For all inquiries, please contact me at nycscout@gmail.com.
HIRE
I work as a professional movie scout in New York City and have thousands of ready-to-go rental-friendly locations on file, from office space and apartments to castles and abandoned warehouses.
Here’s how it works:
- You email me details about your project, INCLUDING BUDGET, along with a list of locations you’re searching for
- I will provide you with galleries of options without contact info
- For each location you want contact info for, I charge a flat rate scalable to your overall project size. You only pay for the options you like.
- That’s it! You’re then on your own to negotiate with the location directly for pricing, dates, etc.
Note: e-mails that do not include a budget will not be answered!
SUBMIT
If you have a property you’d like to submit for filming consideration, please send an email with pictures and your contact info (including address!) to nycscout@gmail.com. I will add it to my locations library and contact you if there is interest from a client (note: I will never give out your personal information).
Hi scoutingny! I don’t know if this would interest to you, but it is definitely unique. This should experienced at night, because you can’t see it during the day. On the west side of the Park Avenue sidewalk, between 36th and 37th street there is a small construction crew. I don’t know what they are working on, but I’m pretty sure its a ventilation shaft for the LIRR connection to GCT. When you are walking on the grate look down. You will see below your feet, a shaft nearly as wide as the sidewalk which goes down at least 15-20 stories, much farther down than any subway tunnel. This picture does not do it justice but, this thing is friggin’ HUGE and friggin’ DEEP! It is a truly unnerving experience. When I was walking on it tonight it was shaking. I can compare it to looking down the sears tower skydeck. http://i.imgur.com/zDBGr.jpg
I’d like to send you a photo of a house you might be interested in.What is your email address?
I read your story about the beautiful dog you found. Please, please do not send it to a kill shelter. There is a facility in Middletown NY called Pets Alive (petsalive.com). They rehabilitate dogs and have a no kill policy. They will keep the animal for its entire life if they have to. Please call them at (845) 386-9738 and ask to speak to Trudy. They save dogs from high kill shelters in the south as well as in Puerto Rico at a place called Dead Dog Beach. They are an absolutely wonderful organization. I am sure this dog is adoptable from what you have described.
After reading the response people had to helping the beautiful pit; I was hoping maybe someone could help….. Do you know anyone that would be interested in adopting a 15 year old 5lb female cat ? Her name is Maggie. I rescued her from being euthanized. She has a hyper-thyroid and I will pay for her meds and the procedure she needs with my vet to repair her thyroid. I wil even take her to the vet for her appointments. She does not get along with other cats or she would live with me; we tried.
She is very loving and we bonded very fast. She is staying at my vets until I find her a home. I visit her everyday. Maggie likes dogs and people; she needs someone she can cuddle up to. Her previous home life was not good.
I can send photos if you think you know anyone…. I’m heartbroken.
If you have any ideas, i will set up a special email for Maggie.
if you are interested in adopting Maggie
Hi Scout
My GF who was born in New York turned me on to your site I LOVE it. I was born and raised in Texas but have such a fascination for New York. My job requires me to be on Google maps and Bing maps all the time. I often just take cyber vacation and look around. Have you blogged on the Brother Islands?? I am so curios about them from what I see in the satellite views. Also in the end of Gangs of New York they show the graves of the people who we involved in the early early years. Does such a place exist? Oh and I plan to donate as soon as possible to your movie. Kind of on a bad luck streak lately got robbed a month a go and also got a DWI this weekend. Your site helps get my mind off of those things. Thanks!
Thank you,
Thomas Montoya
I own a brownstone in Ft. Greene Bklyn.
I have the Parlor and Garden available till March for shooting.
please email me if interested.
mitchell.ratchik@gmail.com
photos/tours upon request.
299 Clermont ave.
Brooklyn, NY 11205
I went to St. Ann’s in Brooklyn Heights (back in the 70′s). Since you like scouting old schools, see if you can tour St. Ann’s. It used to be some sort of affluent “gentlemen’s club” with old bowling alleys, a pool, etc. in the “sub sub sub” basement. Students weren’t allowed down there (probably insurance issues), but it would be great to see what’s left on your site.
I have 4 houses,a garage apt.,and a duplex all adjacent on 1/2 block in north Florida. They are all built in the forties and restored. Thinking they would be a perfect location for a movie set in that era. Is there a site you can post something like that for scouts?
Saw you on CBS Sunday Morning. You were great,good job.
