Video production company in Edinburgh

Corporate films, brand films and adverts, shot in Edinburgh.

Films for Edinburgh’s companies, institutions and agencies, from the first idea to the final grade. We write it, shoot it anywhere from a New Town boardroom to the Shore at Leith, and cut, grade and mix it with our post team.

A hand resting on sphagnum moss on a peat bog, from The Living Layer A dragonfly resting on an open palm, from The Living Layer

Featured film

The Living Layer

Overall Winner, Edinburgh Conservation Film Festival 2026. A year on the moors of the South West, for the South West Peatland Partnership.

Watch the film

500+ productions for brands, broadcasters and institutions

Who we are

A video production company, making films in Edinburgh

Here Now Films is a video production company making corporate videos, brand films, documentaries and TV commercials in Edinburgh and across the Lothians and the Borders, from the first idea to the final grade. We’ve made 500+ productions for brands, broadcasters and institutions, in sixteen countries.

Edinburgh shoots come with their own conversations: Film Edinburgh for the streets and parks, Historic Environment Scotland at the Castle, a compliance review when the film comes out of an investment house, and an Old Town that fills up every August. We plan for all of it from the first call, and you deal with one producer from the brief to the final files.

How an Edinburgh shoot runs
The Old Town skyline and Edinburgh Castle from Calton Hill, with the Dugald Stewart Monument in the foreground

The Old Town from Calton Hill. Photo: Edoardo Bortoli on Unsplash.

In numbers

Productions made for brands, broadcasters, charities and institutions.

500+

Freelance crew on our books, across the UK.

2,800+

London King’s Cross to Edinburgh Waverley on LNER’s fastest trains (checked October 2026).

4h10

Average rating across 54 Google reviews.

5.0

The work we make

Made across the UK and abroad, by the same team

The film that won in Edinburgh was made on the moors of the South West. The rest were made across the UK and abroad, and they’re the standard an Edinburgh shoot gets: the same producers, the same kind of crew, the same post team.

Explore all our work

Services

What we make in Edinburgh, and what it costs

Six kinds of work, one team. We publish prices because it saves everyone a week.

The honest range

Every production starts at £9,500. Most single films we make land between £9,500 and £25,000; shoot days, locations, crew size and the edit move the number.

Shoot only

£2,690

One day, in Edinburgh or anywhere in the UK. A two-person crew, lit and recorded properly. 4K footage for your own edit.

Full production

from £9,500

The idea, the shoot, the edit, grade and sound, from one team. Brand films, documentary, corporate films and customer stories all start here.

TV commercials

from £15,000

Regional TV and Sky AdSmart, idea to delivery, as for Twycross Zoo.

Multi-market campaign

Scoped from the brief

A director and art department, several countries, film or digital, one grade across every asset. Cohere is the worked example.

Resources

Guides to filming in Edinburgh

Six free guides to the practical side of a shoot here: who gives permission and what it costs, where the studios and kit houses are, how parking and the Low Emission Zone work, and how the rushes get home. On the films we produce, we sort all of it. Figures checked October 2026.

  • Victoria Street in Edinburgh’s Old Town, its painted shopfronts curving down from the terrace above
    01

    Filming permits in Edinburgh

    Council streets, parks and kirkyards all go through one office, Film Edinburgh, which also covers East Lothian, Midlothian and the Borders. The Castle and Holyrood Park say yes for themselves, and so does Waverley.

    Notice of No Objection, under 10 crew
    £56 + VAT
    Public liability, every shoot
    £10m
    A park, over 4 hours or 6+ people
    £189 an hour
    Read the guide
  • The Shore at Leith, Edinburgh, its stone warehouses and tenements reflected in the Water of Leith
    02

    Film studios in Edinburgh

    FirstStage Studios in Leith, home to The Rig, Anansi Boys and Department Q, has five stages up to 25 metres high and a 25-metre pit that works as a tank. Smaller studios for interviews and product are hired by the day.

    Shooting space, FirstStage
    100,000+ sq ft
    Gantry crane, Stage B
    60 tonnes
    Read the guide
  • A cinema camera with a film magazine on top, on one of our shoots
    03

    Film equipment hire in Edinburgh

    Lights Camera Scotland hires camera and lighting kit between the city centre and the airport, Live Systems does sound, lighting and camera from North Leith Sands, and Wex Rental hands over booked kit on Haddington Place. Bigger packages come from Glasgow or London.

