If you're filming at a house that belongs to home owners association on a low-no budget, what are your tips? Is there a way to film at a hoa home without compensating them fees if you have low - no budget or at least negotiating?
pre-pro Tips on filming at a house that belongs to home owners assocaiton with a low-no budget?
- Thread starter JKierskicine1207
- Start date
That depends....yeah, I know - not very helpful.
I've dealt with this twice. The first time was a friend's house, where they tried to get permission from the hoa for me to film there but failed. We ultimately had to get a different location.
The second time was not as affluent of an area. We just did it and got out as quickly as we could. The owner of the house (a different friend) assured security that it was OK and I subsequently gifted the neighbors a WalMart gift card for the inconvenience.
Neither time did we pay a fee to the hoa - the 1st time it wouldn't have done any good and the 2nd I simply never offered.
I've dealt with this twice. The first time was a friend's house, where they tried to get permission from the hoa for me to film there but failed. We ultimately had to get a different location.
The second time was not as affluent of an area. We just did it and got out as quickly as we could. The owner of the house (a different friend) assured security that it was OK and I subsequently gifted the neighbors a WalMart gift card for the inconvenience.
Neither time did we pay a fee to the hoa - the 1st time it wouldn't have done any good and the 2nd I simply never offered.
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HOA may not be great place to make a movie
My business instincts tell me that on a score from 1 to 10, the movie production idea would not be higher than a 1 (low rating). I see too many issues with little to gain. The production may not be...
www.reviewjournal.com
First, is it your house, a friend's, or a location you found that works well? Second, how big is this production crew-wise? I mean is it you with the camera and a friend with the boom? Or grip trucks, generators, and catering? Interiors, exteriors? Lastly, how many days and is the production insured?
Your question is vague which makes it difficult to give a useful answer.
Stay very low profile. Don't have several cars parked on the street.
Don't have any equipment outside. No loud noise.
There is – talk to the home owner. You shouldn't have to pay the HOA
and the home owner might let you film there for free.
Stay very low profile. Don't have several cars parked on the street.
Don't have any equipment outside. No loud noise.
There is – talk to the home owner. You shouldn't have to pay the HOA
and the home owner might let you film there for free.
Be cognizant also of liability issues - if someone slips and falls in the house during filming, the house insurance company may not cover the injuries, because commercial activity, ie filming, was not covered in the contract. There can then be lawsuits all around. I'm sorry to come across as a doomsayer, but that's the legal reality.
That's why it's essential to have production insurance and the house has to be named as a covered location.
I'm not even completely sure what that means, but if you have low or no budget, isn't it obvious to you that you can't afford to do anything "by the book"? No budget = no insurance. no permits. no nothing... Just you and some volunteers and minimum equipment. If you have access to a friends house, use it, or don't. If it was me, I'd use it. Too many people get caught up in the "what if this happens - what if that happens?" mentality. If those things really concern you, you should not be making any kind of film at all without insurance or permits.
I don't know all the specifics, but a neighbor of mine's had 3 things filmed at his home in the past 18 months. One was Porsche commercial, one was some sitcom pilot (might have been a "proof of concept" video), and the third was a video for the Palm Springs Office of Tourism. And there was never any issue with our HOA, but as far as HOA's go (and they're all on some level of EVIL), mine is pretty good. And on at least 2 of them, the streets were closed to parking, and except for the genny, grip/gaffer truck, and video village, everything else was staged outside on public streets (we're a gated/guarded community). And I know that with the Porsche commercial, they did require a $1m insurance policy naming the HOA as beneficiary. Filming is possible, but no budget filming is probably impossible.
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That's not what I was saying at all. I merely pointed out that if things like liability concern you, then yes, have insurance and permits.
In my opinion, a micro-budget film production is a few people and some basic equipment. Unless neighbors are extremely nosy and people are doing things to draw attention to themselves, who's going to know you're shooting a movie and why would they care anyway. For all they know, you're making a home movie. Are you using pyrotechnics? Are you shooting scenes in the front yard?
My house isn't part of an HOA so I really don't know how 'evil' they are or not, but in general, I'd estimate that for every 1 neighbor who would raise a stink because someone dares to turn on a camera in the house next to them, there are probably a million people who would not give a damn.
This reminds me of something that actually happened to me when filming my 1st feature.
We were planning to shoot quite a bit at my parents' house (with their permission/approval + I eventually treated them to a few days at the beach to get them out of our hair and also safe from tripping over shit). We used multiple rooms to "play" different locations and eras.
We had trucks, lights, and lots of people so we needed permits, which we got without a problem in several other locations.
What I didn't realize was that the town had had a very bad experience several years ago with a Hollywood production and swore that they would never ever let anyone shoot another movie in town under any circumstances.
After I filled out all the forms, submitted the paperwork & proof of insurance, I was getting no response -not even a "no you can't."
So I went to the town hall, found the right person/department, and pled my case. Keep in mind that my parents had lived there 20+ years, were fairly well known because they were active in civic affairs + my dad was a judge in the county.
The very nice woman who was charged with rejecting me listened to my whole story, including the fact that much of the screenplay was inspired by my mom's very dysfunctional family (and yes, she knew my parents).
She told me to wait. I saw her disappear into the police chief's office (it's not a big town & the offices aren't big).
Twenty minutes later, she called me into HER office. Closed the door and said:
"Repeat after me: I am interviewing my mother about the story of her life."
I repeated it.
Say it again.
I did.
She said - good. No permit for you! But if the cops come by, just tell them that - I've clued them in.
I then stalked the crew obsessively to make sure we put nothing in the street and obeyed all parking rules.
It was crazy and stressful but it worked.
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Yeah, I did - at least once I was confident that we'd actually pull it off!
Sorry for agreeing with you, James. As for filming within an HOA, I asked our management company (who reports to our HOA) about filming within the community, and she said there was no standing requirement to get any licenses or permits for filming in a private home. Our HOA is wholly private property, the community owns the streets, parking, community services, everything within the walls, so Palm Springs requirements don't apply (in Los Angeles, you need a permit to film IN a private house). As far as filming outside, there is no city permit required, and the HOA will determine fiscal requirements on an "as needed" basis. But if you have more than 10 people involved, the neighbors aren't stupid... they WILL notice. People in an HOA community are MUCH MORE observant of traffic and strangers, especially if it's a gated community. We pay obnoxious fees for that security and privacy, and we notice strange cars parked on our streets or in the very limited visitor parking lots. And remember this... most homes in an HOA have security cameras and will catch the comings and goings of people and cars. And IF and WHEN your guerilla shoot is discovered (likely long after you're gone), the homeowner is the one who get's it in the "bejeezers" by the HOA. If you live in Yreka, CA (not to be confused with Eureka) or Fertile, Iowa (both real towns, BTW), you might be able to get away with it. But anything much bigger it's just not worth it. BTW, have you even BOTHERED to research your city to see the requirements for filming on private property?
OK, Max's dad. If you say so. You make HOAs sound like Nazi German... and you should have your computer keyboard looked at. The CAP LOCK seems to turn itself on and off intermittently.
You don't know what you don't know, so our duty, as a community, is to bring up issues the original poster didn't know. This would be especially appropriate for the younger generation with no experience.
why not just cheat? nobody knows what goes on inside.
then film the exterior scenes somewhere else.
the door to the house for the exterior scenes will not be the door of the house the interior scenes are filmed in.
then film the exterior scenes somewhere else.
the door to the house for the exterior scenes will not be the door of the house the interior scenes are filmed in.