DO YOU NEED A PERMIT TO FILM?

In any of the areas FilmL.A. serves, a permit is required for filming or taping any motion picture, television program, advertisement, music video, or other similar production outside of an approved studio, and for certain commercial still photography.

The links at left and below are designed to guide you through the technical details of obtaining a permit.  Because location film production is often, by its nature, a disruptive activity, there are many requirements that must be met during permit coordination to ensure the protection of the surrounding community.

Unfortunately, because no two requests to film are alike, no single set of rules or criteria apply under all circumstances. To ensure that no details are missed that could negatively affect your filming plans, we recommend that you call us if you are considering filming anywhere in our permit jurisdiction. The text of our standard site disclaimer is particularly true in this case.*

PLEASE NOTE: By applying for (or actively opposing) a City of Los Angeles filming permit, you may be affecting your or your company's relationship with the officials of the City. The City Ethics laws limit the size of the gifts that may be given to City officials, especially when the gift giver has asked the City to take any action, such as granting or denying a filming permit. If you have any questions about this issue, please contact the City Ethics Commission.

* FilmL.A., Inc. has gathered the location filming information contained on this site as a service to the entertainment industry. While FilmL.A., Inc. intends to update periodically the information, it changes from time to time and may not be accurately provided to or entered by FilmL.A., Inc.  FilmL.A., Inc. cannot and does not guarantee that the information contained here is current or otherwise accurate. Neither FilmL.A., Inc. nor its predecessors, successors, partners, affiliates, directors, officers, employees, agents or representatives shall be liable for any reason for damages of any nature (including special, incidental, compensatory, consequential or punitive) to any individual or entity who uses or relies on the information contained here for any purpose whatsoever or to the predecessors, successors, affiliates, partners, directors, employees or heirs of any such individual or entity.