Where did you get the name “Sebby’s House of Subs”? Sebby is a distinct name taken from a region/town in Norway. A widow and her 11 children came from Norway in the mid 1800′s, changed their name to Sebby when they landed in America, and settled in northern IL.
hey to scouting ny.i live in ohio but have traveled extensively and have experience scouting locations.just about anything you need for a shoot(waterfront,warehouse,courtroom,caves,cliffs,islands,list goes on and on).have people and locations all over u.s. and canada. check me out on I.M.D.B. reply any need to email.thanks,wayne
Hi everyone, Im an NYU student and Im going insane trying to find a crucial locations.
The first is a simple big bathroom. I know it sounds easier then it actually is, but everyone I know is either in a dorm or has a LES apartment with a tiny bathroom.
The entire film will be shot in the bathroom, so if you please know of anything or anyone willing to help us out for a couple of days shooting, you would be amazing and we could start talking more in depth about the shoot.
Thanks!
You’ve managed to educate and uncover so many hidden treasures in NY and save a life!! Awesome and inspiring. As soon as that tax return comes back I’ll make a donation to your film fund. Keep up the great work!
Just FYI, you might check out a strange building with strange rooftop in Queens located on Metropolitan Avenue in Middle Village, mostly housing the machine warehouse of the Board of Elections. It’s across from a sizeable cemetery and on an “M” train stop. At first glance looks like nothing much, appearing smaller from the outside, while it’s really huge with long, turning hallways and plenty of room to set up. Building’s likely owned by the City of New York with a police training facility and municipal records storage area, although there’s a department store inside too!
To get to the actual warehouse, you need to take a long, claustrophic escalator to the roof, then cross over to a tiny guarded “tower” to take a claustrophic elevator down into the bowels of the warehouse. The roof is a parking garage as well, and looking across you see the Manhattan skyline. There are many weird angles in and out including steep ramp areas, with good sky shots.
You’ll like the roof and the spooky configurations deep in the warehouse and surrounding areas, especially at night, great for a wild chase scene … frankly, whole place was so unnerving that I couldn’t wait to get out. Best part was their bathrooms & cafeteria! Though it’s a municipal facility, the Board of Elections is always looking for funds, so they might be amenable to lending their part out for a fee during election downtimes, such as before August or September when they get very busy.
Have a 200ft smoke stacks (chimney). If any movie producers are scouting for a smoke stacks to be dismantle, it is available. The chimney is located at Long Island City, NY.
Excellent! I really appreciate you for doing this job…
keeps it up…
Thanks
I was wondering if you had ever gone to the Sisters of mercy orphanage on 10? or 12th ave in Brooklyn…I was there as a child and know what a spooky building that is… if you have gone I would love to see pictures! your work is so interesting!
YOU HAVE TO CHECK OUT THE HIDDEN CITY HALL ART DECO SUBWAY STOP!
If you ride the 6 train to the end of the line and get off at the Brooklyn Bridge stop, you’re missing out on something incredible. As the train loops around to go back uptown, it passes through an abandoned and beautifully preserved City Hall station from 1904.
The city closed the station in 1945, mostly because at its height only 600 people a day used it, and because the loop created an unsafe gap at the platform. In 1995 the city vowed to restore the site and turn it into a part of the transit museum, but those plans were scrapped years later.
The station is still not open to the public, but there’s a trick you can use to see it for yourself. Until recently the MTA would force passengers to get off before the train made the loop, but now passengers are allowed to stay on. So the next time you reach the end of the line, keep going. And check out these amazing photos courtesy of John-Paul Palescandolo and Eric Kazmirek.
Wow, filming in new york seems like it would be a dream, especially if you weren’t one of the top directors and just wanted to make a simple independent film, thanks for posting this.
These are some great spots for filming in the big apple, thank you for posting this!
I am not in the film industry but I just love your website, it would be so great if you edit a book of it!
I was just rewatching Godspell – I had forgotten how many places in the city that movie used. I grew up here so I knew most of them, one eluded me very tall stone arches looks like an underpass uptown. Could not place it. It might make a movie worthy of your analysis.
Hi! Great article on Titanic. I have been very interested in the ship ship since 1966 when it was portrayed in the FIRST episode of Time Tunnel. I am personally good friends with Ken Marschall, the marine artist. As you might know he has worked with Jim Cameron and Bob Ballard whom I have met twice. I would like to possible go on the tour but my busy schedule prohibits that. Cheers!
