*** national parks and wilderness too ***

accidental anarchist

accidental anarchist

Active member
do you need a permit to film in national parks?

can you get busted if say you shoot a film in Yellowstone NP without a permit and then you show your film which becomes HUGE and you make a million bucks and become amazingly powerful in hollywood, then someone notices its Yellowstone without a permit so they hunt you down and try to take all your cash - or are they just plumb out of luck if they dont catch you in the act? i do not know the answer - please help.

:dankk2:
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It's a gamble. Why not just try and get a permit. If you have project that does take off there's a good chance that someone somewhere will recognize where the footage came from. Unless of course you're getting really tight shots.
 
Isaac_Brody said:
Unless of course you're getting really tight shots.
Click to expand...

In which case, why not shoot in someone's back yard? :)

Hmmm...that actually not a bad idea, considering getting a permit is gonna cost, and they'll probably not let you "interact" with any of the good stuff in the park. Might as well buy some stock establishing shots and shoot the rest in a stand-in area.
 
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Call the Park Service and ask. I called the Park Service about shooting in the Smokies NP and the guy told me that they only require permits for commercial (money-making) projects. He gave me his name and told me to tell anybody who asked that he said it was OK.
 
Depending what your project is and how much time and money you have invested, this might be a case of management by forgiveness -- shoot first and ask questions later.

I shot in a national park and for the day of the shoot I had to have a park ranger with me all day, which I had to pay for as part of the permit, and although he was a nice guy he was a real pain in the a$$. But we had quite a few props and a set and they wanted to make sure we left the park the same as we found it.

It really depends on the scope of your shoot and where its located.

Sorry for another cliche but remember - out of sight, out of mind...
 
I didnt need a permit, I called and asked if I can shoot in the park and then sell the footage for profit and I can do it. If your bringing a big crew in you need a perfect but for stock purposes or a small scene no permit is needed. Put my life on it.
 
Mack, I think you're right.

HOWEVER...this is NOT an issue that a young wet-behind-the-ears Ranger faces very often. Sometimes these guys want to prove a point. They do have the power to confiscate your gear. So, my advice...call the office. Talk to some one, get a straight answer, and get THEIR NAME.
 
You only need a permit if you're doing commercial work. But by commercial I mean if you're needing to do something other than what a typical tourist could do.

Obviously if you wanted to film looking down into Old Faithful's geyser cone, you'd need a permit for that. If you want to set up your VariCam on the boardwalk with everyone else, you don't need a permit.

If you need a part of the boardwalk closed down to film a couple on a romantic stroll with no one else in sight, you need a permit. Unless you can film it when there is no one else around, which is like hardly ever. :)

Rangers are your best source of information. Once they get to know you, they will tip you off to all kinds of things going on in the parks that most people don't know about.

I've been able to get some great wildlife stuff because of rangers giving me information about what was going on in the park.

So, it's not really if it's a money making shoot it depends on if it disrupts normal park activities and has special needs.

Heck, I covered the fires in '88 and had both park rangers and forrest rangers assigned to me and didn't need a permit.
Had to learn how to use a shake and bake and get measured for fire gear but never needed a permit.

Now THAT was awesome. "Hey, can you guys get me in a good spot to film a fire retardant drop?"
Ranger " Fire Command, where's your next drop?

Fire Command "Grid 17,4"

Ranger " Is this a good spot?"

N8ture ~ Covered in fire retardant " Will this stuff eat the coating on my lens? ( cough, cough hack )
 
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