What is the Difference Between a Location Release and a Shooting Permit?

Location, location, location: the phrase is just as important to filmmakers as it is to real estate buyers. And just like buying a house, you need to be sure to have the right contracts and permissions in place before you start shooting in your new location.

A shooting permit is permission from the city or municipality to shoot on public or private property within that jurisdiction. Many filmmakers believe that they only need to worry about shooting permits if they are filming on public property, such as streets or parks. In actuality, some jurisdictions require filmmakers to secure permits and pay filing fees even if they plan to shoot only on private property within the municipality!

The key is to check with the city clerk’s office in the city or municipality in which you’ll be shooting several weeks prior to the shoot. You may have to pay a fee for a shooting permit. Some small towns can charge upwards of $500 a day (yes, Montclair, NJ, I’m talking to you!)

By contrast, a location release is a contract between you and a property owner or other authorized party that gives you the right to enter that property and shoot your film. If you shoot on private property without the owner’s permission, you may expose your production to criminal penalties and civil liability for trespass, invasion of privacy, nuisance, and other legal claims.

(See Chapter 19 of The Pocket Lawyer for Filmmakers, 2 ed. for more details on location releases and shooting permits)

Crowd-source Funding

Need money for your film? Do members of the family Ursidae defecate within an amalgamation of perennial woody plants?

Sure you can raise money from rich uncles, cousins, and local loan sharks. But why risk running afoul of the securities laws if your film flops (or sleeping with the fishes if you went the loan shark route) when you can just ask thousands of people you don’t know for a handout? More and more filmmakers are harnessing the power of the web and turning to micro lending and crowd sourcing for loans and donations.

One popular pledge-based site is http://www.kickstarter.com/. Here, filmmakers can post projects and ask for specific amounts of money to be donated to their films. Using a PBS pledge-drive model, filmmakers can offer DVDs, posters, on-screen credit, walk-on roles, etc. for patrons who pledge at different levels. And since these are pledges, not loans, there is no need to repay the money if your film flops and no obligation to fork over your hard-earned gelt to investors if your film is a smash hit.

Lights... Camera... Print Run

I just spoke to my editor over at Focal Press; the second edition of The Pocket Lawyer for Filmmakers is scheduled to go to press in the next few days!

Boy has it been a long process; I always forget just how much work goes into putting together a book after the manuscript has been delivered. Rewrites, copyediting, proofreading, more proofreading… whew! Once again, the team at Focal Press has been wonderfully hands on, and great to work with.

I'm really excited about this new edition: in addition to case law updates, I have new sections on product placement, film tax credits and production incentive financing, letters of intent, and a whole bunch of new stuff on do-it-yourself distribution (four wall, YouTube, download to own, Amazon.com, iTunes, and Netflix). There are even more charts and graphics to help you find the information you need.

Especially cool for this edition is a "thumb tab" index that lets you flip to key sections of the book without having to first turn to the table of contents. My hope is to provide readers with the quickest route to legal information so they can get back to the film set to do the real work of making the movie.

Let me know what you think!

As part of the roll out to the new edition, I’ve created this blog. I plan to post new case law, helpful links, tips and tricks, and other odd musings. Enjoy!