How do I get rights to shoot in a post office?

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PDX_DVX

Veteran
We are in the process of securing locations for our shoot, and one scene requires us to shoot in a post office. Has anyone ever shot in a post office? Any suggestions on the proper way to go about legally obtaining the right to set up and shoot in a post office? Any help would be great. Thanks!
 
In Texas, the first thing to try is call the film commission. In my town, their offices are about a three minute drive from me.

Brian
 
..last time i checked, when it comes to post offices.. most people just walk in and start shooting.

..har har.. ok .. nuff bad jokes. cal the film commision for permits , and the post office or permission and scheduling.. good luck.
 
Is it impossible to do? I am worried that our lack of budget/formality will make them say no. It's a student film, so we have no $$$. Hopefully the oregon film comission will help us out.
 
You're talking about dealing with a branch of the US government. There will almost definitely be bureaucracy and rules to abide by. It will be possible, I'm sure, and it may even be free, but you will almost unquestionably need an insurance policy in place, as well as worker's comp insurance... the film commission is the place to go to, or you can just go to the branch and ask the postmaster there about the process. But there will be a process, that you can be sure of.
 
iamloser said:
..last time i checked, when it comes to post offices.. most people just walk in and start shooting.
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That's only for the employees, the general public still has to fill out a form....
 
The last time I contacted the Film Commission was for a student-manned music video that the director wanted to shoot between 10PM and 3AM in an open field next to the city's clean water treatment plant with 10K in non-moviequiet generators and a noisy rock band to boot. The city manager sent me an email as written permission and simply stated that if anyone bothered us to show them the email and to leave us alone.

This water treatment plant was guarded by those high-security fences, too. Our shoot went great as the law enforcement was made aware of our shoot and didn't even wink.

The other video concept called for shooting at an old aircraft hanger next to the old airforce base (which is now owned by the airport on airport property and kept in high-high security 24/7 since after all on the other side of their fence are the runways for all the commercial flights in and out of Amarillo) The city offered to contact the airport manager and together they would give us the proper, supervised clearances we needed. In the end, we shot in the field, but it's pretty cool to think we could have shot at the airport with security free-of-charge. I love small towns!

... one key to our "jumping through hoops" per sey was to have a local well known gaffer involved in our project and when the film commissioner and city manager saw his name, I think they just signed off on it without a worry... so that definitely helped speed the process I think.

Hope this helps,

Brian Wells
 
Getting permission from any agency of the government is a time consuming task. Check with the public relations department of the USPS. They will ask for a copy of the script and background on your project and the people working on it. The postmaster general will have the final approval. Give this whole process at least six months, and be prepared to call your contact person in the public relations department at least once a week after submitting your script.

Rob
 
Or buy some post office looking posters and stuff and shoot it at some sort of counter at a private business. Every post office looks different so it's not like you have to follow a very specific look. Get a post office uniform for the clerk and nobody will catch it.
 
PDX_DVX said:
Any suggestions on faking PO boxes? Our scene requires someone to pull an envelope out of a PO box.
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You could try a complete side shot, so you only see the side of the wall and not the fronts of all the boxes. At the most, you might have to build the front of one box, so you can see it when the character opens it, depending on the angle. Just a low budget thought
 
How about asking a Mail Boxes Etc or a store like that? Actually I think MBE was bought out by The UPS Store, but still... if you can find a private franchisee, someone who owns their own store, then it might be infinitely easier to get permission.
 
Thanks Barry, we had actually considered this, I think it might work. We'll probably try and maybe use the exterior though....
 
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