    Wex, delivery to the Edinburgh store
    allow 3 days
    Lights Camera Scotland
    24-hour collection
    Read the guide
  • A train running into Edinburgh Waverley below the Old Town, the station roof on the right
    04

    Shoot logistics in Edinburgh

    The Low Emission Zone has no daily charge: a van that doesn’t meet it is fined. A parking dispensation lets a working vehicle stop on a yellow line, and a suspended bay costs the pay-and-display rate for every hour it’s out of use.

    Low Emission Zone, first penalty
    £60
    Parking dispensation, per vehicle
    £16
    Road closure under five days
    £675, 2 weeks’ notice
    Read the guide
  • Edinburgh Castle above the rooftops of the Old Town, with the Balmoral clock tower on the right
    05

    Castles, kirkyards and Holyrood Park

    Historic Environment Scotland looks after the Castle and Holyrood Park, and wants written permission before anyone films. The council’s kirkyards, Greyfriars among them, are permitted through Film Edinburgh.

    Historic Environment Scotland
    from £300 for 2 hours
    Large shoot, a city-centre kirkyard
    £357 an hour
    Read the guide
  • A DIT copying footage from a laptop to a drive
    06

    DIT and data for Edinburgh shoots

    Every card checked and copied twice before it’s wiped. Then the rushes leave Edinburgh on a train from Waverley, by courier, by upload, or straight to our own edit.

    DIT, day rate
    £527
    Verified copies per card
    2
    Read the guide

Victoria Street, the Shore at Leith, Waverley and the Castle above the Old Town. Photos: Madeleine Kohler, Stuart Hay, Ivan Bokii and Wyatt Simpson on Unsplash; Here Now Films.

Lead times, at a glance

The minimum notice each permission wants, shortest first. Book the shoot with more than this and nobody’s rushing. In August, allow more: the festivals fill the Old Town.

  • A parking dispensation24 hours
  • A council park or greenspace48 hours
  • A suspended pay bay3 working days
  • Waverley, up to ten crew5 working days
  • A road closure under five days2 weeks
  • A road closure of five days or more10 weeks

How we work

How an Edinburgh shoot runs. One team.

Most films pass through two suppliers: an agency writes the idea, then hands it to a production company to make. On an Edinburgh shoot we run all five stages as one team, and tell you where we are every Friday.

Swipe to see all five stages →

  1. 01

    Brief

    What the film has to do, agreed before anyone mentions cameras. We read every brief within 2 working hours.

  2. 02

    The idea

    A written treatment, and boards where the budget carries them. For The Living Layer the idea was a year on the moors, following the work from the planning to the first moss on bare peat.

  3. 03

    Pre-production

    Locations, the Film Edinburgh application, Historic Environment Scotland or Network Rail where the location needs them, a Low Emission Zone check on the vans, talent and crew.

  4. 04

    Shoot

    A crew sized to the day: two people for an interview in a New Town office, a full unit for a street scene in the Old Town.

  5. 05

    Post

    Edit, grade and mix by our own post team, delivered in every format the media plan needs.

Creative agencyWrites the idea, then hands it on. Covers stages 01 and 02.

Production companyMakes the film, usually from somebody else’s idea. Covers stages 03 to 05.

Here Now FilmsThe idea, the shoot, the edit and the crew, from one team. Covers all five stages.

Then the next one. AlTi Tiedemann Global came back for six productions.

  • A roster of 20+ directors
  • 2,800+ crew across the UK
  • Prices on the page

Crew hire

Film crew hire in Edinburgh, for productions from anywhere

DOPs, camera operators, sound recordists, gaffers, runners and the rest of a unit, for one day or a full shoot, each paid their full day rate.

From a morning’s interview at the EICC to a week on a stage in Leith, we book the crew the brief needs, with any travel on the quote. We add a 10% booking fee and 2% insurance, which covers employers’ liability for every crew member we book, and send the full price before anything is booked.

