Produced at Our Studios
Commercial Studio Rental for TV Spots
TV commercials and infomercials, turnkey in Burbank (Los Angeles) and Albuquerque: commercial studio rental with 250+ virtual sets that appear around your talent live, in camera.
- Six spots, six sets, one shoot day
- Agency and client approve the shot live
- Virtual system operator included
- Spots for T-Mobile, Amazon, Domino's, NBA 2K
Browse the set library: 250+ ready-to-load sets →
Or call 818-934-3775 Burbank 818-861-7317 Albuquerque
Watch the reel
Commercials shot in our studios, from T-Mobile to Amazon.
Click any clip to play it with sound.
Sets for the spot
Commercial sets: kitchens, store aisles and a virtual white cyc, ready for the spot.
What's included
What a commercial studio rental includes, before the brief arrives.
- The virtual system operator who drives the environment, included in every rental
- 250+ ready-to-load virtual sets, from kitchens and store aisles to city streets
- Lighting, grip and audio packages already on the floor
- Same-day set swaps, so a multi-spot campaign shoots in one day
- Teleprompter system for hosts and presenters; beam-splitter and presidential prompters in Burbank
- Dressing rooms, makeup, green rooms and production offices for talent, agency and client
Productions that have trusted us
The networks, the streamers and the studios have all shot here.
Hart to Heart, Aquaman 2, Inventing Anna, Bosch, The Mummy, Greenland, Deadliest Catch and national spots for T-Mobile, Amazon and Domino's. Full credit list
Check availability
Tell us the spot, the looks and the shoot day.
Tell us the format and your dates. A producer replies with availability and a quote.
- Included: the studio, 250+ ready-to-load sets, lighting, grip and audio, dressing and green rooms, and the operator who runs the virtual sets
- Two studios, in Burbank, California and Albuquerque, New Mexico. Albuquerque shoots qualify for New Mexico’s 30% refundable film credit
- Quoted against your actual shoot, never a rack rate
Rather talk it through? 818-934-3775 · Burbank
818-861-7317 · Albuquerque
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A producer will reach out to talk through your project and next steps. Need us sooner? Call 818-934-3775 (Burbank) or 818-861-7317 (Albuquerque).
How virtual production for commercials works
If you have never shot virtual production, here is the idea in two sentences. The location is a photoreal virtual set that appears around your talent live, in camera, on our stage. You see the finished shot on the monitor while you film, and the location can change between takes.
For a TV commercial or an infomercial, that means the kitchen, the store aisle and the city street are already built, already lit and already on the monitor when the talent walks in. There is no scout, no street or storefront permit to chase, no location fee, no travel or weather day, no set construction required and nothing to strike.
The sets are drawn in real time by Unreal Engine, the video game engine at the center of our Unreal Engine virtual production pipeline. Mo-Sys camera tracking (StarTracker in Burbank) moves the set with every camera move, and Ultimatte keyers put the talent inside it live. The same pipeline runs in Burbank and Albuquerque. Weighing an LED wall for the spot? Our LED volume alternative for commercials page compares the two. For the bigger picture, see virtual production in Los Angeles and CastleVision, the method we pioneered in 2007 and have since patented. We hold two U.S. patents.
A national spot, shot in a day
Commercials live and die on turnaround. Every scout, company move and weather day adds time to a schedule that is already tight.
Our studios give that time back. The set is loaded, the lighting is on the floor and the cameras are ready. The brand walks in with a brief and walks out with footage.
Multi-spot campaigns, same shoot day
For agencies and in-house teams it comes down to this. When the campaign needs six spots in six locations, you do not burn six shoot days. You burn one. Same crew, same talent, six set loads, each in seconds. Start with the kitchen sets, retail store sets and restaurant sets in the virtual set library.
Sets live on drives, so there is no storage fee and a pickup does not mean a rebuild. The exact set, lighting and framing reload months later for the next flight of the campaign. For a brand that shoots new creative every quarter, the savings add up across the year.
Car commercials, product spots and holiday ads
Most briefs fall into a few kinds. Here is how the common ones work in a virtual set.
Car spots. In Burbank, load-in is easy and vehicles can drive onto the stage, so the real car is in the frame and the world around it changes between setups. Park it in the underground racing garage set, then move it to the open ground of the automotive salt flats set without a company move.
Product and tabletop on a clean background. The virtual white cyc set loads like any other set, so the hero product can go from a seamless white look to a kitchen counter in the same day. For Amazon, a real desk was married to virtual lighting in a custom residential set. If the spot needs traditional chroma key instead, the pre-lit green cyclorama in Burbank also rents on its own as a green screen stage for commercials.
