Do I need a permit for this shot?

XCheck said:
C'mon guys: Permits, moving along, ... sure. The city needs to do some risk management.
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What risk? Distracting drivers, perhaps? They gonna fine cuties in halter tops, too?

Now, if you're hanging upside down from the center span of a bridge somewhere...yeah, a permit is probably needed.

Set up on some guys lawn, filming a barbecue scene? Their choices are bite me, or bite some BBQed ribs.
 
GenJerDan said:
They gonna fine cuties in halter tops, too?
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It's a small miracle I haven't had any accidents. These are great times for middle-aged dirty old bastard like myself. :thumbsup:

Don't know how it is elsewhere, but Toronto doesn't charge for film permit. But by requiring you to have one (for which you need insurance), they are basically getting off the hook if someone runs into one of those halter-topped cuties while walking backwards, checking what's up with that film crew.

In other words: if you are stupid (or blind) enough to get hurt when filming goes on, don't go after us, go after the producers.

But yeah - we are basically saying the same thing. :beer:
 
In a world where people sue for almost anything, I can see the point in govts imposing certain restrictions / regulations. It becomes a viscious cycle otherwise and the taxpayer ends up footing the bill.

Mind you I actually enjoy the adrenalin rush, and don't have the moola (nor want to pay the moola) to organise permits / insurance. Put a little excitement in your life (at no-ones expense), get your shots, but understand the consequences.
 
Ditto to most of the responces so far... screw the permit and take your shots... odds are no one will care. I've taken plenty of street shots without permits. The most response I've ever gotten is a nosy old guy asking what we were doing in the street. :thumbsup:
 
I'll throw in my .02. I just got done shooting a new short here in Memphis and we had a lot of exterior stuff in the city, right downtown, and we had no problems. Now I was expecting to get hassled, but we made sure to talk to the surrounding businesses and let them know what we were doing/ask permission, and we didn't have any trouble. We were on the sidewalks with a 5500w generator running, lights, c-stands, the whole deal, and we never got one sideways look from anybody; we even had cops drive right by and never even tap the brakes. Now when I shot in the suburbs, at about 2am a cop came by and he stopped, but he didn't have any problem with us being there, he just said that he always stops when he sees that many people out at 2am. Of course, most of the time we weren't standing in the middle of the street (cul de sac yes), but I think the big thing is just make sure that the people that live around there (or own businesses) know what you're doing. As long as nobody complains (at least here) it's not an issue. But I don't live where you live, so that's just my experience.
 
In Indiana, where I live, The state itself does not require a permit, nor does most cities... Unless you need to have them block off the street, then some minor papper work with the police dept. needs to be done so they can post the proper street closing signs. Even this should be at no cost to you, here in Bloomington (where I live), you have to pay $100.00/ per day to have a segment of street shorter than 1/4 mile closed. Anything over is taken into consideration, but they might not allow you to close that much street unless you have a valid reason (Road Construction, Wreck, etc).
 
i heard that as long as the camera is in or mounted on a car you dont need a permit...as soon as you step foot on the ground with the camera roling, or a tripod hits the ground with the camera on it, thats when you need a permit..

i have shot so much in and around los angeles with a dvx on a tripod and never once even got "move along" from a cop. even one time when i was in the middle of the road in the turning lane.

however...in NYC...i had a my canon 20d out taking photos...and every cop i walked by wanted to know what i was doing taking pictures witha pro camera....they never gave me a ticket or even told me to get lost...they just wanted to know why.

anyway, do what you gotta do...but you might just be fine going out and shooting it...just dont expect to be able to set lights up on a busy street.
 
Landon-
It just so happens we were planning to shoot this shot in New Albany. It's right across the river for us Kentuckians.

We ended up changing the scene and did not need to do the crane shot in the city. We shot it on a country road in the middle of nowhere.

Thanks for all the advice, fellas. The next time I need to shoot something in a public place I will go into it a little more bravely.
 