A camera operator beside a 35mm film camera on a clifftop, the director at his shoulder
On set for Cohere, on 35mm in Cornwall. The crew on an Edinburgh shoot is booked the same way.
  • From £850 a day DOPs in Edinburgh The look of the film, and the light that makes it. Many bring their own camera.
  • £529–656 a day Camera operators Interviews, conferences at the EICC, and multi-camera days.
  • £550 a day Sound recordists Radio mics, boom and recorder, and a plan for the wind on Calton Hill.
  • From £750 a day Drone operators Edinburgh Airport’s restriction zone, the council’s permission, and the parks’ rules.
  • From £450 a day Producers Film Edinburgh applications, letters, call sheets and the day itself, run for you.
“Here Now Films is always my first call when filming internationally in the UK… They matched the exact camera and lighting kit I use back in the States.”
Matt Dunstan
Director, United States

All 24 roles, from director to editor, with their rates: crew roles in Edinburgh. Shooting somewhere else? Film crew hire across the UK

Recognition

Awards and recognition

Festival juries, broadcasters, trade awards and client reviews. Each one is tied to a named film or a public listing.

  • Overall WinnerEdinburgh Conservation Film Festival · The Living Layer
  • Regional Panorama AwardCineEco · The Bio Estrela Project
  • Top Video Production Company, UKClutch 2026, from client reviews
  • Highly Commended, Best Small Agency (Global)The Drum Awards
  • Best Media StartupUK Business Awards
  • BroadcastBBC World News · Survival: To the Brink & Back
  • Commissioned: the Outstanding Contribution filmSony World Photography Awards · Joel Meyerowitz 2026
  • Featured Project, UK Films DatabaseBritish Council · Survival: To the Brink & Back 2025
  • SelectedGood Fest · The Regenerative Farm, for Heligan
  • The Here Now Films team at The Drum Awards

Members of EVCOM, BIMA and Bristol Creative Industries.

Getting here

Edinburgh, four hours up the line

Our team works from London, with bases in Manchester, Bristol and Cornwall. Edinburgh is about four hours up the East Coast Main Line from King’s Cross and three from Manchester, so our producer comes up by train and the crew is booked where the shoot is.

The UK

Rings are our bases. Numbers are our nearest shoots.

To Waverley

  • London King’s CrossAbout 4 hours 10 minutes on LNER’s fastest trains
  • Manchester PiccadillyAbout 3 hours 10 minutes, direct on TransPennine Express
  • Edinburgh AirportUnder 35 minutes to the city centre on the tram

Fastest trains, checked October 2026. Kit comes by van, inside the Low Emission Zone only when it meets the standard.

Our nearest shoots

  1. 01Manchester and BoltonDavies Group · Crews in three cities
  2. 02Alderley Edge, CheshireThe Athletic, for NYT Studios
  3. 03The Peak District and Tatton ParkFatFace · A national campaign

Reviews

What clients say

5.0 from 54 Google reviews · Clutch Top Video Production Company, UK 2026

“Supremely high standard of work. They understood exactly what we needed and delivered beyond expectations.”
Miranda Spiro
Global Marketing Director, AlTi Tiedemann Global
“Their ability to quickly assemble professional and talented crews was impressive, and their dedication to meeting our deadlines was commendable.”
Mopani Mkandawire
Campaign Marketing and Internal Communications Manager, Davies Group
“The Here Now Films team helped us conduct a remote shoot in London, from San Francisco. The team made the process as smooth as possible.”
Maxie Harrington
Google review

Video production by sector

All sectors

FAQ

Video production in Edinburgh: questions

Something we haven’t answered? Our team reads every brief within 2 working hours.

Drop us a line

Do you make films in Edinburgh?

Yes. We make corporate films, brand films, documentaries and TV commercials in Edinburgh and across the Lothians and the Borders, from the idea to the final grade, and we crew other people’s shoots here too. One of our producers runs every job, and our post team cuts, grades and mixes the film. Our documentary The Living Layer was named Overall Winner at the 2026 Edinburgh Conservation Film Festival, and our six productions for AlTi Tiedemann Global show how we run a shoot with a crew booked where the people are.

Where’s your team?

Our base is in London, at 124 City Road, with bases in Manchester, Bristol and Cornwall. We don’t have an Edinburgh office. Our producers plan and run Edinburgh shoots, and we book the crew each brief needs, with any travel on the quote before anything is booked. Waverley is about four hours ten from King’s Cross on LNER’s fastest trains (checked October 2026). Our team reads every brief within 2 working hours.

How much does video production cost in Edinburgh?