Holiday spots, shot out of season. A holiday ad usually shoots months before the holiday. The holiday and Christmas sets, including a Christmas home living room, are dressed and ready any time of year, and a virtual set has no weather day. The T-Mobile holiday spot is in the brands list below.
Host-led product demos and infomercials. One presenter, one product and several looks. The teleprompter system is included and the set can change between segments without a reset. Batching a full season of wraparounds for a TV series is a different job, covered on the host wraps page.
Your own restaurant, store or showroom, recreated
The location in the brief is often the brand’s own: the dining room, the branch, the flagship, the dealership. None of them can close for a shoot day. We recreate the place exactly, then configure it for filming, so the wall that blocks the camera is gone, the window faces the light and the customers never leave. Send photographs, plans or an address.
Physical pieces such as the real counter, the product table or the desk blend with the virtual set, so the product sits in the talent’s hands, not in post. If nothing in the library fits, in-house set builders and artists build the look to your spec. How any location gets onto our stage.
How a commercial shoot day runs here
Send the boards, the looks and the dates through the form on this page. A producer reads it, not a sales queue, and replies by email or phone with availability at both studios. If you want to see it working first, tours of either studio run by appointment for producers with a project, with a set loading live on the monitor.
Next the looks get locked: a set from the library, a set built to your spec, or your own location recreated. On the day, the operator who runs the virtual sets sits at the control desk, included in the rental, and loads each look as the call sheet reaches it. Your crew shoots, or add our optional camera crew: three operators, one on the jib, plus a teleprompter operator.
The agency and client sign off on set
Because the composite is finished in camera, the agency, the client and the director watch the final frame while the talent is still on set, not a green screen and a promise. In Burbank the whole team watches on a giant LED video village. Notes land on the day, not three weeks later in a comp review.
Cameras, cranes, lighting and audio for the spot
In Burbank: three Panasonic Varicam 35 cinema cameras with Fujinon Cabrio zooms, a 13-foot CamMate Encodacam jib with encoded Vinten heads and dollies for tracked moves, Fiilex RGBW and Astera lighting, a two-ton grip package, Sennheiser lavs and booms and a Yamaha console. Every camera records an ISO alongside the composite.
In Albuquerque: three ARRI Alexa 35 cinema cameras with Fujinon cinema zooms, a carbon-fiber telescoping crane, 36 Aputure Nova P300c fixtures across the grid and floor, a full grip package and an Allen & Heath SQ7 console.
Three cameras can roll at once on green, each with its own live render, so the wide, the product close-up and the talent single come from the same take. The full gear lists live on the Burbank studio and Albuquerque studio pages.
Commercial studio rental: the floor, the load-in and the parking
Burbank (154 S. Victory Blvd, across from Nickelodeon and about five minutes from Warner Bros.): a pre-lit green screen cyclorama with a 20-foot ceiling, 15 feet to the grid, silent HVAC and isolated power. Load-in is easy; vehicles drive on (see car spots above). There are 20+ parking spaces, five green rooms, makeup and production offices for the agency, plus creative office space in Burbank on month-to-month terms. The Los Angeles sound stage for commercials page has more on the Burbank floor.
Albuquerque (8610 President Pl NE, about ten minutes from the Sunport): one of the largest virtual production stages in the world, with extensive parking, easy load-in, dressing and green rooms, a furniture and prop warehouse for set dressing and a star-talent motorhome. It is a New Mexico Qualified Production Facility. Whether a given spot earns the state’s 30% refundable credit is a question for your production accountant; our New Mexico film tax credit guide covers the basics.
Brands who’ve shot here
T-Mobile, on a morning-show look: one of the most-viewed commercials of 2021 and the most-viewed of the holiday season. Amazon, on a custom residential set built from scratch. Domino’s at a news desk, 7-Eleven at a SportsCenter-style sports desk, and Wolf & Shepherd, two spots on SportsCenter-style staging. NBA 2K with Shaquille O’Neal in dojo and arena environments. Diablo IV with Sarah Michelle Gellar, a haunted-house spot completed in one week (how that shoot came together). Excedrin, two worlds in one spot. Sonic. Dave.com, a full game-show world.
National spots, regional pushes, brand films and social cutdowns, across product categories that need a different world for every beat. Watch them in the commercial video gallery or see the full list of commercial credits. Internal and executive content has its own page: corporate and branded video production. Shooting for an artist rather than a brand? See music video studio rental.
For agencies and commercial production companies in Los Angeles
Agencies and commercial production companies in Los Angeles book us as their production studio, not as a competing production company. Bring your own crew or add ours, and keep your client and your credit.
The rates page explains how a production is priced and what a virtual set takes off the budget.
Sample gallery
Spots shot in our commercial studio.
A look at commercials shot at L.A. & ABQ Castle Studios.
Click any image for a closer look.
