] other things that I already knew that I wanted to ask from this creator, but I wanted to make sure the owner of the property was on board and she goes, “maternity shoot, absolutely! Like, that is so fun., That’s amazing. Like, let’s do it!” Great. Well, little did we find out that this maternity shoot was full nudity and it’s a little bit more, uh, aggressive maybe of a shoot.

I’m talking like the mom sitting on a chair of ours. Uh, very clear where they’re at, and you could see everything, you know. Um, and listen, the body is a beautiful thing, but the owner of the property, she was able to laugh it off, but she was like, wow, like next time I know to ask more specifics, like, is there an nudity involved?

Uh, you know, what, what level of, uh, gimme some examples. Right of the content that you shoot for. You know, so just understand if the more specific it’s okay to dig in. Mm-hmm. Because if you are not comfortable with what’s being shot there, um, once it’s shot and once it’s out there, there’s really not a [00:09:00] ton you can do.

Insurance and Legal Considerations

Sarah Karakaian: Number two, a certificate of insurance, or a lot of people call it a COI, is non-negotiable. Mm-hmm. This is where I’m telling you, if they are an actual professional and they’re carrying professional insurance coverage for what they do, then when you ask for this, it’s not gonna be a big deal. Mm-hmm. Like, and they can get it same day.

They might even already have it, but this protects you and your, and the property. With this activity that’s going on at the place, and so this might be a question you wanna ask your insurance company. Absolutely not. Maybe you do. Mm-hmm. First of all. If there is someone who wants to shoot a commercial for, you know, photography session, videographer session, what needs to be done?

And when I request the COI, when I request the C uh, the certificate of insurance, how should we be added as additional insured? What information do you want on this certificate of insurance so that your insurer feels comfortable? How much coverage do [00:10:00] you want them to have? A million, 2 million? Like, ask these specific questions that you are armed with. Uh. The your checklist of what to do when someone does reach out to you.

Managing Production Logistics

Annette Grant: Number three, you really want to ask specifically how many people are going to be on the property. Normally when it comes to a commercial shoot, the numbers grow very quickly because it’s not just the photographer. Is there hair? Is there makeup?

Is there lighting? Is there a second shooter? For, for example, I got really excited one time about a, um. Large business, wanting to shoot a commercial at, um, one of our homes for several days. I mean, it was going to be a big, big payday for us, but the more I started to talk to them, there was gonna be about 30 people in the home every day.

They were lit. We had four parking spots, and they were like, oh, no worry. We, we normally like shuttle bus people in. And I was like. Okay, wait, I need to stop right now. Because they were gonna bring [00:11:00] actors in. They were gonna, again, all the hair, all the makeup, all the filming, and I was like 30 people for five days.

Like my neighbors that was not gonna work and like bussing them in. I was just like that. I know I could have gotten a really large payday, but in the end, the disruption to the neighborhood was not going to be worth it. So you wanna know what you know exactly how many people are gonna be there. And I’m just gonna say this. They’re probably underestimating when they do give you that total. ’cause I’m sure someone’s gonna be delivering food. There’s gonna be some additional things happening. So just be really prepared with how many people are gonna be there. And then that vehicle count too, right? They might have larger, larger vehicles if they are bringing lighting, et cetera.

Sarah Karakaian: Yeah. And you, that might bear the question too of, I’m asking them when they reach out to you and they’re telling you, oh, it’s gonna be this full production of 20, 30, 40, or more people. Great. Do you know if the city’s gonna require a permit for this activity with all the cars there? Like asking these kinds of questions will alert them to like, oh, this host knows what’s, what’s up.

And they take their property and they’re [00:12:00] hosting very seriously. Let’s get down to brass tacks and talk business and you’ll get to it faster and you’ll get a clearer picture much sooner.

Annette Grant: Yeah. And even if they say local photographer, ’cause they could still be doing a very big shoot.

Sarah Karakaian: Yeah, huge.

Number four is furniture, artwork, and cleaning expectations.

So you might have in your house rules now that you don’t want your guys moving furniture. You never probably even thought about don’t move artwork. But maybe you should add that in there too, ’cause you never know. Mm-hmm. And so when production comes in there, they might wanna make the space, they love the way it looks in general, but they might wanna tweak it for certain shots.

And so ask them, do you anticipate on moving furniture around? Do you need to move? Artwork around. And then I asked, I got very smart about this. Eventually, of, are you putting down any sort of protective mm-hmm. Uh, floor covering a, a popular brand is Ram board so that they can move the furniture around the property, ask them what they anticipate on moving and how could they know without walking the property yet is by the photos on your listing.

