"Sharing a studio" — Please share your experiences

For those of you that are currently sharing a commercial photography studio with at least one other photographer, or have shared a commercial studio in the past, what were your experiences like? I'm not referring to partners, i'm referring to two or more independent photographers organizing a "time share."

Can you offer any advice for those thinking of sharing a studio with others? Do's & don'ts, pro's & cons, etc.

Thanks

Currently sharing a studio though it's a recording studio, not photography one but lessons I'm learning would be the same (just these are probably more expensive).

Next time it's 100% equal footing, at the moment we answered an add and we've ended up paying more than half the rent for less than half the time. Get your name on the lease/tenancy, although we have a written agreement the original signed by the landlord hasn't got our name on it which makes ours somewhat worthless. In any agreement make sure equipment is in it and who's responsible for any damage (again this has cost me money).

had great experience before sharing a space with 2 others and have since become great friends even though our shooting and work styles are completely different

i believe it is a willingness to accept and appreciate other people more than anything like signing a contract, establishing house rules etc...

I currently share a studio with five other photographers. Half of us are paid and half are hobbyists. From the beginning we made sure everyone's name was on the lease so no one could back out of it easily. From that standpoint, it's worked very well. We set up a calendar on Google Calendar and everyone uses it to schedule their shoots on a first come first served basis. There are two things that developed as "problems" for us. One, during the Winter months when everyone wants/needs to be in the studio, we had one partner who would only schedule time once a month, but he would schedule it for 7-8 hours on a weekend, and it was always from 10 am to 5 pm; prime time! This prevented those of us who had paid gigs from accessing the studio during that time. We finally had to implement a weekend only schedule of 8-noon, noon-4pm, and 4pm to whenever. This allowed 3 of us to shoot on any given weekend. The other major issue is that 95% of the work, clean up etc. was performed by three of us with the others reaping the benefits. The three of us are now seeking our studio. So, my advice to you is pick your partners carefully and make sure you have ALL of these things in writing ahead of time so everyone is on the same page. Good luck!

Everyone, thanks for the replies! You've all given me (and others thinking of sharing) some important things to think about.

Jmagnusphoto
6 photographers sharing one studio? Ouch! As for me, I know I'd like the freedom of getting into the studio whenever I wanted and the thought of sharing with 1-2 others seems difficult enough. Unfortunately I might not have the financial freedom to have my own space. hehe