Are there any cities that give away permits for free (or very little) to shoot on a street. We'll be shooting for under 5 hours and the crew is under 10 people. We won't need to stop traffic or anything like that.

The cities I have talked with have said they want anywhere from $500-$10,000 for one day, which I can't afford at all.

I know that San Diego gives away permits (for most areas) but is there anything in the South Bay or LA area?

If you don't use a tripod, it's a "home video".

Getting a permit is free unless you need to close a street or block etc. in NYC. A permit is just permission to shoot. Stopping traffic is another thing. I would check again it does not sound right.

If you don't use a tripod, it's a "home video".

Nah, you can still use a tripod, just no sticks on the ground.. that's where a pickup truck comes in handy. ;)

within cities some streets cost money some don't. We needed to shoot in a park and the park in the center of the city would have cost us $2500 but we found a park with a similar look that required no permit and no payment. If you need to block a street then money comes into play. Just talk to your local film office and tell them your budget and your needs and hopefully they can find a solution for you. We needed to also shoot on a 4 lane highway and have complete control of the highway and we found a closed section of highway that the police used for training purposes. It cost us nothing to shoot there, we just shot on a day it wasn't being used by the police.

Where have you gotten those numbers, tieisher? I’ve shot a lot in
the LA area and never encountered permit fees that high.

I talked to LA film commission and you pay $500 for two weeks for any number of permits. that's it apparently. i hope i heard right, that's the way i budgeted my movie now :)

cheerio
elke