And have them [00:13:00] give you a general idea. A lot of smaller content creators, IE they’re not big production, they don’t have a lot of team members. They might say things Oh. We’re just gonna shoot in the kitchen. We’re just gonna shoot in the living room. We’re not gonna be in the bed. Use the whole house.

Annette Grant: ’cause they’ll wanna start negotiating on price.

Sarah Karakaian: Yeah. Can we not pay the cleaning fee or we’ll clean up before we leave and Uhuh remain. H, having all the control of ensuring that space is, is back to square one. So not only is the cleaning fee going to remain in effect and whole, it might even need to increase more.

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Right. Because they’re using the space very differently than how your normal guests use your space. And so whatever your deep clean is, I would just offer that upfront, depending on how big this production is. But just don’t let them talk you out of. Cleaning the space and using your cleaners and your cleaning systems to get it back to square one.

Annette Grant: And I, they’re most always gonna, even like smaller creators are [00:14:00] going to change the, the furniture up. And I know I had my biggest, some of my biggest damage ever was from a commercial shoot because. Unbeknownst to me, they brought a drone inside and the drone, my gosh, slammed into the wall and I had to have drywall repair done and it slammed into where there was some, um, artwork and so, right.

It was like, and they were lovely. They ended up fixing, but I had to put a lot of time and energy and there were damages after they left. And I, you know, again, I was like, oh, this is gonna be an awesome shoot. And I’m like, oh, the drone had a accident in the home.

Sarah Karakaian: The drone inside. Okay, cool. Well, there you go.

Annette Grant: Okay. Number five, timing and calendar blocking. I’m just airing all of my bad choices here.

Sarah Karakaian: Yeah, because this was, everyone can learn from ’em.

Annette Grant: This is one of my, like, I, I was so excited of like, oh, they only wanna do a two hour shoot. That could be perfect. They could, like, I could make a couple hundred bucks in between guest chicken checking in. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Okay. Because [00:15:00] most of the time the photo shoot needs to start earlier in the morning, so you have to block the evening before. Like Sarah said, I trusted in the beginning that they wouldn’t use the beds or the bathrooms or the kitchen. It all needs to be completely cleaned and set back up.

So really that two hours. Is most likely a two day shoot because they need it the day before and the day of, and then you need the time to clean. So just really understand, um, what their time is and hold steady on this. I know it like, ’cause I’m speaking from experience, I got so excited about that hourly rate and trying to like, you know, fill some of those, um, slower times, but it wasn’t worth it in.

In the end because I ended up either having to rush and get things taken care of, or really big being underpaid for those times. So really understand the timing. And this is the other thing, even when you have that timing down, a lot of times it’ll still show up early. That’s what was happening. [00:16:00] It’s like, Hey, you can’t check until X time.

They would get there early. Wanna get in. So you wanna be careful with that.

Pricing Your Space for Shoots

Sarah Karakaian: Number six, pricing for a shoot, what should you charge? And here’s what I can tell you. I don’t know exactly how much you specifically should charge for your specific space, but what I can tell you is it’s very different from your nightly rate, okay? It is just different ball of wax. When a guest comes for a nightly stay, that value is very, very, very, very different than when they’re coming to use your space for a content shoot. And I think actually this information coming from Annette and me, obviously we are, we host and we own property, but we also create content.

Mm-hmm. And so we actually have rented a host’s home for a content shoot for thanks for visiting. Actually, a lot of our website right now is from this gorgeous home in the Portland area of Oregon, and we found it on Peerspace and we chose it specifically because the [00:17:00] colors the. The design, the design of it, like just matched what our vision was.

We didn’t have to go out and get the artwork, get the furniture, put it on, it’s already done. That value is huge. Again, that’s

peer space. P-E-E-R-S-P-A-C-E.

Annette Grant: And if you are interested in like getting these type of like, uh, content shoots, this is another great place for you to list. So we encourage you right now.

Go to Peerspace, check out in your area. Um, what the hourly, because on Peerspace it is by hour. Hour and they, you’ll see there, it’ll say by the hour. It’ll also say the amount of people that you can have, which is obviously very different. Than Airbnb. Right. And the pricing, um, we can share, I mean, we were paying, I think it was almost 250, 300 $50 an hour.

Yeah. Right. Probably. And we gladly paid that because we knew we were using her space for commercial use. So our photographer, [00:18:00] um, that we were working with there, they flushed all of that out with like their COI and. Um, exactly how we were using the space because we did also reminder here we were using the interior and exterior space.

