locations Securing a difficult location

Hey everyone~
I'm looking to make a series of films inside a gas station. So far securing a location has been difficult. Does anyone have any advice how to approach places like these? I'm starting with a 2 day shoot. All filmed at night. My hometown Las Vegas, NV. I really don't want to pay but if it's reasonable we'll see.

It's a teaser that my proudction will use to get a grant from the city to hopefully make the series happen.
 
It is a continous pov of someone walking into and through said gas station.

You can probably cheat that - I did it with the interior & exterior of a theater in my 2nd feature. We shot the exterior in Saint Petersburg, FL and the interior in Lakewood, NJ. We just made sure that they were believable as the inside and outside of the same building.

I understand that you may want a continuous shot, but I suggest that that's the easiest thing to compromise on, unless it's somehow intrinsic to the story.
 
Was it on this site that someone recounted their location nightmare that turned out for the better? The art-gallery that was suddenly rendered unavailable and the scene had to be re-written to take place in a hair salon at short notice. If a night-time gas station is proving to be beyond reach, perhaps it's time for some communal brainstorming?

The gas station is a character in the series, so changing that would change the story beyond recognition.
 
I understand that you may want a continuous shot, but I suggest that that's the easiest thing to compromise on, unless it's somehow intrinsic to the story.

Planning on employing ways of hiding cuts. For example The Rope.

Are you saying that you'd want the owner of the gas station to let you come back many times to shoot for the entire series?

No this is just the teaser. Securing state funding, we'd pay the location whatever fee basically.
 
Thanks for answering all our questions! Since you live in Phoenix, if you need a classic filling station look you might want to check out Pete's Route 66 Gas Station Museum. If the era is not correct you might be able to use your own props.

petes gas station museum.jpg
 
I remember that being mentioned somewhere. Every "business" I went to wanted at least $4-5k per day for the space.
When the business quotes that much money, this is when you stop trying to be "bigger" than you really are, (don't say "We're making a movie"). Instead, you try to become "smaller"...("We are making a student video with a tiny camera and a just a couple of people"). When you say "we're making a movie", the business is thinking UNIVERSAL STUDIOS. We have to convince them that we're not a big budget major studio. If you're shooting with a D-5...show them the (small) camera. Promise to shoot handheld in natural light if you have to.
 
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try to become "smaller"

Yes - great!

I had a terrific lesson in this when I was trying to get a permit to shoot scenes from my first feature both inside and outside my parents' house (they had already agreed AND I had insurance for the entire project). I knew we'd have a lot of trucks and cars on the street for several days, so I wanted to do it by the book to avoid problems.

I filled out all the paperwork, and brought it to the city clerk's office. They said no. Absolutely, positively no. It turns out that the town had had a very bad experience ten years earlier with a big Hollywood production that made a mess of the town for weeks. After that, they vowed that they'd never give out another film permit for anything - so the rule was on the books for p.r. only.

I explained the entire situation to the (quite nice) city clerk, who knew my parents (everyone did). She got on the phone with the police chief and had a whispered conversation. Then she took me in her office, sat me down, and this was the conversation we had.

City clerk: Repeat after me: I am interviewing my mother about her family [note - I had already told her that the movie was inspired by my mom's family].

Me: I am interviewing my mother about her family.

City clerk: Great. No matter who asks you what, stick to that!

Follow up: I sent my parents to the beach for a few days to celebrate my dad's birthday - aka get them out of the way.

My dad - a retired lawyer - told me to keep the crew and the cameras etc on their property, and follow parking rules, and there would be nothing the cops could do.

I was scrupulous about this - to the point where we shot a pick up scene that takes place in a car with it parked on the lawn.

The cops drove by slowly many times, but never stopped.

On my second feature, we also shot at their house but (intentionally) only indoors. I didn't ask for a permit that time.

So yeah - what @Rayandmigdalia said - look as small and unimportant as possible!
 
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When the business quotes that much money, this is when you stop trying to be "bigger" than you really are, (don't say "We're making a movie"). Instead, you try to become "smaller"...("We are making a student video with a tiny camera and a just a couple of people"). When you say "we're making a movie", the business is thinking UNIVERSAL STUDIOS. We have to convince them that we're not a big budget major studio. If you're shooting with a D-5...show them the (small) camera. Promise to shoot handheld in natural light if you have to.

Makes sense, I still have my College Student ID somewhere....
 
I hope you don't mind me replying, I am really new to this but I still might be able to help. Every so often gas stations need to replace their storage tanks, this does not affect the inside of the location only the outside by the pumps. Typically they are closed during this upgrade, you could find out what construction company does the upgrades in your area and ask if they have any on their schedule.
 
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I hope you don't mind me replying, I am really new to this but I still might be able to help. Every so often gas stations need to replace their storage tanks, this does not affect the inside of the location only the outside by the pumps. Typically they are closed during this upgrade, you could find out what construction company does the upgrades in your area and ask if they have any on their schedule.

A good suggestion for the project. It’s ok that you are new we like all opinions
 
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