Getting permission to shoot.

I'd start with th local stores and would expect to leave with contact details for a National office. Should at least have a number for the correct office and it's easier to make contact in person in a small store than a busy helpdesk that have to deal with hundreds of calls a day.

drc said:

I'm pretty much doing an exposition montage of a girl walking into expensive stores and leaving with shopping bags. It will end up being 30 seconds at the most but I want to show the store's names to make it clear that she's wealthy.

So since it is free publicity and branding for the stores, should I have any problem getting permission to shoot there?

Also how do I go about contacting them? Since these are international brands (Nordstrom, Tiffany's, Gucci) do I contact the corporation or work with the local store?

The mall where all of these are located are very open to filming and welcome it on their website.

Thanks.

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As a general rule, big national chains are not likely to let you do it. They are always afraid of lawsuits and it comes down to the fact that, even if its harmless, it's not worth the risk. It's tied up with copyright laws, branding issues, etc.

Are you a student somewhere? Playing that card can help.

So, here are your options as I see them:
1) Call the national office, ask to speak with the marketing or public relations department. Don't tell the operator what you are doing, she won't care or be able to help you. Just say you need to speak with someone in one of those departments. If she asks, it's for a short film.....BUT this is going to take a LONG time for someone to get back to you, if they ever do, and if they do it will take a long time to process the paperwork.
2) "It is easier to ask for forgiveness than to ask for permission." Go in, shoot it VERY FAST and get out. If they kick you out play the "oh I'm so sorry I didn't realize" card....BUUUUUT this is very unethical, might be illegal and could cause you way more headaches than you need.
3) Write/shoot around it. Show her coming out a door with shopping bags, or walking down a city sidewalk. You don't need to know what store they are from - the audience will get the point. Well-dressed woman with lots of bags, oh, right, wealthy.

Good luck.

drc said:

So since it is free publicity and branding for the stores, should I have any problem getting permission to shoot there?

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If you can prove to them it will be good publicity and branding
then getting permission will be easy. National chains are always
looking for good publicity and branding. Be prepared to tell them
how and when your movie will be distributed and how many
people are likely to see it. They are going to ask.

Okay, the "how":
HedgesPictures is correct with his first point; call their public relations
office. Yep, you're going to have to call each one. HedgesPictures
number 2 point is absolutely wrong. He did mention it is unethical
and might be illegal which is why this option should not even be
mentioned. You will be violating their trademark and copyright. Now
if your movie will only be seen on line and in very small festivals you
can get away with it. But if this is the case you will not be providing
any free publicity and branding for the stores which is your first point.

The mall itself might be open to filming but you are copying trademarked
logos - you need permission to do that.

Not worth the bother to me.

You can show all you need by the clothes SHES wearing, the car SHES driving and the number of bags shes carrying. You CAN show the street name, right? and that should say enough.

Rodeo Drive, Savile Row, Champs Elysées, etc.

For when those logos do end up in your shot, change em in post to read "Armandi, Gucgi and Cola Chanell..et..

and finally, boutique exclusive couturiers are NOT brands and are not recognizable by the general public as such, and thats where REAL money shops.. so just make up some cool exclusive sounding shop names and your golden..

thats my advice, worth every penny you paid for it..

drc said:

should I have any problem getting permission to shoot there?

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Yes. Lots.

And you're lucky enough to hear back from the national office, there will a pile of paper to fill out including a question asking for the name of your insurance carrier and policy number. Do you have insurance for your production?

I agree with everyone here and Wheat makes a great point regarding the street signs if you're filming in a recognizable area. But no, don't shoot first and ask permission later. Very bad form.

It never hurts to ask. We got a location release for the Hotel Monaco with just a phone call. At the time their head of PR was a former film student. Blind stupid luck. Who knows, as a hotel they could be very film friendly, but we didnt expect it to go that easy.

After the fact it's always trickier and very very ill advised. But if something accidentally (seriously) got in a shot and you want to take a chance on getting it cleared before painting it out, always worth the phone call. On our film we were able to get ahold of the agents for a well known photographer and popular painter after their artwork wound up in the backgrounds at a location we were shooting and we weren't paying attention. Huge mistake on our part. Got releases from both after sending them frame grabs from the scenes showing their pieces in them. The person we couldn't get a release from was the owner of a _local_ hot tub chemical manufacturer when his products were in the background of a shot. He disapproved of the beer bottle he saw in the image we sent. Apparently beer and hot tubs do not go together. Didn't know that. . Point is, get permission first or shoot smart because you don't want the pain later.