Film Locations Glossary
Distant location
What is a distant location?
Also called distant loc, or on location.
A distant location is one far enough from the production's home base that crew must be housed and fed away overnight rather than traveling in daily.
The threshold is set by the applicable union agreement rather than by feel, and crossing it triggers per diem, accommodation, travel days, and different hour rules. A location twenty minutes past the line costs materially more than one twenty minutes inside it.
Example
A location 45 minutes past the studio zone boundary puts 90 crew in hotels, on per diem, with paid travel days at both ends. The same look 20 minutes inside the boundary costs none of it, which is why the scout keeps checking the line.
Figures are illustrative, chosen to show the mechanics rather than to quote market rates.
Where you'll see it
Defined by the applicable union agreement, and the trigger for accommodation and per diem budgeting.
Common mistake
Scouting on look and checking the zone boundary afterwards. Crossing it adds hotels, per diem, and travel days for the entire unit, which can outweigh the location fee many times over.
Related questions
- What makes a location distant?
- Being far enough from the production's base that crew must be housed overnight rather than traveling in daily, as defined by the applicable union agreement.
- What does distant location trigger?
- Accommodation, per diem, paid travel days, and in many agreements different hour and turnaround rules for the whole unit.