Hospital Location
 

I'm on a crunch to shoot a quick simple scene in a hospital type invironment. Character has lost his marbles and family is visiting him in a wellness living home. Any ideas for where to shoot that cheaply?

The equipment to stage a hospital room is cheap
 

and easy to rent. Call your local medical supply story (they're in the yellow pages usually under rentals or medical supplies) - you can get hospital beds, trays, IV poles. Other than that, call some nursing homes - sometimes they are quite amenable. Finding a nursing home is a numbers game - you just have to call and call until someone says yes. You may call 5 nursing homes, 20 nursing homes or 100 nursing homes.

Also, call your local film commission. They may have some very good ideas about where to shoot - even if you're ultra-low budget.

Brannon,

Also get in touch with a location scout. It might be less $$$ and hassle to pay a location fee than to have to set up a studio to look like a medical facility. I've had to do quite a few of these, but for still photography/healthcare concerns.

Also the marketing/PR dept. at any hospital may be able to help. Your financial offer should be something that would make it worth their while, since someone form that marketing/pr dept. will probably want to be around for the shoot. You are in LA, so there should be a million places that may have accommodated production in some form or another.

Don't forget the location releases, and afterwards, send the people at the hospital who were involved a basket of flowers, cookies, something as a thanks, and then keep their information in a well guarded place, in the event you need to do this again.

Good luck.

Jonathan