Porta Potty Rental for Film and Production Shoots

What can you supply, and what can you not?

It is better to be clear about this before you build a call sheet around us.

Many productions use both: a honeywagon or trailer at base camp for cast, and portable toilets for crew, background, the working set and anywhere a trailer cannot park. Not sure which fits? Read porta potty vs restroom trailer.

Where do units go on a location shoot?

A shoot is spread over several working areas, and a single group of toilets at base camp leaves most of the company a long walk or a van ride away.

• Base camp. Trucks, trailers, catering and production office. This is the main group, with hand-wash stations beside catering.
• The set. One or two units a short walk from camera, placed out of frame and far enough away that a slamming door does not reach the sound mixer. Ask your location manager and first AD to pick the spot.
• Background holding. Extras wait for hours in one place. Size this group by the largest background call of the week, not the average day.
• Crew parking. If parking is a shuttle ride from base camp, a unit there helps at call and wrap.
• Remote units and second unit. A splinter crew up a canyon needs its own unit.

Place every unit where our service truck can reach it. A unit carried by hand to the far side of a field cannot be pumped until someone carries it back.

How many units does a crew need?

Cast and crew are employees, so start with Cal/OSHA's general workplace sanitation rule, 8 CCR §3364, which sets the number of toilets by the number of employees of each sex. Union agreements and your studio's safety program may ask for more, so check those too. Our Cal/OSHA guide covers the construction rule (one toilet and one hand-wash station per 20 workers), which may apply where set building counts as construction work.

Then adjust for how film days differ from an office day:

1. Long days. A shoot day often runs well past eight hours, and the units are in use the whole time. More hours means more use per unit between pumpings.
2. Peaks at meal breaks. The whole company breaks at once. Lines form at base camp if the count is tight.
3. Background days. A crowd scene can double or triple the head count for one day. Extra units for that day can be delivered and picked up separately.
4. Heat. On summer days inland, everyone drinks more water.

For large background calls, the public-event chart in our unit calculator is a better guide than the employee ratio.

Send us the crew size, background counts by day, the number of shoot days and a location map. We will suggest a count for each area.

Can you deliver on short notice or overnight?

Short notice is normal in production, and we plan for it.

• Same-day and next-day delivery are offered across our service area. Call as early in the day as you can.
• The office answers 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., seven days a week. The same number is answered 24 hours a day for emergencies, such as a unit that is full or tipped over during a night shoot.
• Night shoots and pre-dawn calls. Tell us your call time and whether the gate is locked. A delivery the afternoon before is the safest plan for a 5 a.m. call.
• Location moves. If the company moves mid-week, we can pick up at one location and deliver to the next.
• Service during a long shoot. 28-day rentals include a weekly pump, clean and restock. On a busy shoot, ask for extra visits. We schedule them outside shooting hours or during a company move so the truck is not on your soundtrack.

Which film permits apply in Riverside County?

The permit goes to the production, not to the toilets, but film offices expect to see where base camp and support equipment will sit. Who issues the permit depends on whose land you are on.

The Murrieta bulletin is dated February 2020, so confirm the details with the city. The county ordinance also lets the county charge its actual costs for staff, even though the permit itself has no fee.

On county-owned property, the ordinance limits on-location filming to ten consecutive days per production at one location unless an extension is granted. Show the toilet and hand-wash locations on your site plan, and keep them off the road shoulder unless your permit covers the right-of-way. General rules on units in the street are in our permit guide.

What should I know about ranch, wine country and desert-edge locations?

Productions come to this part of Riverside County for open land: horse ranches, vineyards, dirt roads, dry hills and the windy pass country near Banning and Cabazon. Those are the places with no restrooms at all.

• Access comes first. Our truck needs a road it can drive without getting stuck. Tell us about locked gates, gate codes, cattle guards, steep grades, soft sand and low branches. A photo of the entrance helps.
• Ranch locations. Houses and barns are usually on septic systems sized for a family. Do not plan on a crew of sixty using the owner's bathroom. Place units on firm, level ground away from stock pens.
• Wine country. Most wineries along Rancho California Road and De Portola Road are in unincorporated county, east of the Temecula city limit, so the county film permit applies. Confirm the jurisdiction for each venue. Tasting-room restrooms are for the winery's guests. Schedule our truck around the venue's weekend events.
• Desert edge. Heat and wind are the issues. Put units in shade where there is any, with doors facing away from the prevailing wind. On windy or exposed sites, ask us about staking or tying down the units. We serve the San Gorgonio Pass around Banning and Cabazon. We do not serve the Coachella Valley.
• Drainage. Keep units about 50 feet from washes, creeks and storm drains where the site allows, following CASQA WM-9.
• Leave it as you found it. Location agreements usually require the site to be restored. We remove the units and their contents. Tell us if the owner wants pickup by a set time on wrap day.

Film shoot FAQ

Do you provide a certificate of insurance for the production or location owner? Yes. We provide certificates of insurance, including additional-insured certificates, on request.

Can we rent for one day? Yes. Shorter rentals are available for special events. Event rentals start at $189 per unit. Longer shoots are billed in 28-day periods with weekly service. See pricing.

Do the units have lights for night work? Plan to put a work light near the units on night shoots.

Do we need an accessible unit? Order one if anyone in your cast, crew or background needs it, and whenever the public will use the units. See ADA-accessible units.

Do you sign NDAs or keep locations confidential?

Which locations do you reach? Temecula, Murrieta, Lake Elsinore, Winchester, Perris, Hemet and Riverside, as well as the Pass cities above. The full list is on our service areas page. For other kinds of events, return to event porta potty rental or see corporate events.

Get units to your location

Call (951) 517-3600 with the location address, call time, crew and background counts and the number of shoot days. For a same-day request, call instead of using the form. We will confirm what we can deliver and when, and quote one price with delivery, service and pickup.