Call time is 06:00. The car is there at 05:20.
Cast and talent driving for film, television and commercials: studio runs, location days, press and publicity, and the wrap that always happens later than the schedule said. Booked by production, billed to production.
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The service
Production driving, without the drama
A shooting day is a machine with one setting: everybody on set when the first assistant director says so. The car is the only part of that machine sitting outside a house in the dark at twenty past five, and it is the part most likely to embarrass somebody if it is late, wrong or conspicuous.
We drive cast, directors, executives and visiting studio people to studios, unit bases and locations across London and the home counties, and to press days, screenings and premieres. In London and Manchester our cars and chauffeurs are our own, with a trusted global network everywhere else. The person outside the house is somebody we know, briefed on this production, and expecting a five in the morning start rather than discovering it.
What we do not do is pretend to be a unit fleet. We do not supply facility vehicles, camera trucks, honeywagons or a line of crew vans, and we will say so in the first email rather than the third. What we do is the car that takes the person who cannot be late.
What production actually gets
The things a transport coordinator asks for
- Cars that look like nothing in particular: unbranded, dark and quiet, with rear privacy glass and no livery
- A chauffeur briefed on the call sheet, not just the postcode, including the unit base gate and where cast cars are told to hold
- Early starts and late wraps planned as two shifts rather than one very long one, with a change of chauffeur where the day demands it
- Confidentiality treated as normal practice: scripts, sides and conversations in the car stay in the car, and we will sign a production's own non-disclosure agreement
- Standby by the hour at the unit base, so an artist can go back to the car between setups
- A single account for the production, with purchase order numbers and cost codes carried through to the invoice
- Airport collections for incoming cast and executives, with the flight tracked and waiting time covered
The studio run
Central London to the stages
| Studio | Where it is | Typical drive from central London |
|---|---|---|
| Pinewood Studios | Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire, west of the M25 | 45 to 90 minutes, and closer to 90 if the M4 or the A40 is busy |
| Shepperton Studios | Shepperton, Surrey, south of the M3 and M25 junction | 45 to 95 minutes, longer on a Friday afternoon |
| Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden | Leavesden, Hertfordshire, near Watford | 45 to 90 minutes, mostly M1 or A41 |
| Elstree Studios and Sky Studios Elstree | Borehamwood, Hertfordshire | 35 to 80 minutes, north on the A1 or the M1 |
| Ealing Studios | Ealing Green, west London | 25 to 60 minutes |
| Twickenham Studios | St Margarets, south west London | 35 to 75 minutes |
| Three Mills Studios | Bow, east London | 25 to 60 minutes |
Ranges in normal traffic, given for planning. For a 06:00 call the road is empty and the early figure applies; for a 16:00 wrap it does not. We work backwards from the call time on the sheet, with a margin, and confirm the pickup time to the artist rather than to the office only.
How it works
From the call sheet to the wrap
- 01
The schedule
Send us the shooting schedule or the week's call sheets. We build the car diary from them, flag the days that will not work as written and confirm each pickup back to you.
- 02
The night before
The chauffeur's name, number and vehicle go to the artist or their representative, and to the transport coordinator, so nobody is looking for a stranger at dawn.
- 03
The shooting day
Set down at the gate the production nominates, then the chauffeur holds where cast cars hold, or goes off and comes back to a message. Standby hours are agreed in advance so nobody is negotiating at lunch.
- 04
Wrap
Wrap moves. We keep the car with the artist until they are released rather than sending it away at the scheduled time, and the overrun is on the invoice, not a conversation.
Beyond the shoot
Press, publicity and the premiere
The other half of a production's transport year, and the half with the most people watching.
Press days and junkets
By the hour
A hotel taken over for two days, talent moving between suites and studios, and cars held downstairs from early morning until the last interview. Booked as hours, not as journeys.
Premieres and screenings
Marshalled arrivals
Leicester Square premieres run to a marshalled drop-off with road closures, a set arrival order and cars sent to a holding area afterwards. We work to the event's traffic plan and the chauffeur stays reachable for the pickup call.
Festivals and awards
London and abroad
The festival and awards weeks in London, and the same job in Cannes, Venice or Los Angeles, where cars are arranged through operators we know and coordinated by the same person here.
Discretion
What happens in the car is not a story
Production transport sees the unreleased script on the back seat, the executive's phone call about a recast and the artist who would rather not be photographed leaving a building. We treat all of it as nothing to talk about. Chauffeurs do not take photographs, do not ask for anything to be signed and do not discuss who they have driven, on this production or any other.
Practically, that also means a car that does not attract attention: no branding, no visible signage, nothing that identifies the production. Where an artist is being followed, we will agree in advance how a pickup point can be moved and which entrance is used, and we would rather plan that with the production's own security people than improvise around them. More on how we handle this in security and discretion.
Where this connects
The rest of the production diary
Getting people in
Who we work with
Request a quote
Send us the schedule
The shooting dates, the studio or location, how many cars and whether you need standby hours or point to point journeys. A draft schedule is enough to start. We come back with a clear figure and the questions that matter. Nothing is booked or charged online.
Prefer to talk? +44 2030 048300 or WhatsApp, at any hour.
Questions production asks
About production transport
Will you sign our non-disclosure agreement?
Yes. Send it with the enquiry and we will deal with it before the first day rather than on the morning.
Can we hold a car on standby all day?
Yes, and for most shooting days it is the sensible way to book. The car and chauffeur are yours for the hours agreed, with the overrun charged afterwards rather than refused.
Do you supply unit vehicles, trucks or crew vans?
No. We are a chauffeur company. Cast cars, executive cars and small group transport are what we do well, and we will tell you plainly where a specialist facilities supplier is the right answer instead.
Can one chauffeur cover a 05:00 call and a 02:00 wrap?
No, and we will not pretend otherwise. A day that long is covered by two chauffeurs with a handover you agree in advance, which is safer and costs less than the alternatives people improvise at midnight.
Can you work to purchase orders and cost codes?
Yes. An account is set up per production with named people authorised to book, and the codes you give us appear on the invoice.
Can you cover a shoot outside London?
In Manchester the cars and chauffeurs are our own. Elsewhere in the UK and abroad we arrange cars through operators we know and coordinate them from here, so production still has one contact. See long distance travel.
One contact, wherever you are