Location Scouting and Permissions

T

TimAkers

Member
I know this has been covered many times; please cover this once more. After my first experience, I will start a blog and share this so someone can sticky it if they feel it's deemed worthy.

I am scouting out locations for an upcoming short film that we are starting in the fall. I own a small independent digital film studio.


What is the process to obtaining permission for filming at a cemetery?
This includes various shots of headstones, individual sites, the fence of the property, the shed, and the lake attached to the cemetery.


What constitutes as public or private property, and does a press pass help with either?


Can I use the local Public Library with only a press pass? Courthouse? Old Cathedral Catholic/Luthern Church?


One of the churches on the list is an old Catholic church; is this still private property? Who do I contact for permission? A priest or the pope?
Same question for an old cathedral Luthern church.


In my town, there are many, many historical buildings. I would like some external shots of the main characters entering and exiting the buildings. Are external shots fair game? Or do I need the permission of the owner still?


I plan to release this to film festivals.


I have been searching around, and so far, the only real advice I found dealt with Press Passes, but nothing was certain.


Thanks,


Tim
 
Seeing no one has replied yet and I live on the other side of the planet, here's what I'd do.

For a start, contact your local TV news outlet and find out how they'd handle the questions you've asked. And importantly find out what authorities they'd go to, to find out. One lead leads to another lead etc.

The worst aspect will be if you want to start soon, that'll probably cost you money, patience and sleep.

You'll be dealing with 9-5 town pen pushers so don't push, and hopefully you've got time to do all this before your shooting dates. Good luck.

Cheers.
 
Last edited:
Also a reply from the other side of the planet but not the same other side as the last poster :-)


First it is all going to depend on LOCAL laws. At the moment you are on a different continent to the rest of the respondents so most of the advice will be valid but not for where you are.

Re property. Generally any property that is owned by some one is "private" this includes churches and shopping malls*. So you have to ask the owner or responsible manager. For a Church, Mosque etc it will be the priest etc in charge of the building. Even if they may have to ask higher up the chain of command winning them over is the most important step.

Different religions have different views on it. Often these vary a lot from Church to Church even for the same denomination. If they can't agree on gay or female Vicars there won't be any sort of consensus on filming!

Shopping Malls ARE (normally) Private property that lets the public in [subject to the following rules that are in the document in the managers office] to shop. The same as when you have an open party for charity or a garage sale for example at your house and people turn up it does not make your house/garden public. So ask the manager of the Mall.

As for external shots... no idea. that depends on your local laws and some times the usage.

Normally (?) local open spaces are owned by "the town" so you have to ask the Town/City Council for permission.

A press pass won't help you one bit for any of this. It may also hinder you as people may be unsure of your motives. A film maker makes film a Press person rakes up muck for stories.

Generally the more you have pre-perpared as a presentation and can leave them with something explaining who you are and what you want to do the better.
 
Thank you both for the answer. We have to halt production for the fall anyway, so this is good that it's getting covered here first. I was going to write a letter of intent, and fold it up and store it in my camera accessories bag. This week I am trying to contact the official and appropriate people to get my answers. But, as you put it, it's going slow.

Thank you again,
Tim
 
Sorting out permissions for locations can take weeks and bearing in mind summer holidays you may want to start now.
 
You're in Michigan and you need help sorting out what you need for locations? Try the state film office: http://www.michiganfilmoffice.org
Film offices are there to get producers to bring films to their state. They're also good places to start if you have questions about bureaucracy and how to deal with it. Give 'em a call and tell them what you're up to. They're usually willing to help or at least point you in the right direction. Our local film office was incredibly helpful when we needed to find a courthouse, jail, hospital, and high school. We'd been banging our heads against the wall for a couple weeks dealing with all the location people until our film office pointed us to one person in the police department of the next county...one call and we had 3 out of 4 locations secured along with a vintage police car at no cost.
 
Andrius,

Thank you so much for this. And, good luck on your future endeavors. We have to halt production on our little Mini-Series. I am purchasing a new Tripod, along with lighting, rigs, and other equipment. We sort of ran into a snag. So, rather than shooting this Fall, we are restructuring our equipment. I have everything else we need, including two DSLRs (APS-C), but, simply put, we won't be ready by next March for the Ann Arbor Film Festival if we can't attain the right look. I pushed too forward on this project when the script wasn't finished, then realized, some of the equipment we need isn't right.

I have, however, talked to a few local businesses already and am in the middle of working something out to attain their permissions for using their establishments.

Thanks to all of you for your advice and help already.

Tim
 
I do location scouting for big productions. Getting permits varies, but generally find out who owns the place you want to film. In Alaska,
we usually have to get permits from the Federal government (if filming in national parks), the state government (if filming in state parks or
on state owned land), the local city government (if closing down streets or filming on city property, in addition to getting permissions from
local owners of businesses or homes that we want to feature. This takes time and money, but generally can be done when you have plenty
of money to throw at the problem and plenty of workers to deal with the problems of getting permits. MUCH harder for small productions
to deal with it as both money, and workers is in shorter supply.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top