Hamptons 'Cheats' Catch On with Look-Alike Homes Used for Filming Locations

If the house and beach had a Hamptons look, it was actually further west, in Nassau County, more about the “look” than location.

Shoots from TV to film to photography often are done not in the Hamptons, but place with that look, to save time, money or for convenience.

“Location decisions can be driven as much by budget and logistics as by aesthetics,” said Debbie Regan, owner of Debbie Regan Locations, which provides locations for TV, film, commercials, and advertisements.

The Hamptons are very much in demand as a place to set scenes or stories from movies to television and video for internet as well as print.

But in addition to the real thing, which typically brings additional costs and sometimes problems getting permits, Hamptons “cheats” elsewhere on Long Island often get cast as stand-ins. Cheating in the Hamptons, then, often is about where, not what you do.

Debbie Regan Locations has more than 120 Hamptons as well as other East End houses, in Southampton, Westhampton Beach, Hampton Bays, Montauk, Riverhead, East Hampton, Water Mill, Shelter Island, Bridgehampton, Sag Harbor and elsewhere available for projects.

“We have a decent amount of Hamptons listings,” she said. “It’s more photo shoots than filming out there.”

She also has many more waterfront properties and houses that can and do double for Hamptons homes, sometimes as regular sites in series and films.

Scenes seemingly shot in the Hamptons often are done, if not in studios, in Nassau County. Most shots of the parents’ house in No Hard Feelings were in Nassau County.

“It had a Hamptons look,” Regan said.

Royal Pains, a TV series about the Hamptons, sometimes shot in the Hamptons, but also used houses with the proper look if not location.

“That is the perfect example,” Regan continued of the show set in the Hamptons. “There were lots of Hamptons cheats there.”

The New York metropolitan area is a cinema capital, attracting projects, in part due to crews, performers along with tax incentives.

Giggster, a company that connects people working on projects with locations, named New York the second best state for filmmakers in its “The Best and Worst States for Filming.” It looked at financial value, location flexibility, accessibility, and year-round support.

“New York offers one of the nation’s most generous incentive programs, with a refundable tax credit worth 30% to 50% of qualified in-state production costs,” according to Giggster.

While tax incentives attract work, and keep filming going on here, union contracts favor staying in or close to New York City.

Travel in this region for crews, and performers, in contracts typically is based on the distance from Columbus Circle, in Manhattan, in the form of a circle, with 30 miles roughly at Route 110.

“If you are a crew member reporting for shoot, the clock starts with the location,” Regan said, although once you go beyond certain limits, different rules apply.

Union TV commercials generally need to film within 25 miles of Columbus Circle, as the crow flies, while TV series and feature films typically work within a 30-mile radius, or face additional charges.

“We regularly see demand for properties that can capture that look while remaining within the preferred production zone,” Regan said, noting many go with a “much wider range of options when they are trying to balance appearance, convenience, and cost.”

Crews typically are paid based on a 12-hour day, but an hour or longer trip each way, as for the Hamptons, only leaves ten hours unless productions provide accommodations for Hamptons shoots.

“Costs can rise quickly once a production goes outside those zones,” she said. “To save two hours a day or get an extended two hours per person, it’s a lot of money.”

Regan added that often talent may not want to travel to Hamptons locations, ending up closer to New York City.

“The talent puts their input into how far out of the city, besides production costs being higher,” Regan said. “The water is one of the things that makes it Hamptons. If you’re in the living room, you’ll see the water outside.”

Because of the benefit of water, waterfront properties on Long Island typically do better as Hamptons stand-ins than many other New York City suburbs.

“Long Island is generally better than Westchester. You have more beach,” Regan said. “There are more Long Island Hamptons cheats.”

Certain architecture styles also play more like the “Hamptons” on screen, although modern and classical architecture can work.

“Sometimes a Hamptons-style home, shingle homes with a Pottery Barn look, will work,” she said. “Sometimes we have modern homes that are Hamptons cheats.”

Many Hampton cheats are located nearer to New York City in the Town of Oyster Bay, although Hamptons locations can be ideal, if more costly.

“It could be $100 an hour just to be with the shoot,” she said of hiring someone to look out for the property during a project. “Further west, it might be 25 to 50 to be a site rep, representing the homeowner.”

If a project involves dealing with Hamptons crowds in warmer, summer weather during Hamptons peak season, permitting can take time or be a problem.

“The people paying taxes are the ones towns want to please,” she said. “They may have gotten complaints when there’s a film shoot in town. Now they have more stringent regulations if they’ll even let you film from May to Labor Day.”

Regan said locations have different rules, which also can change and simply take a long time to get responses.

“It’s a lot of work to get things cleared. If it’s a year-round house, it’s easier to scout it. You don’t have to get someone out there, because the homeowner doesn’t live there, and pay someone just to open the door,” Regan said. “They can open the door or have a housekeeper open the door. It’s an easier job.”

Regan said Hampton stand-ins are nothing new. She remembers providing a Nassau location for Law and Order scenes set in the Hamptons about 15 years ago.

“Hamptons cheats are a big thing,” Regan said. “Hamptons cheats are not something new.”