Twilight and Media Rental were two other rental companies I talked with, but they were busy on the dates I had set for filming. Sagafilm is another company that rents equipment and they can also help with producing. Jón Páll also has a studio that would have been large enough, but I didn’t find out about them until after the production. YAKEU also has a photo studio with rental equipment, but they didn’t have the film lights I needed.

The studio at KUKL also had all of the seamless paper backdrops colors that I needed. This saved a significant amount of money in our budget since paper backdrops were not only difficult to find in Iceland, but they were more expensive than in the United States and we needed a large quantity. I recommend BECO, if you ever need to buy seamless paper locally in Iceland.

I was able to produce everything myself, but I have some friends that have worked with On the Rocks to get producing help on bigger productions. Rvk. Studios, ArticOn, Pegasus, True North, and Hero are other production companies I came across in my research. Ólafur Haraldsson produces aerial video and photography in Iceland and he was the one that pointed me to some of these production resources in Reykjavik.

If you ever need models or actors, the two major agencies are Dottir Management and Eskimo. 101 Model Agency is another one I came across in my research. I didn’t need to scout for on-screen talent since everyone in the video worked at Ueno, but I wanted to mention those resources for the benefit of those reading this guide.

Once the rentals and studio space were worked out I just had to rent my Airbnb, car, and buy my plane ticket. My Airbnb was an apartment located near the main bus terminal in Reykjavik. It was more affordable and a lot nicer than some of the Airbnb locations I’ve stayed at in the United States. I rented my car from Go Iceland. They were incredibly helpful and I recommend them to anyone that is renting a car for their Iceland trip. I purchased a really cheap flight on WOW Airlines, but I had to pay fees for my overweight camera bag and an second bag with props.

It was cheaper to bring these props over from the U.S., rather than trying to buy them in Iceland.

I made sure to unlock my iPhone before I left the United States so that I could purchase an Icelandic SIM card. There’s a store at the airport next to the luggage pickup and they sell two types of SIM cards. They’re very affordable and I was able to get by with a 2GB card for the entire week. Iceland has incredible cell service. I drove the Golden Circle after production wrapped and I never lost cell service, even when I was in the crater of an extinct volcano.

This production ended up going smoother than the ones in the United States, since I didn’t have to deal with traffic and gear transportation. The two days of filming went by without any hiccups. KUKL was incredibly accommodating and helpful. The only issue I forgot to plan for was light flicker. The electrical power frequencies are different in Iceland, which caused the lights to flicker when they were filmed on my NTSC video camera.

I hope this guide gives you the resources and confidence to produce your own project in Iceland! If you ever want to hire a director or DP that has experience working in Iceland, definitely feel free to reach out. ;-)