I live in Athens GA and I film quite a bit downtown (actually it is the only place we film). Last Christmas Eve me and my crew went out, downtown, and started filming. We did everything. There were no cars, no people, no life. It was great! We did tons of stuff in the middle of the street and then a cop pulled up, rolled down his window and asked us what we were doing. We said we were filming a little video and then he asked us something insane, he wanted to be in it. Once we were home we had footage of a police chase, first by car, then on foot. It was the single most amazing and exciting thing i have done filming. Screw the permit.
 
That's awesome man! More proof that most sensible law enforcement officials don't really care about permits and crap. (especially here in the south)
 
I'm divided on this...

1, If I hav'nt got the money for insurance, I turn up and just shoot it even if I get moved along. You just might end up with something better like David.

2, Sounds risky, crane-people-pickup-people-heads-crush-running away-being tracked down to your parents-going for a government holiday-remembering the blood forever.

It's all down to cash, I would maybe re-think the shot. Turn-up at the location and try and shoot it quickly handheld.
Rather than be a risk to anybody.

J.P.
 
Josh_Boelter said:
...I’d say you’re probably safe, but I’m no lawyer so I can’t say for sure.

Cheers,

Josh
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have to agree. know of a few commercials where shots have been (for lack of a better word) stolen. not to mention a lot of music vids & even some features. (low profile is key)
in fact in some countries like rome etc... permits are very weird so you say you are shooting a documentary & it's pretty much hands off.

btw: i'd be careful of contacting the city unless you really plan on applying for a permit. though most cites will be cool, esp. if you're a student etc... you don't want to send up a flag that you will be shooting in their city. know what i mean?
if it's video & lo profile, imho i'd hop on it.

bol
 
Hello everyone. I'm new here. This thread is starting to grow cobwebs but I'm going to throw an opinion in here anyway. I have no problem with how anyone wants to make their films. Film are stories and telling stories shouldn't cause one to be weighed down with worry.
However, if you want to be a filmmaker, professionally, at some point, I think you should act as if you already were. That means trying to do things the right way. The city isn't going to shut you down out of spite, simply because you want to film a scene here or there. For the most part they won't make you have a permit unless you need them to do something for you like close down a street or something. If they require you to carry insurance for the location that you want to shoot in, it's for a reason. Production insurance is a pain, but a necessary one of anything goes wrong. If you tell the police department where you will be and what you will be doing, that's usually good enough.
I know that everyone wants to do their films as cheap as possible, but raising money is also a part of the process. One of the biggest parts.
Act like a professional and you will be a professional. It's not like you have to have a licence for this stuff.
Of course, I'm mainly talking about features here. For short films, don't spend a dime because you'll never make it back. Shorts are fun and can get you a lot of experience, but they are not an avenue for profit.
Rock on.
 
permits

permits

Just to point out something about permits.If your video has anything to do with news of any sort, you do not need any permits for filming anywhere.




Josh_Boelter said:
I watched Ed Burns’s “Sidewalks of New York” last night with the commentary track. There were a bunch of shots in that film where Burns said they didn’t have permits. They were on NYC streets and just stole shots as they saw fit. Not only that, they stole shots that included Brittany Murphy ascending the steps of a New York apartment building. You never actually see her go inside because the door was locked and they didn’t have permission to be there. This was a $1 million movie. Low budget by Hollywood standard, but not by indie standards. Interesting that he was able to steal so many shots in New York without legal recourse. I’m guessing that since the crew was always on public property, there’s nothing the city can do unless they catch you in the act of shooting without a permit.

I’d say you’re probably safe, but I’m no lawyer so I can’t say for sure.

Cheers,

Josh
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I do lots of wedding video's in DC and there are invitably couples that want a picture of themselves with the Capital in the background. So every Saturday if your are on the North side of the US Capital you will see large groups of wedding parties getting pictures and video.

You don't need a permit.... but you cannot use a tripod. But one day I decided to get a really far shot of the wedding party and to make it steady enough I put it on a tripod. I got about 1 minute of shooting when I saw some Capital Police roll over and tell me to stop using the tripod. I had started to put it away when they got there (I saw them first) The reason I heard from my other video pals is that if your using a tripod then you are obviously a professional movie maker of some sort. The shot looked really nice... so it was worth the risk.
 
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