What to Send for a Production Security Proposal

A security proposal for a shoot is only as accurate as the information behind it. When a vendor receives “three days downtown, need security,” it has to guess at hours, posts, and overnight needs, and those guesses come back later as change orders or as gaps in coverage. This guide lists what to send, grouped the way a security planner reads it, with a note on why each item changes staffing or cost. It is written for line producers, production managers, location managers, and documentary producers. For how TB Defense scopes the work itself, see our production security service.

If you only have ten minutes, send the dates and scheduled hours, the location list, the basecamp and parking plan, what stays out overnight, whether any talent needs dedicated coverage, your permit status, your vendor documentation requirements, and one contact. The sections below expand on each of those.

What to send, by category

1. Schedule and call times

Shooting dates, including prep, pre-light, and strike days you want covered. Each day is its own staffing block, and prep and strike days are often when gear is most exposed with the fewest people around it.
Scheduled crew call and expected wrap for each day, and which days are nights or splits. Shift length decides whether a post can be held by one officer or needs relief, and night work changes who is available to staff it.
When you want security on and off relative to call and wrap. Many productions want posts in place before the trucks arrive and held until the last vehicle leaves, which adds hours at both ends of the day.
Your honest estimate of how long days really run. A proposal built on a 10-hour day that routinely runs 13 is inaccurate from the first shift. Saying so up front lets the vendor show overtime clearly instead of surprising you with it.

2. Locations and company moves

Every location with an address or nearest intersection, whether it is public way or private property, and interior or exterior. Public locations bring onlookers and permit conditions. Private locations bring owner rules, access control, and sometimes a building security team to coordinate with.
Company moves on each day, and what moves with the company. When the company moves, posts either travel with it or someone stays behind to hold the first location until the last truck clears. That difference is staffing.
Anything the location manager flagged on the scout. A bar that gets busy at night, a school across the street, or a narrow alley for the trucks all change where posts go and when.

3. Basecamp, holding, and crew parking

The basecamp location and layout: trailers, catering, cast and background holding, and the distance to set. A basecamp two blocks from set is usually a separate post. One next to set may be covered from the set perimeter.
Where crew parking is, and whether it is lit, fenced, or open. Remote or open crew parking may need a post or periodic checks, especially at wrap when people walk to their cars in the dark.

4. Overnight equipment and trucks

What stays out overnight: grip and electric trucks, camera and sound gear, trailers, generators, picture vehicles, and dressed sets. Overnight coverage is about property, not people, and it is usually scoped as a separate post from shooting-day coverage.
Where it will be parked, for how many nights, and whether it sits on the street or in a lot. Nights add up quickly across a multi-day shoot, and trucks spread across two blocks may need more than one officer to keep in view.
Who holds the keys, who to call during the night, and when the first crew arrives. These set the start and end of the overnight post and the handoff at call. Without them, a vendor has to guess at the hours.

5. Talent and high-profile crew

Whether any cast or crew member needs dedicated coverage, and for which part of the day. Set only, set and basecamp, or door to door are three different jobs. A protective agent stays with a person; a post holds ground. They are priced separately.
Whether that person already has their own security, and whether transportation is part of the ask. Coverage has to fit around an existing team, and moves between hotel and set add a driver or vehicle to the plan.
How much public attention you expect. Announced casting, fan interest, or social media posts about the shoot can change the number of officers needed on the perimeter.

6. Public-facing exposure and onlookers

How visible the shoot is from the street. A residential block, a busy commercial corridor at rush hour, and a location near a transit stop draw very different crowds.
Scenes that draw attention or concern: prop weapons, police vehicles or uniforms, stunts, special effects, or closed-set scenes. These affect how many officers are needed at the edges of the set and what they need to be briefed on before the first shot.
Your neighbor notification plan and the contact name on the leaflet. Neighbors with questions often approach whoever is standing at the edge of the set. Many film offices require productions filming on the public way to notify neighboring residents and businesses before the shoot (Chicago’s permit guidance is one example), and security should know who on the production answers those questions.

