Location Recce Transport: Briefing Your Chauffeur for Site and Road Visits

In brief: MCR EXEC provides pre-booked chauffeur transport for producers and directors visiting potential filming locations. Drawing on our experience following production-supplied recce itineraries, this guide explains how to brief the chauffeur for site inspections, road-viewing visits and retained hire. It covers viewing points, direction of travel, waiting arrangements and itinerary changes, with location selection and creative decisions remaining with the production team.

MCR EXEC has driven producers and directors on pre-production recces to view potential filming locations. For all these sessions, location recce transport plays a crucial role. We have also provided chauffeur transport for location visits connected with music videos. On these bookings, the producer or director supplied the itinerary and directed the visits while we provided the vehicle and chauffeur.

Those journeys have included viewing locations, observing traffic and considering stretches of road for possible filming during driving sequences. The production team made the creative and location decisions. Our experience of following those instructions informs this guide to location recce transport.

For the wider service, vehicle options and enquiries, visit our film and TV production chauffeur service.

Tell the chauffeur what each stop is for

An address identifies the destination, but it may not explain how the team wants to view it. A director looking at a building from the street needs a different movement from a producer meeting someone inside a property. Effective location recce transport supports these varied requirements.

Mark the intended activity against each stop: viewing from the vehicle, getting out to inspect the area or attending a timed appointment. Include the entrance or viewing point where it matters.

This gives the chauffeur useful instructions without asking them to interpret the creative brief. The producer or director can then explain any changes as the recce progresses.

Separate a road being assessed from a road used to get there

If a stretch of road is itself under consideration for filming, identify it in the itinerary. Otherwise, a route chosen simply to reach the next address may not show the approach the director wants to assess.

Provide the relevant road section, intended direction of travel and any particular approach or junction the team wants to view. Flag whether the team may ask to revisit it or get out nearby, subject to road conditions and suitable stopping arrangements.

Traffic observed during one visit is a snapshot. If conditions at a particular time matter to the production, identify that viewing window rather than assuming any visit will answer the same question. Importantly, appropriate location recce transport can facilitate assessments at different times of day.

Viewing a road during a recce and carrying out filming there are separate activities. If filming from or around the vehicle is proposed, explain that separately before confirmation so the actual requirement can be reviewed.

A practical location-recce transport brief

The following prompts turn a producer’s itinerary into clearer chauffeur instructions. They are briefing recommendations based on the type of work described above, not a reconstructed client schedule.

Agree retained chauffeur hours around the visits

A recce can involve short journeys separated by longer periods while the team looks around. If the vehicle needs to remain available between visits, discuss retained full-day chauffeur hire rather than treating each leg as a separate transfer.

The booked period starts at the selected time and includes waiting between movements. Include the first collection, expected time at each location and final destination when setting out the required hours.

Confirm the mileage allowance and additional costs with the quotation. If an inspection takes longer or the director wants another visit, check the effect on the booked finish. Extra time depends on availability and agreed charges.

Choose the executive vehicle around the people travelling

Tell us whether the booking is for one director, a producer and director travelling together or a larger recce team. MCR EXEC can discuss Mercedes E-Class, S-Class and V-Class options against the passenger and luggage requirements.

Include overnight luggage and any cameras, tripods or cases accompanying the team. Customised V-Class interiors can reduce luggage space, so the specific layout needs checking against the load.

If one person needs to leave for a station or airport while the others continue viewing locations, include that split in the brief. We can discuss an additional vehicle where the timings and availability require it.

Give the producer or director a clear way to revise the itinerary

Identify who will direct the visits on the day and who can approve changes to the booking. A passenger may suggest another location, while a production coordinator remains responsible for approving additional hours or mileage.

When adding a stop, provide its address or map pin and explain whether it is a drive-through viewing, an inspection or an appointment. Check how it affects later commitments before treating the revised route as confirmed. Above all, clear communication improves location recce transport arrangements.

For visits across Greater Manchester, Liverpool and Chester, send the complete itinerary, including any overnight stop. MCR EXEC can discuss multi-day requirements subject to the route, hours and vehicle availability.

Keep the location assessment with the production team

The producer, director or location team decides whether a site meets the production’s needs and arranges access with the appropriate contact. Our chauffeur brief should reflect those decisions and the agreed movements.

For filming within Manchester, Screen Manchester’s film-office guidance describes its location support and permission application route. For other areas, consult the relevant location owner, film office or authority.

Once a location is selected, turn the findings into a separate shoot-day brief. Our production site-manager transport checklist covers access and standby instructions, while our film crew chauffeur planning guide covers passenger groups and vehicle allocation.

Send us the itinerary and the purpose of each visit

Include the date, first collection, final destination, passenger count and luggage. Add each location, its viewing purpose, any fixed appointment and the expected time needed there. Flag road sections being assessed and anything still provisional.

Use our production transport service page to enquire about an executive chauffeur for your recce, retained V-Class hire or visits across several days.