Hi there!
I recently read the book "The DV Rebel's Guide: An All-Digital Approach to Making Killer Action Movies on the Cheap" and in it the author says that as long as you don't plant any equipment on the street ... meaning none of your equipment actually physically touches the ground... it's perfectly legal to shoot on the streets of LA without a permit. Is this true?
I intend to shoot a scene this weekend that would take place on Melrose ave. I just want to have two actors walk and talk as I lead them with a hand held camera. There will be no tripod or other gear touching the ground. Just me and a boom operator. So I'm wondering if I need to duck out of sight every time a cop car drives by.
I went through the website of the Los Angeles Film Commission, but can't find any info of that nature. It would be great if I could find that info listed anywhere online so that I could print it out and at least cary that around with my this weekend.
Anyone have any ideas where I might find this info??
You'd probably need a permit, yes. Call the people at Film, and they'll give you the lowdown. The reason is that they have to advise the police and so on, and this will ensure the police don't think there's a real holdup or hostage incident.
You'll be fine. The worst that can possibly happen is someone will
complain, call the police and the police will tell you to stop shooting.
The police do not troll the streets looking for a few people carrying a
camera.
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The aim of an argument or discussion should not be victory, but progress.
Joseph Joubert, essayist (1754-1824)
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The aim of an argument or discussion should not be victory, but progress.
Joseph Joubert, essayist (1754-1824)
Yeah, I didn't think so either. It'd be different if there were guns involved (or anything crazy of that nature), but I should be fine.
I guess I was wondering, just as a matter of curiosity, whether or not the info that the author provided was accurate...
The info is general and not entirely accurate. In other words the laws of Los Angeles
do not mention planting equipment on the street as the defining point between
permit and no permit. That is the authors generalization. If your are stopped by the
police and asked for a permit you cannot site what Maschwitz said and be clear.
You might be asked to stop shooting and move on.
=============================================
The aim of an argument or discussion should not be victory, but progress.
Joseph Joubert, essayist (1754-1824)
The rule is a common-sense one. If you are shooting handheld (i.e. without steadycam or similar stabilisation device), you are a tourist, making home videos. If you are using a tripod, you are beyond home videos, and therefore making a (presumably) commercial product.
The ultimate point is how much is your handheld shoot going to be disruptive. My guess is you'll have absolutely no problem doing it handheld and with a skeleton crew (just one additional boom guy). However, if there is a camera operator, a boom operator, a sound operator (wearing headphones), some AD helping camera operator navigate the street smoothly backwards, then a grip with a bounce board, etc., then you'll most likely be pushing it beyond the limit of tolerance. Obviously, if you can get this shot done in 10 minutes, you could still get away with it.
On the other hand, for a no-budget non-commercial short (or feature), permits can be free (for reasonable requests, of course; you can't expect them to close down a block on Vine for traffic for a full day while you shoot your short).
The Los Angeles film permits are issued by FilmLa Inc.
http://www.filmla.com/index.php
They have a process guide for obtaining a permit, which I found quite instructive.
http://www.filmla.com/getting_started.php
They also have an online application process,
http://www.filmla.com/getting_started.php
but, if you need a specific answer, they encourage you to call.
Good luck, and keep us posted! ?:)?
If you are busted by Film LA or the CA Film Commission without a permit, they will shut you down and can fine you up to a full days permit cost. I've been shut down before but we were certainly not subtle about it. Full crew for pick-ups, generators and HMIs... We got about 4 hours of filming completed before a cop car passed by. About 30 minutes later the film commission and about 6 cop cars stopped by and shut us down. We avoided a fine by blaming our production office.
Keep it small and look like you're supposed to be there and be polite to the people around the shoot. You'll be able to steal shots no problem... not that I recommend it, but we've all started somewhere.
David Schatanoff
D Studios Productions
David Schatanoff
D Studios Productions