Selected credits
- T-Mobile
- Amazon
- Sonic
- 7-Eleven
- Domino's
- NBA 2K with Shaquille O'Neal
- Diablo IV with Sarah Michelle Gellar
- Excedrin
- Wolf & Shepherd
Questions
Commercial studio rental: what agency producers ask before booking.
- What is virtual production for commercials?
- The location for the spot is a photoreal virtual set that appears around your talent live, in camera, on our stage. Unreal Engine draws the set in real time, camera tracking moves it with every lens move, and the director, agency and client see the finished shot on the monitor while you film, with no background added later in post. The set can change between takes, so one shoot day can cover several locations.
- Can you shoot a commercial in a day?
- Yes, that is the point. With 250+ ready-to-load virtual sets and multiple cameras rolling on green, a national spot that would normally need a location scout, travel and a build is shot in a single day in Burbank or Albuquerque. Same-day set swaps let a multi-spot campaign shoot six spots in six sets on one shoot day.
- What's included with a commercial studio rental?
- A turnkey studio with lighting, grip and audio packages, the real-time CastleVision pipeline, the 250+ set library, the teleprompter system, dressing rooms, green rooms and production offices, and the virtual system operator who runs it all, included in the rate. An optional crew package sits on top. Cinema cameras, a jib (Burbank) and a telescoping crane (Albuquerque) are on site. You bring the brief, the agency and the talent.
- How much does a commercial studio rental cost in Los Angeles?
- Every production is quoted individually; there is no rate card. The quote is built from the shoot days, crew size, set complexity and which studio you use. Lighting and grip are already on the floor, so there is no separate gear rental, and a virtual set takes the location fee, the scout, the travel and the weather day off the budget. Send the boards and the shoot date through the form on this page and a producer replies with availability at both studios.
- Will someone from the studio be on set during our shoot?
- Yes. The operator who runs the virtual sets is included in every rental and drives the environment in real time from the control desk, so you never hire a systems team. That operator loads each look as the call sheet reaches it.
- Do we need to bring our own crew?
- No, but you can. Bring your own team, or add our optional crew package: three camera operators (one on the jib) and a teleprompter operator.
- Are you a commercial production company?
- No. We are the studio that agencies and production companies book, so you keep your production, your client and your credit.
- Can we shoot a car commercial in your studio?
- Yes, in Burbank. Load-in is easy and vehicles can drive onto the stage, so the real car sits in the frame while the virtual set around it changes. The underground racing garage and automotive salt flats sets are two places to start.
- Can we shoot a product on a white background?
- Yes. The white cyc look is a virtual white cyc set, loaded like any other set, and physical pieces such as the product table or counter blend with it in camera. If you need traditional chroma key instead, the pre-lit green screen cyclorama in Burbank also rents on its own.
- Can we shoot a holiday commercial out of season?
- Yes. The holiday sets, including a Christmas home living room, are ready to shoot any time of year, and a virtual set has no weather day.
- Can you recreate our store, restaurant or showroom as a set?
- Yes, and the real location never has to close for the shoot. If the room you need is not in the library, our set builders build it to your spec.
- Do you rent the studio for infomercials?
- Yes. A host-led infomercial or product demo suits the studio: the teleprompter system is included and the look can change between segments.
- Which brands have shot commercials at L.A. Castle Studios?
- Spots for T-Mobile, Amazon, Sonic, 7-Eleven, Domino's, NBA 2K with Shaquille O'Neal, Diablo IV with Sarah Michelle Gellar, Excedrin and Wolf & Shepherd have been produced in our studios, among others.
- Do we need a film permit?
- You skip the location permits a real street or storefront would need. Filming at the Burbank studio presently requires a City of Burbank film permit; Albuquerque requires no film permit.
More for commercial and agency producers
- Kitchen sets for food and appliance spots Counters and kitchens ready for the product
- Retail store sets Aisles and storefronts, with no store closed for the day
- Holiday and Christmas sets Shoot the holiday spot out of season
- Recreate your store or restaurant Built from photographs, plans or an address
- Unreal Engine virtual production The pipeline behind every spot
- How CastleVision works The patented method behind the live composite
- Commercials in the video gallery T-Mobile, Diablo IV and NBA 2K spots
- Corporate and branded video Internal comms and executive content
- Music video studio rental Several looks in one day for an artist
- Creative office space in Burbank Month-to-month offices for an agency or production company
- Feature Films and Series
- Vertical Drama and Micro-Series
- Talk Shows
- The Burbank studio Burbank, the Media Capital of the World, minutes from the major lots
- The Albuquerque studio Feature films and New Mexico’s 30% refundable credit
- The set library Every set, searchable by room and theme
Tours run by appointment at both studios. Bring the script or the rundown and we will price the shoot against it.