Is the Mail Pouch building still standing in Dover? It is (was) a large building witb a black wall at the end that had a Mail Pouch and other advertising signs on it.
Zip
Hi Buddy, Your blog is really design as clean and superb and the information of your blog is very interesting, I really enjoyed it and I also want more information about this, thanks for sharing.
Suggestion – Have you ever scouted Creedmoor Psychatric in Queens? I’m referring to the part between Winchester Blvd and Hillside Avenue. I believe most of the buildings in that section are used for community activities now (like SNAP – “Services Now for Adult Persons” – which is a Senior Center). The buildings are rather incredible and I have always wanted to see more of them. (I live nearby and my father-in-law went to the Senior Center while he was alive.)
Keep up the great blog!
Tell us about the movie you want to make. $15,000 might get you a couple of minutes of finished product.
how can i become a scout?
Hi,
You seem to have a huge following of film location fans, and I was wondering if you or any of your followers could help me with the missing locations on OTSONY?
Any help would be much appreciated.
W: http://www.onthesetofnewyork.com/wherewasthisscenefilmed.html
Even a guess can sometimes help.
Regards,
Mark
[...] Nick is less of a “New” Stranger and more of an old stranger. I don’t know him, but I’ve been following his blog Scouting NY since around the time I moved to New York in 2008. Nick is a location scout, finding perfect places to shoot scenes for films. You need the right little restaurant for a mob hit or the ideal rooftop from which to launch/destroy your superhero’s career? Nick’s your guy. [...]
I am reaching out in inquiry for support in securing an Abandon Asylum in NY for venue rental.
GMR Marketing on behalf of our client are looking for a venue to shoot a film in an abandon asylum / hospital type setting in September-October 2012 timeframe. Do you have any recommendations and contact information so we can check on availability and per day venue rental cost?
-Erica
Why has no one considered using Castle Williams on Governor’s Island for a film. I was was just there on Saturday, what a great and spooky place for a prison scene.
looking for the McDonalds in Denton House.
Saw photos in an email and I want post link to that sequence on Facebook. Okay?
You did a nice piece on the MacDonald’s New Hyde Park. Been there
and lived in the area years ago. One little tid bit about the property
in the back. It may have horse ghosts on it. Back in the early 1950′s
there was a big horse barn fire where a lot of horses died.
Hi Scout,
I am writing to compliment your Something Strange in Herald Square” for its excellent photos and text, and to ask a favor.
I’m writing a book about the Gordon Bennett Air Races, 1909-13 and 20. Right now, I introduce the book with a short chapter about the James Gordon Bennetts Memorial, and I would like to use one of your photos of an owl with lighted eyes in it
The book is being written on spec and there’s no guarantee of publication, but my book about the Pulitzer Air Races (1920-25) in press, and it’ll be out in summer. If that book has any success at all, I think I have a good chance to get the Gordon Bennett book accepted.
Because I have no advance and no expectation of any “real” money from the Gordon Bennett book, I would like to use you photo for free. I see, however, that you are looking for money to make your film, and I understand that you may want to charge me. If that’s the case, what would be the cost?
Would it be possible for you to send me a hi-res copy of one of the owls now at no cost with the understanding that I will pay you upon the book’s acceptance? (I’m a trustworthy guy.)
T
Happy Holidays and I look forward to hearing from you,
Mike Gough
301 229 3532
Dear Ncik,
I have sent you few e-mails requesting interview… have you received them? Please let me know…
Best,
Agnieszka
alexdombroff@alexanderdombroff.com
Hey Scout,
Big fan of your site (and I donated to your movie project!). I’ve been looking through your site and couldn’t find if you ever did a story of St. Ann’s Church, 120 E 12th St. I walked by it today on my way to the Strand, and immediately thought of your site. What an amazing facade of a church…and so misplaced.
Keep up the great work!
[...] Nick is less of a “New” Stranger and more of an old stranger. I don’t know him, but I’ve been following his blog Scouting NY since around the time I moved to New York in 2008. Nick is a location scout, finding perfect places to shoot scenes for films. You need the right little restaurant for a mob hit or the ideal rooftop from which to launch/destroy your superhero’s career? Nick’s your guy. [...]
https://www.facebook.com/notes/ty-brown/loft-in-dumbo-available-for-all-events/10151870348781164
Great location for film. Please stay in touch
I love this website! Spent hours on it when I should have been working! Thank you so much — I live in LA, am going to see if there is a similar scouting LA site…