7. Permits and police services

Permit status for each location, and the permit conditions once issued. Security posts have to fit inside what the permit allows. Rules vary by city. In Chicago, for example, the Film Office says a permit is required to occupy the public way with equipment or vehicles or to block pedestrian or vehicular traffic, and filming on private property must be approved by the owner or management.
Whether police personnel have been requested, for which days and hours, and for what purpose. Many cities require police for traffic control on public streets. Chicago’s Film Office, for example, states on its city services page that police supervision is necessary for any traffic control on city streets and for the use of special effects or firearms, and those officers are requested through the Film Office as part of the permit process. Private security does not replace them. Knowing the police assignment lets the vendor plan posts around it rather than duplicate it or leave gaps.
Any other permitting authority involved. Parks, transit agencies, and landmark properties often issue their own permits. In Chicago, for example, the Film Office’s permit guidance notes that the Chicago Park District, Navy Pier, Millennium Park, and the CTA issue their own filming permits, so conditions on those properties may differ.

8. Insurance and vendor documentation

What your production or location requires from vendors. Certificate of insurance limits and additional insured wording, a signed vendor agreement, tax forms, and license copies vary by production and by location. Sending the requirements before the proposal lets a vendor confirm it can meet them instead of discovering a gap the week of the shoot.
Building or location rules for vendors. Some properties require vendor names in advance, badges, or check-in with building security. That affects who can be staffed and how early they need to arrive.
Whether your production, insurer, or location restricts armed security. Armed posts involve different credentials and a different cost, and some locations do not allow them at all. Our article on armed vs. unarmed security covers how that decision is usually made.

9. Point of contact and communication

One decision-maker for scope and changes, usually the production manager or location manager, plus the on-set contact for each day. A single contact on each side prevents conflicting instructions and makes schedule changes traceable.
How the production communicates on the day. Whether security will be on a radio channel or a group text changes how posts are placed. Officers who can hear the first assistant director can react to a move before it happens.
Who receives the overnight log, incident notes, and the wrap summary. Reports should go to the person who will act on them, not only to accounts payable.

What to hold back until a secure exchange

Some information does little to improve a proposal and does real harm if a draft email is forwarded to the wrong person. Hold these until you have chosen a vendor and agreed how sensitive details will be shared, such as by phone or through the production's own restricted file share:

Exact talent itineraries: flight details, hotel names, room numbers, and pickup times.
Home addresses of cast, crew, or location owners.
Personal phone numbers. Full call sheets often carry them, so send a redacted version or a schedule excerpt instead.
Specific concerns about a named person, such as a known harasser or a court order. Say that one exists and needs a separate conversation, without the details.
The arrangements of any security team the talent already has.

For pricing, a sentence like “one cast member, set and basecamp only, from call to wrap on days 2 and 3” is enough. The rest can follow once the engagement is agreed and the people who need it are named.

How schedule changes are handled in a proposal

Schedules move on almost every production, so a useful proposal says in advance what happens when they do. Terms differ between companies. These are common industry practices worth asking each vendor about, with the answers in writing so you can compare proposals on the same basis:

Minimum hours per shift. Many security companies bill a minimum block per officer for each shift, even if wrap comes early. Ask what the minimum is and whether it also applies to overnight posts.
When overtime starts. Ask after how many hours in a shift a higher rate applies, whether holidays are treated differently, and whether overtime is billed per officer.
Change and cancellation notice. Ask how much notice is needed to move a call time, add or drop a day, or cancel a post, and what is billed when a cancellation comes late.
Extensions on the day. Ask who on the production can authorize officers to stay past the scheduled end, and how that is recorded so the invoice matches the day.
Added locations. Ask whether a new location or an extra company move is priced as a new post or absorbed by the existing ones.

