City Sets Formal Film Permit Rules

Filmmakers and photographers who shoot on New York City's famed streets and sidewalks now have a clear set of rules dictating when they must obtain permits, after years of relying on loose guidelines that civil liberties advocates said were too vague.

The rules, which appeared yesterday in the City Record, now state clearly that productions must have permits and at least $1 million in insurance if they plan to take over a lane of traffic or leave less than eight feet of open space on a sidewalk. Permits and insurance are also required for shoots that involve vehicles or use equipment other than hand-held devices or cameras on tripods — items like props, sets, lights, dolly tracks, screens, and microphone devices.

Before the rules were formally outlined, the dozens of productions that shot outdoors in the city each day typically obtained permits and insurance if they were going to disrupt city life on sidewalks and streets, but City Hall had never established clear rules for doing so.

"We're not really trying to change anything, we're just clarifying some of the positions that have been in place and in practice for a number of years," the commissioner of Mayor Bloomberg's Office of Film, Theatre and Broadcasting, Katherine Oliver, said in an interview.

Many filmmakers and photographers had long complained that the policies were too vague and gave authorities too much leeway to harass artists on the street.