(This post may include affiliate links. You can read about our affiliate policy here.)
What:Â Giggster allows you to rent your house or car to movie producers and photographers, providing booking, advice and billing
Expected pay: $50 + per hour (you set it)
Husl$core: $$$$$
Commissions & Fees: 15%
Where: California, New York, Texas, Georgia, Illinois, Colorado, Nevada, Florida, Tennessee, Pennsylvania, Oregon, Washington State, Toronto, Vancouver, Ottawa and Montreal.
Requirements: You must be the owner of the property or have written approval from the owner to rent it out; have good photos; pass a site review; have a phone number, email address (to get and respond to rental requests) and a bank account, where they can direct-deposit your money.
Want to sign up for Giggster?
Click here to book or list your venue
Review:
Giggster is one of several sites that allow property owners to rent a car, house, lot or office space by the hour. While competitors PeerSpace and Splacer specialize in events ranging from birthday parties to showers, Giggster specializes in renting space to photographers and movie makers.Â
Renting to movie productions, both professional and student, makes this side hustle a bit unique in several respects. First, your property doesn’t need to be pristine. Site co-founder Mathieu Goudot says the site rented an empty lot in the desert to producers of a horror film, for instance. Listed properties range from elegant beach cottages to tiny ramshackle residences in the suburbs. Each has its own market.
High hourly pay
Better yet, the amount you can and should charge is three- to five-times what you would normally charge to rent your home via Airbnb. Moreover, if you have a luxury or classic car — even a junky classic, like a rusty 1965 Corvair — you may also be able to rent that through Giggster too. Again, because this is for the movies, you can specify that no one drives the car. Or that only you can drive the car, if you’re reluctant to let anyone else spin around in your Mercedes Gullwing or your Packard truck. The rates are generous. (Click here to list your home or car or to find a venue.)
Renter density
On the flip side, there are likely to be far more people on your property than there would be if you were renting to a tourist. That creates its own set of risks, like a greater chance of people hurting themselves on your property or damaging your things.
Giggster addresses those with a $1 million liability policy to cover the property while it is rented. You are also able to add a deposit requirement to your listing, if you choose. And that’s not a bad idea.Â
You can also require that renters pay for a “site rep” — an independent individual, who remains onsite throughout filming to make sure the producer doesn’t break your rules or damage your property.
Permits & insurance
Giggster also advises renters to demand to see permits and production insurance documents. Why is that important? Because Giggster’s insurance policy is liability coverage only, which protects you from getting sued if someone gets injured on your property. It does not cover property damage. Property damage coverage would come from the deposit and from the producer’s production insurance policy.Â
What we like
What makes this site stand out is that Giggster also only charges its rental fee on the rental. Other sites apply their site fees to everything, including deposits and cleaning fees.
Additionally, the site’s customer support is unparalleled. When you rent through Giggster, you’re likely to get an email from a real person telling you when they’ve sent your payment. If you have a problem, you can email back and they’ll respond.Â
Giggster is also incredibly prompt with payments. You get paid for the rental on the day the rental occurs and have 48 hours after the completion of the shoot to report any property damage. To list your home, Click here.
Recommendations
This is our top pick for people willing to rent out their homes for movies and events. However, you can also find clients through Giggster competitors Avvay, PeerSpace and Splacer.Â
If the site you choose to rent through doesn’t collect deposits or has inadequate insurance, you may want to adjust your listing to require that the renter put up a deposit and/or buy an event policy for the duration of the event being held at your home.
What their users say: (from an interview with SideHusl)
“We make 10-times as much with this than we do with Airbnb. We typically rent the house for $1,000 a day. Over the past year, I’d say we’ve gotten about $20,000 from Giggster. Most of our projects are student projects. New York Film Academy or USC. They pay the rental rate and the cleaning fees. Giggster takes 15%. But then we don’t have to ask for payment. The money comes straight to our bank account.
We had one problem early on, where we had some damage to a floor and we wanted them to cover it with the insurance. We found out that their insurance didn’t cover as much as we thought, so now we always ask for proof of insurance from the film company.” — David Dellinger, Los Angeles IT Professional
Updated 6/28/2022
Suggested Options.
Booming market for marketing mavens
There's a booming market for marketing mavens and, where this job once required college, all you…
Sell your old phone
Get a new phone over the holidays? You can make some serious money if you sell your old phone.
Jobs for a digital nomad
Long to travel the world, but don’t have a trust fund or a pile of savings to do it? Consider…
Medical writing: side hustle success story
Medical writing may be an ideal side hustle for anyone with medical or science experience, from lab…
Gigs in film, coaching and more
Four new side hustles reviewed this week offer gigs in film, coaching, marketing and hospitality.…
4 Rotten job sites
You know how cops direct people away from gruesome scenes? That's how we feel about these rotten…
Weekend side hustles
If you need to earn extra money, but don't have the energy to add hours to work day, you might want…
Make money and save lives
Want a feel-good side hustle? Donate plasma or platelets. You can make money and save lives at the…
Blogging as a side hustle
Larry Ludwig may well be the poster child for why people recommend blogging as a side hustle. He…
Side hustle success stories: Selling on Etsy
Helen Spallas has worn many hats--investigator, janitor, tax preparer --but she didn't make six…
[…] Giggster: a fun way to make money from your property. You can rent your backyard, house or car to movie producers and photographers. […]
I would like to rent my place for filming, movies, photo shoots, commercials. since the property is located in salton sea thermal California it is amazing, fascinating, creepy, weird, raggedy, amazing view of the Lake and chocolate mountain. it is amazing for location shoots and the property can sleep 12 people and well maintained. the shoots and filming can be done around the property and around the area and Bombay beach with no problem. so for more information get back to me ASAP. thank you
Fiona, SideHusl is an independent review site of online platforms that allow you to make money. We are not affiliated with Giggster. We just reviewed them. If you want to sign up, you can click the button below our review and it will take you to their site.