So that’s another question you wanna see is like, are they going to be outside too? Because you need to be aware of, of, of your neighbors and just the outdoors. Outdoor space, but Pure Space is a great place to look at this and do like price comparisons

Sarah Karakaian: and look at comparisons. Yes, of like size and how many people, but you also, when someone reaches out to you and they tell you that they are with a national brand versus a local business,

Annette Grant: a different budget. You know what I’m saying?

Sarah Karakaian: They’ve got a different budget. Now, I’m not saying a local business doesn’t have a budget. They do, but it’s very different than a large brand. Also, is there something unique about your property that they can’t. Find somewhere else There is value in that.

Annette Grant: Absolutely. And that’s where like the particular. The particular home we found on Pure Space, we, I feel we were paying a premium, [00:19:00] but it was a premium space. We could have gotten a lot of different homes at a much less, um, price, but we wanted the look, the feel, and actually all of the different rooms Yeah. That we could use. In that home. So price your space accordingly and for all of you hosts out there that might be thinking about how can you use maybe your personal home. This might be something like maybe you’re not down for overnight guests. Because our host on Peerspace, she doesn’t host overnight guests. She just hosts content shoots. So it’s a way for her to make her, um, her primary residence and income producing property.

Sarah Karakaian: Yeah. She was like, I spend so much money in this renovation and I mean, you can tell the detail was there. This helped her. Offset those costs. It was really lovely connecting with her. But we just wanna let you know, ’cause so many, I, we hear hosts all the time. Well if I’m booking the night before, like you suggested, so they can shoot all day the day of and then they get done at five. So I can’t book it that night.

So I’ll just ch I’ll just charge ’em a two nights. Stay. Uhuh.

Annette Grant: No, it needs to out

like seriously go [00:20:00] to peer space and see what competition in your area. And also like, again, if your home is special, look outside of your area. Yes. Like where you can find a comp set for yourself. Yes.

Red Flags and Final Tips

Sarah Karakaian: All right, and so like our last tip number seven is red flags. What to look out for. Now that you’ve listened to us here, you can make your own checklist of what you wanna prepare yourself for when you get an inquiry because we don’t want you relying on the production team or the production booker to give you all the information. You really gotta get all of it out of them.

Mm-hmm. To truly understand how the interior of your space is gonna be used, how the exterior of your space is going to be used, where’s the content going to be posted? Are you going to be tagged? Is the address. In the production. I mean, I can go on and on. So you really can’t ask too many questions. And I think yes, if they find you on, on the OTA, like Airbnb, have a little bit of a chat conversation, but if there’s any way they can tell you the name of the production company.

Mm-hmm. So you can have a phone call with them. Yeah. Or be able to, [00:21:00] maybe they book it and then you tell them. Let, why don’t you book it? I think this all sounds great, but I do wanna get a phone call with you, um, after you book so we can discuss it further. I think getting on a phone call is also wise. For large production, we have had production companies pay or at least put some sort of deposit down so they could do a walkthrough with us.

Mm-hmm. They wanna see the property and they wanna see if it fits their production. They’re spending a lot of money.

Annette Grant: That is common too. If it is a big production, they do want to come and scope it like. See that person,

Sarah Karakaian: and then I’ve gotta take my time and meet them there, or send someone there. For me, there needs to be some sort of compensation built into the price of that production ’cause again, you are not a studio, you know, and if you were, you would have these things built in, like the walkthrough times and things of that nature. So I just want you to think like, holistically about this and the different questions that could be asked of you.

Annette Grant: Yeah, because it’s, it’s exciting. It’s exciting to get the inquiry.

Yeah. It’s an exciting . You can make a lot of money if you start thinking about, um, the money that you can make. But you just want, like, you need to be clear on it [00:22:00] because even things happen day of during, um, a content shoot. So the, the more you can discuss it, and again, we’ve went through all of the thing, like the real life, um, from the movie shoots to the boudoir photos, to the commercials. All of it. And there’s always, there was always kind of a surprise with each each endeavor. But again, sure, it’ll super, and they could continue to be surprised. Yeah. They can be super profitable. You could create great long lasting relationships. So we definitely want you to dig in and if you can, um, if there’s another way for you to diversify your property.

Absolutely.

Conclusion and Call to Action

Annette Grant: Now we want you to brag about yourself a little like email us hi@thanksforvisiting.com. If you have like had a content shoot that was for a national brand or on a commercial or a movie or a big time influencer, we wanna hear about your experience, we’d love for you to share that with us.

So email us at hi@thanksforvisiting.com and brag about yourself a little bit.

Sarah Karakaian: And with that, I am Sarah Karakaian.

Annette Grant: I’m Annette Grant. And together we are Thanks for Visiting. Talk to you next [00:23:00] time.