Filming Application - Historic Circle Z Ranch

Circle Z Ranch is Arizona’s original dude ranch. Over the span of our 97 years in operation, we have been the scene of movies, television series, commercials, and documentaries. Nestled in the heart of Southern Arizona, the scenery is stunning and diverse. With the ever-flowing Sonoita Creek traversing the property, we are home to giant Sycamore trees and Fremont Cottonwoods and lush riparian vegetation. Colorful steep canyons give rise to epoch grassland scenery, with surrounding mountain ranges rising dramatically from the surrounding sea of grass. Known as the Sky Islands, this archipelago of dramatically different habitats of desert, riparian, grasslands, and conifer forests are beautifully represented on the ranch property and surrounding Coronado Forest lands.

The ranch owner, Diana Nash, has served as the location director for documentaries, photo shoots, and videographers. She is happy to work closely with your production team. With over 5000 acres of ranch land, plus thousands of acres of surrounding unobstructed views, we are able to work in all directions from the ranch for pristine footage.

At the heart of our ranch are our horses. At 100 head strong, they are all easy going and well trained. They make for perfect still life photography or as in-motion models.

We have limited times available for filming, and what we can accommodate at any given time depends on the requirements of the filming. If you are interested in learning more and are serious about using our ranch for your project, we ask that you fill out an application and we will be in touch if it seems like a good fit. From there, to proceed with the planning, there is a non-refundable application fee.

Thank you for your interest!

Next Steps

If you are chosen to film, we will base our daily rate on our zoom or phone conversations to determine the scope of the filming, what we are asked to provide, and any special requests. Our minimum charge is $1500 per day. There are additional charges for number of horses used, any models provided, and a charge for lodging and food based on a per day rate.

During our busy guest season of October 30-April 20 of each year, any filming requests will be limited to scenics and horse filming only. During the early part of October and for up to 2 weeks after closure, we can try to accommodate requests for models (cowboys riding horses, training, roping, etc)

Any Interior scenes can only be filmed during the off-season months. Filming of the interiors is not permitted during our guest season except for common areas when not in use by guests.


Conduct of Production Crew

Filming (using motion or still cameras to capture motion or still images) will be performed with hand-held devices. Hand-held devices include (a) motion or still cameras or other equipment that are held in the filmmaker’s or photographer’s hands and always carried with the filmmaker or photographer while filming and (b) tripods used to support motion or still cameras. No drones unless specifically approved.

All exterior scenes require you to provide a detailed scene description of the physical action being filmed (including props, number of extras, weapons, animals on set, etc.

Your staff will conduct themselves in a respectful way towards the Circle Z’s staff and animals.

The use of our animals will only occur under Circle Ranches direct supervision.

No smoking, after clean-up will be required as needed.