Agreement between production companies sharing resources and costs — crew, gear, locations. Cuts budget when multiple projects run in parallel.
When multiple productions are shooting at the same location simultaneously or have similar technical requirements, a formal arrangement between the involved production companies is worthwhile — not just a handshake, but contractual clarity regarding equipment, personnel, and location usage. This protocol cooperation reduces redundancies and significantly lowers costs without any of the companies giving up their creative or financial independence.
On set, this works concretely as follows: Two or more productions share a camera rental house, a lighting crew, or even a studio set — staggered in time or in parallel, depending on the agreement. The crucial point is the written agreement that regulates who uses what and when, who pays how much, and what happens if one production overruns its time. I have experienced this multiple times when regional productions shoot one after another: one company books the grip truck from Monday to Wednesday, the other from Thursday to Saturday — the same equipment, a cleaning in between, each pays their share. This saves both sides 20-30 percent of the normal rental costs.
It becomes critical with crew sharing. A production manager, a set dresser, or even the DP can theoretically work for two projects if the shooting schedules allow — but here, clear priorities are needed in the protocol. Who is liable if the jointly booked camera assistant makes a mistake on Project A that harms Project B? The protocol cooperation must regulate this, as well as breakdown insurance and confidentiality between competing productions.
Related to this are the concepts of location sharing (see lexicon) and co-production, but unlike the latter, each company remains fully responsible for its project — protocol cooperation is purely logistical and economic. In Germany, this is often seen with regional productions or when large series use multiple smaller locations in parallel. The production team negotiates these arrangements, and the line producer monitors compliance. Without written clarity, conflicts quickly arise — late equipment pickup, unplanned crew absences, disagreements over usage priority.