National Park filming permits

arroway

arroway

Well-known member
Unfortunately, it would seem that for the purposes of obtaining filming permits at National Parks, amateur/student/non-profit filmmakers are lumped in the same pot (bureaucratically speaking) with big money Hollywood productions.

What that means (at least for Michigan; fees very state to state) is that you have to submit a permit application with a non-refundable $100 application fee. If they agree to issue you a permit, you agree to pay another $100 location fee for each day of filming, agree to take out a $1,000,000 liability insurance policy and show proof of such on arrival, and finally, agree to pay a park ranger $50 dollars an hour if it is decided that you will need his ranger babysitting services. Depending on the nature of your project you may also be asked to secure a deposit or open a line of credit if they think you'll make a sizable enough mess in the process of whatever it is you're doing. There is no listed criteria indicating what kinds of projects are allowed or not allowed, or what kinds of projects will or will not require ranger babysitting.

My scene involves a man firing an assortment of blank firing revolvers and another man chasing him with a burning scythe in the middle of the night.

Needless to say, I have the sneaking suspicion I would be better off spending the application fee on a 100 lottery tickets.

Anyone have experience/insight with these National Park filming permits?

It seems more than a little ridiculous to charge $100 for an application fee when you don't have the slightest idea what the criteria for acceptance/denial is...
 
At Yosemite Park it was $500 a day plus insurance plus ranger babysitter. I am not sure what it is now...

Needless to say, you shoot anywhere else EXCEPT the park.

We ninja'd a whole day in Sequoia National Park once to make Marc Aro's 'Netherborn'. We had sticks down and people in costumes running all around and never got caught! :shocked: (Shhhhh...)
 
Do you know if State parks are any easier?

I might try that route instead, but I can't find any information on state park filming permits for anywhere but California.
 
We're shooting a river scene in a short later this month and the "Bureau of Reclamation" is letting us shoot with no fees at all. I'd recommend you call the most local/direct person in the chain that you can and tell them your budget, crew size, and what you need.
 
Snazzy Flapper said:
We're shooting a river scene in a short later this month and the "Bureau of Reclamation" is letting us shoot with no fees at all. I'd recommend you call the most local/direct person in the chain that you can and tell them your budget, crew size, and what you need.
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That's great advice. You may even have a county or city film commissioner in your area that would know of areas that look like you need for the scenes. In our county... We just film with permission of the private property owners near the location. I love rural areas... :Drogar-BigGrin(DBG)
 
Gary Sconce said:
That's great advice. You may even have a county or city film commissioner in your area that would know of areas that look like you need for the scenes. In our county... We just film with permission of the private property owners near the location. I love rural areas... :Drogar-BigGrin(DBG)
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And, as far as I know, film commissioners work for free. They are a wealth of information on the area you want to film -for free!
 
Phew, I got a verbal OK from the location I'm shooting in. We initially asked to close some trails and they weren't too responsive on that for a busy summer weekend. But we did get off trail permission and firearm waiver. It was a metro park so we went through their offices. The City film commission had the procedures and contact info.
 
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