Moving in the movie-makers

Standing at the top of a 20ft ladder at 2am holding pillows over a burglar alarm was not what Rosy Brenan anticipated when she let a film company use her home.

"A Canadian pop group came to do a promotion video in a day. They had been using our electricity, which drained the supply to the burglar alarm, triggering its fail-safe system. I was trying to deaden the noise so they could carry on with the filming while reassuring my irate neighbours that I was doing my best."

Tales of overrun schedules and chaotic management are legion among those who decide to hire out their homes. It didn't deter Mrs Brenan - she put it down to experience, and has just seen a thoroughly successful day's filming in her country home, chosen as the setting for one of the BBC's prime Christmas programmes. The L-shaped house, with wings and courtyard, has six acres of grounds, and is a bizarre and theatrical mixture of different styles. It is essentially a Victorian house which enveloped Georgian and pre-Georgian buildings to dramatic effect.

Rosy and Patrick Brenan fell for this folly, as they call it, 11 years ago while looking for something smaller. Letting the house out as a film location seemed the obvious way of capitalising on its eccentric character. The location manager of the BBC film rejected neo-Georgian mansions in favour of this Sussex house with its classical drawing room, Grinling Gibbons-style dining room, and Jacobean staircase and hall. The music room was returned to its original use as a billiard room for the filming. "The company could only use the rooms specified in the contract. I was warned I wouldn't recognise them," says Rosy Brenan. "It took just 15 minutes for an army of removal men to move out our antique furniture and put in a herd of zebra-skin chairs and showy reproductions. An enormous 10ft oak bar appeared in one room. There was a bit of crisis when someone found they had forgotten the bulbs for two huge candelabra held aloft by blackamoors, and there was a raid on the village shops. It was all very good fun, but I could never have lived with any of those things."

That filming took only a day, but when it runs into weeks owners can find their houses getting a free make-over. Anna Sugden, who runs Strutt & Parker's film location agency, says that Lord Huntington was so taken with the way his house was redecorated for The Tenant of Wildfell Hall that he opted to keep it. "Sometimes the owners can choose the wallpaper and curtains, but this is likely to be reflected in the facility fee."

Problems can arise, though, where there is no location manager. This person is a crucial link between the owners and the film company. He or she will see that the letter of the contract is fulfilled, covering such matters as insurance, preparation days, the length of the working day and tidying up.

Strutt & Parker specialises in period rural properties, from estates and manors to barns and cricket pitches, and will take up to 20 per cent commission. They are inundated with offers, but only a tiny percentage of properties are used.

Knight Frank, the estate agents, does not run a list but will act on behalf of owners in drawing up the contract. James Macgregor, of the Hereford office, says that is easy to overlook details such as whether an upstairs floor is strong enough to take the film equipment, and rules about smoking in the house. "At the very least, consult a solicitor," he advises.

Rosy Brenan's direct encounter with the Canadian crew left her in no doubt about the value of the location agent during the BBC's filming. But, with or without one, does it pay to spend a night up a ladder? "The money is good. But we see it as an occasional bonus, nothing you can rely on. It is certainly not worth it if you are excessively nervous about your house."

Anna Sugden says that, as a general rule, commercials on a per-day basis pay the best rates, while feature film, television drama and documentaries pay least. "Fees range from pounds 500 to pounds 3,500 a day. Our clients' average is pounds 1,500 a day." Owners may not end up rich, but at least they can bask in the reflected fame of their houses.

Owners can contact their local UK Screen Commission to register a property. The British Film Commission in London has contact details :0171-224 5000.