Hi, So just outside my town is an old meat factory, and its an expansive building, There was a fire many years ago and it has been burned many times since then, The place is considered derelict, abandoned and dangerous. The building is still owned though. When you see it, it literally screams at you "FILM ME!" Now im not a feature film maker yet, im still on the 5-10 minute videos. Getting permission to go in would be impossible completely. Would you advise me to just bite my tongue and find a different place, or try go for it and just ignore the red tape?
Dangerous Location
- Thread starter GrimDelta
- Start date
if getting permission is impossible you have two choices.
Break the law and trespass
or
go somewhere else.
Now that said, you MIGHT be able to get permission to film OUTSIDE the location
easier then inside With movie magic you can find a more appropriate INTERIOR location and blend the two together seamlessly.
Break the law and trespass
or
go somewhere else.
Now that said, you MIGHT be able to get permission to film OUTSIDE the location
easier then inside With movie magic you can find a more appropriate INTERIOR location and blend the two together seamlessly.
I can't tell you what you should do. I would just film there. It's abandoned. Ain't nobody giving a shit if anybody is poking around. That's why it keeps getting burned down. Because nobody cares about the place.
I just hope you have Hobo Stab Insurance.
I just hope you have Hobo Stab Insurance.
I'd suggest getting the exterior footage pronto before you make your call and before the place gets bulldozed. Later you can make decisions what to with it. Right now you have nothing.
In general, owners of blighted property are more concerned about civil liability than anything else related to the property. If you ask to film there with a hold harmless agreement in hand, you might have better lick securing the location release.
True, but they may require a massive insurance policy in addition to the hold harmless. I would make the request as low as possible on the totem pole first and keep my fingers crossed. From a simple business standpoint, they have no upside for granting permission. It would bring them no revenue and expose them to liability.
For all they know, you are doing a documentary on their blighted property under false pretenses. I would keep this as low key and informal as possible.
I love how everyone is still under the "It's easier to ask forgiveness... from jail" mentality. Go back and read some of the horror stories on here about having scads of cops pointing guns at filmmaker's faces and near misses.
Stealing shots in places like this is only cool until one of your cast/crew gets arrested, hurt or killed.
Permission is easy, too many filmmakers seem to be afraid to ask. To that I say -- wimps! Suck it up and do your job as a producer! Get the permission, it's your job and prevents your production from being shut down because you were scared to ask permission. As we told our kids when they didn't want to do the dishes: "Suck it up and deal!"
The advice to put your production/cast/crew at risk is bad advice.
Stealing shots in places like this is only cool until one of your cast/crew gets arrested, hurt or killed.
Permission is easy, too many filmmakers seem to be afraid to ask. To that I say -- wimps! Suck it up and do your job as a producer! Get the permission, it's your job and prevents your production from being shut down because you were scared to ask permission. As we told our kids when they didn't want to do the dishes: "Suck it up and deal!"
The advice to put your production/cast/crew at risk is bad advice.
I'd suggest getting the exterior footage pronto before you make your call and before the place gets bulldozed. Later you can make decisions what to with it. Right now you have nothing.
You have to get permission to set your camera/actors on any private property... do so. If you can get a neighbor to allow it, bully.
As a home/property owner, I don't want you to endanger my insurance premiums... I'll gladly sign a document that promises you won't sue me and let you use my property, but unless I'm protected financially and legally, I'm having the police remove you from my property -- and I'm a filmmaker who supports indie film. Making a bad impression hurts you in the long run. Making a good impression makes iit possible to reuse sites with permission in the future... it also allows your community to become a film friendly place.
Are you comfortable screwing it up for everyone else to come?
My main concern is safety. What if one of your gets hurt? Is the building safe from collapses?
when I was a little kid, we lived next to an old abandoned police station, that was closed to public. Our parents never let us be near the building, but we still played inside. One unfortunate day a huge concrete chunk fell from the ceiling and killed one of the kids. Building got completely demolished after that incident.
when I was a little kid, we lived next to an old abandoned police station, that was closed to public. Our parents never let us be near the building, but we still played inside. One unfortunate day a huge concrete chunk fell from the ceiling and killed one of the kids. Building got completely demolished after that incident.
