Film Crew Hire in Edinburgh

You pay each crew member’s day rate, which goes to them in full, plus our 10% booking fee and 2% insurance on everything we book, kit included. A DOP and a sound recordist for the day comes to £1,568 + VAT. Edinburgh adds its own lines to the quote: Film Edinburgh’s Notice of No Objection, £56 plus VAT for a crew under ten, and a suspended parking bay at the pay-and-display rate for every hour it’s out of use (checked October 2026). If we’re the producer of record, it’s quoted as a production instead: everything at cost, plus a 15% production fee and 5% for insurance and contingency, and every production starts at £9,500.

Yes. We’re a crew agency with 2,800+ freelance crew on our books across the UK, so we can scale a crew from one person for a morning to a full unit for a week. We book crew in and around Edinburgh first. When a shoot needs more hands, or a role Edinburgh is short of that week, we bring them in from elsewhere in Scotland, the north of England or London, and the travel is on the quote before anything is booked. We don’t have an Edinburgh office: our producers run Edinburgh shoots from our bases in London, Manchester, Bristol and Cornwall, and our headquarters is at 124 City Road, London.

Who’s the producer of record. With crew hire, you or your producer run the shoot and carry the production: we find, book, brief and pay the crew, and book kit or travel if you want it, for 10% plus 2% insurance. With a full production, we take it on: our producer plans and runs it, and we book and pay for the crew, kit, locations, the Film Edinburgh, Historic Environment Scotland and Network Rail permissions, and travel in our name, on one contract. That’s quoted as a production: everything at cost, plus 15% and 5% for insurance and contingency.

Our team reads every brief within 2 working hours and comes back with names and the full price. What usually sets the date is permission, not crew. A parking dispensation wants at least 24 hours, a council park 48 hours, a suspended pay bay three working days, a road closure of under five days two weeks and a longer one ten weeks; Waverley wants five working days for a crew of up to ten (checked October 2026). In August, allow more time: the festivals fill the Old Town.

On council land, yes. Film Edinburgh, the City of Edinburgh Council’s film office, permits filming on council streets, parks and kirkyards, and covers East Lothian, Midlothian and the Scottish Borders too. Its Notice of No Objection is £56 for a crew under ten, £166 for 11 to 24 and £331 for 25 to 74; 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). Every application needs £10m public liability. A small crew filming on the street with nothing closed off still tells Film Edinburgh first, so it can let local officers and Police Scotland know. The Castle and Holyrood Park need Historic Environment Scotland, and Waverley needs Network Rail, each on top. On a full production we apply for all of it; on a crew hire it’s yours, and we’ll tell you who to ask.

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 maximum height and flight plan; in a park, drone filming permission is £184 an hour plus VAT (2026–27, checked October 2026). Drones of 2 kg to 25 kg can’t be flown over residential, commercial or recreational areas. Around Edinburgh Airport, inside the flight restriction zone, you need air traffic control’s permission, and Historic Environment Scotland’s land, Holyrood Park included, needs its consent as well.

Edinburgh’s Low Emission Zone covers the city centre, and there’s no charge to pay your way in: petrol cars and vans must meet Euro 4 and diesels Euro 6, and one that doesn’t is sent a £60 penalty, then £120, £240 and £480 for repeats within 90 days (checked October 2026). We only book vehicles that meet it. A parking dispensation lets a working vehicle stop on a yellow line, from £16 a vehicle with 24 hours’ notice; a suspended bay is charged at the pay-and-display rate for every operating hour of the suspension; and vehicle access to Calton Hill or Princes Street Gardens is £140, in an insured 4×4. Each goes on the quote as its own line.

Yes, with the owner’s permission. Edinburgh Castle and Holyrood Park are cared for by Historic Environment Scotland, which needs written permission before any filming; its fees start at £300 for up to two hours on site, with road closures in the park and base units charged on top (checked October 2026). Edinburgh 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, with up to £10m public liability, and while the platforms are being expanded some areas may be off limits.

Yes, on the same quote as the crew. 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 and product days, smaller studios are hired by the day. We check what’s free for your dates, and on a crew hire the studio goes on at the same 10% + 2% as everything else we book.

Many own theirs, from camera packages to lighting kits, and it goes on the quote as its own line so you can compare. Otherwise we hire it in: Lights Camera Scotland hires camera and lighting kit from between the city centre and the airport, Live Systems on North Leith Sands hires sound, lighting and camera kit, and Wex Rental hands over booked kit on Haddington Place. Bigger packages come from Glasgow or London. Kit we hire in goes on at the same 10% + 2%.

Not in the payroll sense: most UK film crew are freelance. Instead, your contract is with us, a UK company. We contract and pay the UK crew, hold £10m employers’ liability, and send one invoice, so you don’t need a UK company to shoot in Edinburgh. Your own travelling team stays on your payroll. If you’d rather we ran it as your production service company, we’re the producer of record and our policy covers the shoot, £10m public liability included.

Two things. Employers’ liability for every crew member we book, up to £10m, and insurance on the kit we hire in for you. That’s what the 2% pays for. A large kit rental may need extra insurance, as its own line on the quote. The 2% doesn’t insure the rest of the shoot: public liability, the location, your own kit and anything you book yourself stay with you, because you’re the producer of record. If you’d rather we were, it’s quoted as a full production, and our insurance covers the whole shoot, public liability included. In Edinburgh, Film Edinburgh asks for £10m public liability on every application, and Network Rail up to £10m at Waverley (checked October 2026), and on a crew hire the certificate they want is yours.