Every production starts at £9,500, and most single films land between £9,500 and £25,000. Shoot days, locations, crew size and how much the edit has to produce move the number. A TV commercial for regional TV or Sky AdSmart starts at £15,000. If you only need a crew, a DOP and a sound recordist come to £1,568 for an 11-hour day, with our booking fee and insurance, before kit and any travel from outside Edinburgh.

Do we need a permit to film in Edinburgh?

On council land, yes. Film Edinburgh, the City of Edinburgh Council’s film office, handles streets, parks and kirkyards, and covers East Lothian, Midlothian and the Scottish Borders too. Every application needs £10m public liability, twice the £5m minimum Birmingham’s film office asks for. Its Notice of No Objection is £56 for a crew under ten and £166 for 11 to 24, and a park is £79 for under four hours with five people or fewer, then £189 an hour, all plus VAT (2026–27, checked October 2026). A small crew filming on the street with nothing closed off still tells Film Edinburgh first, so it can let Police Scotland know. On the films we produce, we make the application. More on filming permits in Edinburgh.

Can you fly a drone in Edinburgh?

Yes, with the right permissions. Taking off or landing on council land needs the council’s permission through Film Edinburgh: the pilot’s Operator ID and Flyer ID, public liability and drone insurance, and a risk assessment and method statement with the flight plan. In a park, drone filming permission is £184 an hour plus VAT (2026–27, checked October 2026). Inside Edinburgh Airport’s flight restriction zone you also need air traffic control’s permission, and Edinburgh Castle and Holyrood Park need Historic Environment Scotland’s consent. More on drone operators in Edinburgh.

How does the Low Emission Zone affect a shoot?

Edinburgh’s Low Emission Zone covers the city centre, and there’s no daily charge to pay your way in. Petrol cars and vans have to meet Euro 4 and diesels Euro 6; one that doesn’t is sent a £60 penalty, rising to £120, £240 and £480 for repeats within 90 days (checked October 2026). We check every van and car before it’s booked. A parking dispensation lets a working vehicle stop on a yellow line, from £16 a vehicle with at least 24 hours’ notice, and a suspended bay is charged at the pay-and-display rate for every hour of the suspension. More on parking and the Low Emission Zone.

Can you film at Edinburgh Castle, in Holyrood Park or at Waverley?

Yes, with the owners’ permission. The Castle and Holyrood Park are cared for by Historic Environment Scotland, which needs written permission before filming; its fees start at £300 for up to two hours on site, with road closures in the park charged on top (checked October 2026). Waverley is a Network Rail managed station: corporate and commercial filming is £750 an hour for up to ten crew, two hours minimum, plus VAT (checked October 2026), and while the platforms are being expanded some areas may be off limits.

Are there film studios in Edinburgh?

Yes. FirstStage Studios, on Bath Road in Leith, has hosted The Rig, Anansi Boys and Department Q. It has over 100,000 sq ft of shooting space across five stages up to 25 metres high, a 60-tonne gantry crane across Stage B, and a 25-metre pit that can be used as a tank (Film Edinburgh, checked October 2026). For interviews, product and green screen, smaller studios are hired by the day, and we check what’s free for your dates.

Where do you hire camera kit in Edinburgh?

Lights Camera Scotland hires camera and lighting kit from between the city centre and the airport, with 24-hour collection and drop-off; Live Systems, on North Leith Sands, hires sound, lighting and camera kit; and Wex Rental hands over booked kit at its store on Haddington Place, with three days allowed for delivery to the store. Bigger packages come from Glasgow or London. On a crew booking, many DOPs and camera operators bring their own kit, and it goes on the quote as its own line.

Can you film in Edinburgh in August?

Yes, but plan for it. In August the Fringe, the International Festival and the Tattoo fill the Old Town. When Baby Reindeer filmed mid-Fringe, Film Edinburgh pointed the production to a reduced crew on the Royal Mile, and that’s the model for a festival street. If the street doesn’t have to be the festival, another month is easier on the schedule and quieter for sound.

Do you crew Edinburgh shoots for other production companies?

Yes. Production companies, agencies and in-house teams book Edinburgh crews through us, from one camera operator for a day to a full unit. You run the shoot; we find, book and brief the crew, and send the full price before anything is booked. Overseas teams contract with us, a UK company, so they don’t need one of their own. Film crew hire in Edinburgh

Tell us what you’re making.

Our team reads every brief within 2 working hours. Or call us on +44 7412 543822.