Canadian Shooting in the US - Permits/Visas

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Infamy

New member
Greetings. We are investigating the possibility of shooting a TV series in Los Angeles. The production company is Canadian and the only Canadians traveling to the US would be 3 producers. We would be hiring US crew. Shoot is expected to take 3 weeks with maybe another week prep.

If we wanted to be 100% by the book, do the 3 producers need special Visas to work in the US, even though we would be paying ourselves. Of course we would need local shooting permits, but I'm talking about being fully legit to clear customs. Other considerations?

Appreciated, thanks!
 
I don't know how it's done in other parts of the world. But the one time we did something like that we partnered with/hired a local production house to deal with all the permits and legal side of the shooting. They knew the local laws and had contacts to help our production.
 
Thanks for the reply. We may do something similar, but for now what I'm wondering is what about the producers? We want to be legit at customs and be able to be truthful and say "We are going down to LA to produce a TV series" and not be turned away for any reason. We could lie and say we're going for vacation, but we want to be doubly sure that nothing can go wrong and possibly jeopardize our future ability to travel.

We were quoted $5,000 per permit/visa by a subsequently discovered-to-be shady lawyer. I've been searching for a few days on government sites and would love to find out that that amount is too high, or not necessary at all. Thanks!
 
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