Stealing footage in fenced off abandoned property is something that only the filmmaker should do. No one else. Your cast can be faked in by shooting them elsewhere. Moviemaking is about illusions, remember?
The fact of the matter is chances are next to zero permission will be given for that particular location (most locations actually). Good producers (without a lot of cash) already know this and will be devising schemes to obtain great footage without arrests and deaths.
Besides, part of the fun of filmmaking is the daring aspect, isn't it?
I think part of the fun of filmmaking is the prospect of being able to continue doing it... fostering relationships with property owners is part of that ride, and is more difficult and challenging (therefore more fun for me) than trying not to get arrested while doing something illegal -- although, I was younger at one point in my life (I suppose it's the curse of youth to think that somehow the experience of folks older than them are irrelevant and need to be tested to see if they've changed over the past million years).
Hey, So i asked for permission from the owner and they said under no circumstances whatsoever are we to set foot within the boundaries of the factory. Another problem would be that due to the burnings there are legal cases underway. So there you have it..next to no chance.
Now, see if they'll let you use images of it taken from outside their property... There will be a point at which they will be comfortable with it being captured... then as mentioned before, find other places to cheat as that location with your talent... or greenscreen against that background.
Then find places/homeowners nearby that will allow you to setup a camera to shoot the location.
Then find places/homeowners nearby that will allow you to setup a camera to shoot the location.
You shouldn't need permission to shoot from outside the property boundary from a public right of way, correct? Technically, you don't even need permission to get shots of random people on a public right on way in the US unless you are portraying them as anything but anonymous (children excluded).
Good thing you hopped the fence and got all that cool footage before you asked, right!
My feature film is has plenty of cool "stolen" shots of which by the time I got done with in post, property owners likely would not recognize.
One wouldn't want to hop a fence at a military installation or nuke plant, but abandoned factories, the risk is low.
One of my favorite tactics to trespass is to pretend to be a surveyor. Florescent orange jacket and a clipboard works just fine. When approached, say you were hired by their boss or some obsecure govt agency.
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Hopefully none of those movies succeed then... exposure could kill you financially and legally. The "fun" risk now means that if you eventually get exposure and profits, without E&O insurance that dates to the time of the shoot, you could have your product and footage awarded by the courts to the land owners... potentially (depending on how many times you did it in your shoot) to multiple complainants.
I intend to do this going forward, and I'd hate to have my footage (or equipment) taken away from me as a result of impulsiveness for the sake of on set risk & excitement.
I intend to do this going forward, and I'd hate to have my footage (or equipment) taken away from me as a result of impulsiveness for the sake of on set risk & excitement.
No, it won't. I took steps to ensure that stolen locations are either unrecognizable or could potentially have been shot from a camera set in a public area.
Hitchcock filmed at the UN building after he was denied access. He parked a van across the street and zoomed in to two actors "tresspassing" in the public area. ADR was added later. (I believe close ups were shot elsewhere but I'm not sure its this same movie).
There are some filmmakers that will take truly dangerous risks, but we can't do anything about that because for one thing, they'll take those same risks completely within the confines of a soundstage they're renting as well.
The point is, filmmakers have options, they ought not be limited to the ones coming from filmmakers having large paid crew and cast.
Use your head, you'll be fine.
My opinion is also derived from being on the other end of the equation... I'd be pissed about folks trespassing on my property as well -- because I pay for the property insurance.
If you get caught stealing shots now (compared to Hitchcock's decades of glory), the world has become much more litigious. I obviously won't be able to affect some folks viewpoint on this topic, but I'll be the first to line up and say "I told you so" when it all goes south... I'm a petty person.
I'll actually feel bad about it going south... I'm not that bad of a person.
If you get caught stealing shots now (compared to Hitchcock's decades of glory), the world has become much more litigious. I obviously won't be able to affect some folks viewpoint on this topic, but I'll be the first to line up and say "I told you so" when it all goes south... I'm a petty person.
I'll actually feel bad about it going south... I'm not that bad of a person.
Don't worry I won't be trespassing on your lawn!
This is an example of one of our stolen locations. We planned the fake prison shot before we got there and were in and out before security caught wind of anything (2nd level of a private parking garage). There was just 3 of us.
