Shooting without permit... possible???

A

Alec Hairywin

I need to shoot like 4 consecutive hours on a sidewalk outside a nightclub in the Los Angeles area. (Or just a brick wall with a door/a random building to fake the outside of a nightclub).

Shoot can be night or day for night. Will use lighting package, 2 real cameras & probably 15 extras.

Do you experts on here think I need to get a permit, or if I'm not on a super busy street- like say an alley or a parking lot behind a building- do you think I could pull it off without getting busted?

If so, what's the best/sneakiest time to shoot??

If it's too dangerous, i will just try and shoot indoors and fake it for outside somehow.

Thanks in advance to any advice- it's much appreciated.
 
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To be fair, won't you be better off finding an alternative anyway?
A side-walk in LA will be noisy, people might get in the way AND you run the risk with no permit.
I suggest finding a more secluded location, it will help in every aspect of your shoot.

From a sound perspective alone (since that's my area), not having a ton of background noise would be a massive advantage.
 
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Do it indoors, somewhere you can better control the environment. If all you really need is a brick wall with a door in it, that should be easy enough to find... You can fake the 'night club' aspect of it pretty easily by including muffled music at a low volume in your audio track in post. And if anyone goes through said doorway, increase volume and unmuffle accordingly.
 
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Four hours?
Outside?
In LA?!
On a public sidewalk outside a night club?

Pfft. YES, you need a permit.


Sneekiest time to shoot for four hours on a LA sidewalk outside a night club is Monday morning between 5am and 9am.
 
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Thanks for the feedback people... I knew I couldn't get away with a real nightclub outside - way too visible- but maybe I'd have a shot in a more secluded alley/parking lot.

Think I will go indoors & just fake the look of the nightclub with a velvet rope.
 
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“Los Angeles” means different things. There is the city of and the
county of. There are cities in the “Los Angeles” area where no
permit is needed. The permit cost depends on several factors like
blocking the sidewalk, diverting or intermittently stopping traffic,
time of day...

What Alec proposed could be done without a permit. “Busted” can
mean arrested and if that’s what is meant in this case the chances
are almost zero of anyone being arrested and taken to jail. Or even
fined. If there is a complaint the cops will arrive and ask the group
to move on. If there is no complaint the cops won't bother stopping
a shoot.

Get permission from the owner of the establishment and a permit may
not be needed.
 
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directorik said:
“Los Angeles” means different things. There is the city of and the
county of. There are cities in the “Los Angeles” area where no
permit is needed. The permit cost depends on several factors like
blocking the sidewalk, diverting or intermittently stopping traffic,
time of day...

What Alec proposed could be done without a permit. “Busted” can
mean arrested and if that’s what is meant in this case the chances
are almost zero of anyone being arrested and taken to jail. Or even
fined. If there is a complaint the cops will arrive and ask the group
to move on. If there is no complaint the cops won't bother stopping
a shoot.

Get permission from the owner of the establishment and a permit may
not be needed.
Click to expand...

That's great info- I heard that if the cops asked you for a permit and you don't have one, they will confiscate your lights, camera, equipment until you pay the fine. Maybe I heard wrong?

Do you happen to know off hand which areas near LA do not require a permit? (I wouldn't be blocking traffic at all)...
 
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When we shot a nightclub scene we found a club that had its entrance in the back. The entrance was adjoining the privately owned parking lot, so we were not at the mercy of the city. We were able to negotiate directly with the owner of the club. The club also happened to be closed on Mondays, so we had a quiet day to film. I'm in Canada, but you may want to look at outlying counties. May be worth the drive.

Added 2 cents: We still needed insurance. Some nightclub owners may sign a location agreement without asking for proof of insurance, but it is still up to you and your due diligence to have it. Don't think about the camera breaking, think about someone stepping the wrong way and breaking their ankle. One of the biggest mistakes I see new filmmakers make is shooting their film without insurance and without a Limited Liability Company. Not only does it limit your chances of distribution or investors, but it opens you personally up to all sorts of liabilities.
https://www.facebook.com/chainoftitle
 
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What if you got your shots with the camera far away, using a telephoto lens? Then have the actors where lavs, on the street, and it will appear to the police that they are just normal people talking, cause they cannot see a camera around. You would have to get a telephoto lens that can open up wide to 1.5 or something though, since you cannot use lights, so a prime telephoto, if their is such a thing.
 
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