Do I need permission to shoot in a public place?

[Dawn Tarantino]

Okay, so first off I hope this is the right place to post this. Secondly, the film is a quick short, and will possibly be part of a series of shorts I hope to make into a montage for a psychological horror film. Then it's "wrangle if I can get it into a festival" time.

It's possible nothing will happen with it, but it's also possible it will. The two locations are: a public park and a graveyard (I will not show the names of graves, they will only be seen from the back.)

Do I need to still get permission from the city to film even if this one short is like practically a small camcorder and two actors? If I do need permission, do I just ask the city's Film Commission (I'm located in San Diego, and they have a useful film commission site)?

Any help is so much appreciated!

 

[2001 Productions]

You will find that the requirements vary from place to place. I don't live in San Diego, but since they have a film commission why not start there? If you do need permission, they'll undoubtedly know how you can get it - or can get it for you. If you don't need permission, I'm sure they'll tell you that, too.

If all you're doing is shooting a couple of actors with a camcorder, nobody's going to raise a stink about that - may as well go guerrilla. If you have crew and equipment you're carting in, that's another matter.

Also, are you certain the cemetery is owned by the city? Very often they are privately managed.

 

[Blade_Jones]

I concur with 2001 Productions. If you have a crew of a camera man, a director and a couple of actors then you're not going to draw attention, especially when you're off the street at a park or cemetery. If I was shooting something like this in LA, where it costs like $900 a day for a permit plus $65 a hour times 4 hours minimum for a cop, then you bet ya I'm gonna try and save $1,160.00!!!!! The key is being LOW KEY!

 

[Dawn Tarantino]

You will find that the requirements vary from place to place. I don't live in San Diego, but since they have a film commission why not start there? If you do need permission, they'll undoubtedly know how you can get it - or can get it for you. If you don't need permission, I'm sure they'll tell you that, too.

If all you're doing is shooting a couple of actors with a camcorder, nobody's going to raise a stink about that - may as well go guerrilla. If you have crew and equipment you're carting in, that's another matter.

Also, are you certain the cemetery is owned by the city? Very often they are privately managed.

Thanks guys...


...hmmm, never thought about the privately owned cemetary, have to look into it, good point. The one I'm thinking of is so huge, it looks like a park, so I never considered.

 

[Alcove Audio]

Of course there's always "movie magic." If you know someone with a large piece of property* you can turn it into a park with a few benches and a few extras. You can do the same for your cemetery with some styrofoam headstones, a few fake flowers and judicious angles. Besides avoiding all the fees or going guerrilla you'll have access to electricity, a bathroom and more time.


*Lots of folks love being vicariously involved in making a film and will gladly donate their property. You can also barter for the space - tape a kids party or take some really nice photos of the home and/or property. Hey, the family can be extras in the background of the park scene. When I did production sound we did quite a number of projects that way. You can also find lots of "props" on Freecycle; just Google them up, I'm sure that there's one in San Diego. I've found tons of Foley props, a couch, some bookcases and even studio soundproofing for free.

 

[InsuranceMike]

Also be advised, San Diego has a $2mm Liability insurance requirement in order to obtain the film permit. That requires a certificate of insurance be issued naming both the city and the county of San Diego as additional insured.

 

[Chicken Joe]

Of course there's always "movie magic." If you know someone with a large piece of property* you can turn it into a park with a few benches and a few extras. You can do the same for your cemetery with some styrofoam headstones, a few fake flowers and judicious angles.

That was exactly what we did in our recent project
Well, actually it was not the property of our friend, but of his neighbour. An old man, who usually checks if everything is fine on his ground for one day in the year. Of course this was the one day and sure we did not ask before. He was a bit shocked and confused seeing someone dressed like Indiana Jones putting some wood crosses in his "garden"
But after explaining what we were going to do and pretending we did not know the imaginary property line, everything was cool. Luckily our zombie horde (about 10 actors) was not on the set when he came