Liverpool Location scout for This City Is Ours reveals what makes the perfect TV or film house

The scout who found Liverpool locations for BBC’s crime drama This City Is Ours has revealed what she looked for – and what makes the perfect filming house.

Faye Newton began working on This City Is Ours in February last year. When the first scripts landed in her inbox, the production was in such early stages that not all the characters and storylines were fully developed.

Faye, who set up Liverpool Locations over 12 years ago with her sister Claire, was tasked with finding everything from homes to street scenes – including the house for Sean Bean’s character, drug gang boss Ronnie Phelan.

She explains: “I read the scripts and then started filling our Dropbox with lots of ideas and reference pictures for the production team to think about.

“With Ronnie, for example, they weren’t sure if he’d have a big flashy house or something more low key. I threw a mix into that Dropbox so they could see what exists in Liverpool, and in the end they decided they wanted him to be more discreet.”

Although she often works as a location manager, for this production Faye was a scout, using her expertise and knowledge of the city to find an exact fit.

“I’ve been in the industry for 24 years and worked all over the UK,” she says. “We now work around the North West and we know Liverpool so well and do so many projects here.

“I was on this production for a few months, putting together a complete mix of locations including houses and restaurants to suit different character types.

“Once they choose which they’d like to see, the heads of department visit and look at them for real and that’s when they whittle it down to the ones they want. At that stage we discuss with the owners any disruption involved, the hours and payment so they can decide if they want to go ahead.”

Liverpool Locations works closely with Liverpool Film Office when it’s scouting for places within the region to shoot some of the biggest films and TV series.

And, while Faye and Claire already have a massive database, they’re always keen to add to it.

So, with an increasing number of productions choosing Liverpool, what does Faye look for when she’s on a scouting mission …

Size – it does matter!

“Somewhere may fit the description, but is there space within the house for all the monitors? There could be about 40-60 crew who need to be inside at the same time so if, for instance, the brief says a terraced house I’d usually think the bigger the better, although there is an option to have crew in neighbours’ houses. Open plan is brilliant because there are always those conversations in kitchens and all the crew, cameras and equipment need to get in that space as well.”

Accessibility

“We often have 18-tonne trucks, maybe 6 or 8, needing to park the street, so you could have the most amazing location but if there isn’t enough parking we probably can’t use it because logistically we can’t bring all the equipment there.”

It doesn’t need to look ‘wow’

“Not all characters live in a home that’s immaculate. I’ve been to houses where people apologise for a room not being painted but actually that’s fine because we’ll paint it. A lot of the time, even if it’s perfect, we might want to repaint and decorate it anyway but we’ll always put it back as it was or better. People could be worried about their damp basement, but that could be brilliant, so there are certain areas they might think aren’t nice but they’re exactly what we’re looking for.”

Keep the noise down

“Certain locations might be really noisy so I always look to see if somewhere is next to a school because then obviously you’ve got kids coming out to play, or maybe near a railway, an airport or a construction site. Sometimes we can work around those things but they can cause an issue.”

Flexibility

“Some characters might only need to film for a day, or it could be a couple of weeks plus we allow dressing time and reinstatement either side of filming. We might take over every single room and then, depending on budget, the owners could be put up in a hotel or Air BnB. Alternatively, filming may finish by a certain time or we’re not using bedrooms so they can come back and stay if they prefer that. If a room has been dressed we ask them not to use it because of continuity, and they sign an NDA not to take photos and share them online. Sometimes people can watch filming, but often they have to go to work so the first time they see it is when it comes out.”

You can watch This City Is Ours now on BBC and iPlayer.

Read more features from The Guide Liverpool here.