Shutting a Shoot down! Can they do that?

D

DVX100Shooter

Veteran
I was just watching an episode of PUNK'D on MTV where they were punking rapper Kanye West. If you didnt see it, they basically used a phony LA film commission to show up on the set of a video shoot he was doing and attempted to shut down the shoot because they couldn't prove they had a permit to shoot on Sunday. They ended up taking what he thought was magazines of footage they had shot days prior. Of course Kanye snatched the magazines out of the guys hand and ran away with them. Ashton Kutcher showed up minutes later to let him know he was being Punk'D!

Even though this was just a prank, can a film commission really do that? I know you can get your shoot shut down for possibly not having a permit but can they actually take your footage as well?
 
Yeah, a film can and very often will be shut down in LA for a lack of proper permits. They can also impound equipment and issue fines. I was on a project last summer where we were outside of the area designated by our permit and it wasn't even 15 minutes before we had an armed officer approach the producer to find out what was going on and why we were there. He successfully talked them out of impounding the camera and box of glass (a 35mm Moviecam and a whole set of anamorphic primes). Doesn't matter what type of project it is, student, small indy or major studio feature (public or private property), if you don't have the proper paperwork it can really ugly, really fast.
 
Although I believe that, so long as you don't "touch the ground" - ie no tripod, no light stands, etc - you can shoot without a permit, to your heart's content, so long as you don't present some excuse like obstructing traffic, creating a public hazard or nuisance, etc for them to mess with you...

Yay for stabilizers.
 
Yeah, but this the jurisdiction of local municipalities law enforcment right, not "film commissions?
Doesn't it have to be the cops?
 
David G. Smith said:
Yeah, but this the jurisdiction of local municipalities law enforcment right, not "film commissions?
Doesn't it have to be the cops?
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I think that there is training and or instructions given to law enforcement when it comes to filming which encourages them to "watch" for any potential violation (after all, film permits and fees do add to the city's income). If it looks even close to a professional project, they can and often do approach you to check for permits. The film commission office is not an enforcement entity rather, they are the ones that handle the issuing of permits (or assist in the case of some locations).
 
I've been shut down before and producer fined 500 bucks (I wanred her ahead of time). But is wasn't film commision, it was Park Ranger. Most often it's the cops that do it.

bigger issue is how stupid and irresponsible the producer of that video was to not have proof if permit on hand during filming. If you have a big budget "film" project there is no excuse not to have permits on hand.
 
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