Locations and trouble

B

boulder

Well-known member
I'm about to embark on a larger project and am absolutely naive on something I should know about, that is shooting on locations, permits and trouble I could get into. Is there some place I can go to to find answers to some of these questions:

Can I shoot on public property or what are my limits to shooting there?
Who do I ask for permit?
What are the average rates?
What trouble can I get in if I steal a shot?
I wanted to get police in a shot, would it be best to ask them to do it or get actors to play them?

I live in a smaller suburb in MN and probably very different than LA or NY as we really don't have many people shooting. I know these are very generic questions that are probably impossible to answer but any help is appreciated.
 
Every answer you've asked, can only be given relative to your local situation. It might be expensive and impossible in New York, and it might be free and easy in Minnesota, but the only way to know is to talk to the governing agencies -- go to the Minnesota Film Commission, ask them about permits, and they'll direct you to the officers.

In some locations I've been told that having an officer involves paying $42/hour for the officer as well as an additional fee for his car; in other locations the chief of police himself has shown up for free, brought along two police cars, and let us use his personal car, all for free.

So there's nobody here who can answer your questions accurately, except for perhaps a Minnesota member who lives in the same town, so the best answers will be to go straight to the local office of the MN film commission.
 
You should start by checking with your local film commission. They should be able to answer most of your questions.

In many cases you can get away with "stealing" shots depending on the local attitude as well as how high profile you are being. Are you stopping traffic and making a general nuisance of yourself or are you very low key and guerilla?

As for using real police, I'd think that would be problematic.
 
I'll probably lose the megaphone, riding pants, beret, crop and directors chair when I steal a location to keep a lower profile (but how will the actors respect me?)
 
boulder said:
I live in a smaller suburb in MN and probably very different than LA or NY as we really don't have many people shooting. I know these are very generic questions that are probably impossible to answer but any help is appreciated.
Click to expand...


Here in California, depending where, even filming on 'private property', may require a film permit. One of my 'favorite' anecdotes about this, was, a few years ago a 'porn' film production in a residential house, was shut down by police, and the participants arrested. Initially charged with some form of 'prostitution' or another, the charges eventually boiled down to 'commercial filming without a permit'...
 
this is interesting to me too. So I was wondering how do most of you guys do it for your shorts and such, do you bother to get permits and contact all the proper authorities and all that or do you just say screw it and take your chances? And do permits cost money etc? Like what if I wanted to shoot ina public park here in my town, would I be able to do that? I mean sure on a tiny GH1 with no gear I doubt anyone would notice, but what if I wanted to haul my light stands, diffusers, bounce boards, crew with boom mic etc?
 
So much depends on where you live and where you want to shoot. Without knowing where that is, I'd suggest that you contact your local film commission.

Yes, a permit is general gonna cost some bucks and may even require police presence depending on the situation. It COULD also require a water truck and a fire marshal if you are planning any pyrotechnics, again depending on the situation and the requirements of the particular local.
 
One of the reasons i like the DSLRs is it makes it easy to go unnoticed. I was shooting something the other day and I noticed a city worker staring so I just pretended i was talking pictures and then hit record and pretended i was on the phone and he just thought I was away from the camera so I couldn't possibly be taking pictures right then and probably never occurred I was taking video the whole time.

That was a long sentence.


EDIT: http://www.krages.com/phoright.htm
 
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Homunculus said:
this is interesting to me too. So I was wondering how do most of you guys do it for your shorts and such, do you bother to get permits and contact all the proper authorities and all that or do you just say screw it and take your chances? And do permits cost money etc? Like what if I wanted to shoot ina public park here in my town, would I be able to do that? I mean sure on a tiny GH1 with no gear I doubt anyone would notice, but what if I wanted to haul my light stands, diffusers, bounce boards, crew with boom mic etc?
Click to expand...

Have a couple in 'wedding' attire, and claim you are doing a wedding shoot.

Now some places do require permits even for wedding photographers, but in San Diego, that got nixed, along with like a per use $200 fee, for 'public property', such as the various parks and beaches, etc...

This was just a clear case of the City Council wanting to 'nick' a few bucks... the fees collected from all 'pros' working in the City probably wouldn't have covered the cost of managing the process...

At a filmmaker's meeting sometime later one of the city Film Buro members came to give a talk to the filmmakers about San Diego regulations, etc. And one of the constant refrains was 'San Diego was much more 'friendly' than LA, and cheaper... even if one required public services for the location'. There was some mention that for some situations a fire marshall review of the set was required.. and the marshall would inspect and leave... but in LA one had to have a fire person 'on duty' even if there were no significant fire hazards (like pyro, or the like...). Obviously the Firemen's union got a say in that sort of 'requirement'... I'm sure monitoring a shoot is far easier than actually fighting a fire, or more exciting than sitting around the station...

Since my anticipated filmmaking will be 'short subjects', I tend to think guerrilla style shooting if I need to be 'on the streets'...
 
j1clark@ucsd.edu said:
Here in California, depending where, even filming on 'private property', may require a film permit. One of my 'favorite' anecdotes about this, was, a few years ago a 'porn' film production in a residential house, was shut down by police, and the participants arrested. Initially charged with some form of 'prostitution' or another, the charges eventually boiled down to 'commercial filming without a permit'...
Click to expand...

I remember that...the shooting company got into trouble because they were shooting outside the house and the noise the actresses were making was freaking out the neighbors, who called the police...

...the 'shooting without permit' was the only charge that could stick anyway, because California is one of very few places that does not define recording sex acts for-pay as prostitution.
 
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