Cities set their own terms for police details, and they follow the same logic. In Chicago, for example, according to the Film Office's city services page, police requests need at least 72 hours' notice, not counting weekends and holidays; the production is responsible for telling each assigned officer about a cancellation or schedule change; and a detail canceled less than 24 hours before it starts is billed at a minimum of six hours per officer. Once people are scheduled, a late change still costs a shift. Private vendors set their own terms, which is why it pays to ask.

Example (hypothetical): a proposal outline

This scenario is invented to show structure. It does not describe a real production or client, and it contains no prices.

A three-day commercial shoot. Days 1 and 2 are on a residential street with basecamp in a nearby lot, and day 2 includes a company move to a storefront interior. Day 3 is at the storefront. The grip and electric truck and the camera truck stay in the lot on nights 1 and 2. One on-camera talent needs set and basecamp coverage on day 3. The production has requested police traffic control through the local film office for day 1. A proposal built from a complete request might be organized like this:

Assumptions. Dates, scheduled call and wrap for each day, the locations, the documents the proposal relied on (for example, call sheet draft 2 and the basecamp map), and permit and police status as reported by the production.
Shooting-day posts. For each day, the posts (set perimeter, basecamp and holding, crew parking), the officers per post, and on-post hours. Day 2 adds a post that holds the residential street after the company move until the last truck clears.
Overnight coverage. A post in the truck lot from wrap to the next crew call on nights 1 and 2, with the check routine, a written log, the key holder, and the handoff to the first crew in.
Talent coverage. One protective agent on day 3, set and basecamp only. Itinerary details to be exchanged separately after booking.
Coordination. A named on-site lead, the production's contact, and how security works alongside the police requested for day 1. Traffic control stays with the police.
Armed or unarmed. Stated for each post, with the reason.
Schedule terms. Minimum shift length, when overtime starts, notice needed for changes and cancellations, and who can authorize an extension.
Documentation. Certificate of insurance to the production's stated requirements and vendor paperwork.
Exclusions. Permits, neighbor notification, traffic control, law enforcement, and medical response (911 and any set medic) stay outside the security scope.
Reporting. What the vendor will provide, such as post assignments or overnight notes, as agreed with the production.

If a proposal you receive does not state its assumptions, ask for them. Two proposals that look far apart on price often describe different hours, different posts, or different overtime terms.

Send it in one message

You do not need every item to start. Put what you have in one email with a draft schedule and location list, and mark unknowns as unknown so the vendor can price ranges or state assumptions. Our production security scope checklist puts these items on a single page you can fill in. If the production also includes a premiere or wrap party, see event security for that side of the work.

TB Defense is based in Chicago and led by a Chicago Police officer with 20 years of service. We plan and staff set, basecamp, overnight, and talent coverage for productions locally, nationally, and internationally. Read about our production security service, or Get protected and send us what you have.

Common questions

What is the minimum a security company needs to quote a production?

Dates and scheduled hours, the locations, the basecamp and parking plan, what stays out overnight, whether any talent needs dedicated coverage, permit status, and one point of contact. With those, a vendor can propose posts and hours. Everything else refines the number.

Should I send the full call sheet?

A draft call sheet helps with hours and locations, but full call sheets often carry personal phone numbers and other details a vendor does not need to price the work. Send a redacted version or a schedule excerpt, and share sensitive details after you have chosen a vendor and agreed how to exchange them.

Can private security handle traffic control or replace police required by a permit?

No. Where a permit calls for police, those officers are arranged through the permitting authority. In Chicago, for example, the Film Office states that police supervision is necessary for any traffic control on city streets and for the use of special effects or firearms, and those officers are requested through the Film Office as part of the permit process. Private security works alongside them and does not replace them.

What should I ask a security vendor about schedule changes?

Ask about the minimum hours per shift, when overtime starts, how much notice is needed to change or cancel a shift, what is billed for a late cancellation, and who on the production can authorize officers to stay past the scheduled end. Get the answers written into the proposal.

What should a producer send a security company to get an accurate proposal?