Film Locations Glossary
Cover set
What is a cover set?
Also called cover.
A cover set is an interior location or stage held in reserve so the unit has somewhere to shoot if weather kills an exterior.
It has to be dressed, lit, permitted, and genuinely ready to receive the company at short notice, which means paying for it on days it is never used. Productions in wet seasons treat cover as insurance rather than as waste.
Example
A shoot with eight exterior days in a wet month holds a dressed interior on standby for the whole block. It is paid for every week and used twice, which is cheaper than losing two full days to rain with nothing to shoot.
Figures are illustrative, chosen to show the mechanics rather than to quote market rates.
Where you'll see it
Carried in the schedule as insurance, and budgeted as a real location whether or not it is used.
Common mistake
Calling an undressed, unpermitted interior a cover set. Real cover has to be ready to receive the company the same morning, or the rained-out day is lost anyway.
Related questions
- How quickly does a cover set have to be usable?
- Same morning. If the unit cannot move to it and start shooting within the day it was called for, it is a location on a list rather than working cover.
- Do you pay for a cover set you never use?
- Yes. It is held, dressed, and often permitted for the whole exterior block, which is what makes it insurance rather than waste.