The Permitting Process

Obtaining a film permit involves more than just submitting an application. Production will also need to provide insurance and endorsement, obtain property owner permission, submit payment, and potentially conduct signature surveys or provide traffic control plans.

Our office does not need everything at once, please feel free to submit any information or documents as you receive them to help expedite the permit process. While there’s no set schedule of operations, below is a step-by-step guide with resources to help guide you through the permitting process.

FILM PERMIT GUIDE

1. Choose Your Locations

• Confirm the locations you want to film are within the City of Santa Clarita. You can confirm if your location is within the City of Santa Clarita by referencing our Maps and Jurisdictions (link to “Maps and Jurisdictions” page).
• We cannot issue blanket permits to film an entire neighborhood or City.
• Obtain permissions from the property owner to film on their property.
• To film on City property (parks, pools, sports fields, community centers, etc) please contact the Film Office for rates and availability at (661) 284-1425
• For help finding locations, check out our location library (link to “Location Library) 

2. Fill Out and Email Completed Permit Application

• As much notice is appreciated, but please submit film applications 5 business days before your filming activity. Simpler shoots may be processed more quickly, but use of City property or more complex filming applications should be submitted 7 business days before your filming activity
• Be sure to include at least 2 names with separate telephone numbers as points of contact within the application
• If you are a student filmmaker, please review the Student Filmmaker (Link to “Student Filmmakers”) section for more information on the permit process
• Complete the pdf application here, (pdf link to application) and email completed applications to film@santa-clarita.com

 Additional Steps For Complex Filming

You may need to provide additional documents or follow additional steps if your production plans to:

• Have any filming activity between 10pm and 7am
• Film for more than 5 consecutive days
• Use traffic control to temporarily pause traffic, close a lane, or close a street
• Film on Main St. or in Old Town Newhall
• Film on any City property, for City property rates and availability, call the film office directly at (661) 284-1425
• Use a drone or helicopter, see here for drone guidelines (link to Aerial Guidelines pdf, note- may make a subpage on this)
• Hire Los Angeles County Sheriff for safety or traffic control
• Film a student film, see our Student Filmmakers page (link to “Student Filmmakers”)
• Apply for the Santa Clarita Film Incentive Program, see here if your production is eligible (link to “Film Incentive Program”)

Some of the above activities may require a signature survey which our office will create and provide with your details along with a map of which addresses to survey. For more information on signature surveys and when they may be required, see our signature survey information. 

3. Send Proof of Insurance 

• Examples of the insurance and endorsement required by the City of Santa Clarita can be found here (pdf insurance and endorsement)
• Email your certificate of insurance and endorsement to film@santa-clarita.gov

4. Reserve Parking, Cast/Crew Parking, and Basecamp 

• Cast/crew parking is not allowed on local neighborhood streets.
• In your application, production may request posting of no parking for production vehicles, picture vehicles, or to clear for picture.
• Production will be responsible for posting of no parking delineators 48-72 hours in advance of no parking and must include date, time, California Vehicle Code CVC 22651(M) to be eligible for enforcement.
• If you’re looking for parking lot options, see our location library (link to “Location Library”)
• For trash, recycling, and compost – If you plan to use temporary bin and roll-off box services (vs self-hauling) you will need to use one of the franchised trash haulers.

5. Los Angeles County Fire Review

• Once you receive a draft of your permit, if everything looks correct and you don’t anticipate any changes, we’ll submit the draft to LA County Fire for their review. Once the draft has been submitted, fees will begin to incur including the LA County Fire review fee and should any changes be made to your draft, a rider fee.
• The Los Angeles County Fire Department’s Public Safety & Film Unit (PSFU) reviews all applications for filming permits, commercial photography, and special effects permits.
• Our office will collect the LA County Fire review fee as well as any special effects fees.
• Production will need to apply for any special effects fees directly with the PSFU.
• The PSFU is responsible for the review of each permit and may assign Fire Safety Officers (FSO), Fire Safety Advisors (FSA), or perform Field Inspections to ensure public safety and compliance with the Fire Code. Billable hours from the FSO or FSA will be time carded through production.
• To learn more about the Field Inspection Program, click here. (pdf link to Field Inspection Program)
• For a copy of the LA County Fire Field Inspection Checklist, click here. (pdf link to Field Inspection Checklist) 

6. Los Angeles County Sheriff and Traffic Control Plans 

• Should your production need to hire Los Angeles County Sheriff for any traffic control or safety requirements, call our office at (661) 284-1425 to reserve.
• The Film Office will coordinate your sheriff order and payment process directly. The City also offers its contract rate for Sheriff services providing a substantial savings for productions.
• Any traffic control, lane closure, or road closure will require a traffic control plan to be submitted in advance and follow all A.T.C.H. manual specifications. All traffic control plans will then be reviewed and approved by City of Santa Clarita traffic engineers. 

7. Filming Notifications and Signature Surveys 

• For any complex or high impact filming, it’s recommended to reach out to neighboring businesses or residents before any notifications or signature surveys go out.
• Filming notifications will be distributed by film office staff to any business or residence within 500’ of any filming activity. This includes posting of no parking.
• For any filming requiring a signature survey, our office will provide the completed survey and map of addresses to survey in advance of filming. For more information on signature surveys, visit our signature survey page. (Link to Signature Survey sub page) 

8. Payments and Approvals 

• Our office will continue to collect any outstanding documents that may apply including insurance and endorsement, signature surveys, traffic control plans, drone documents, etc.
• For payment, our office will provide a credit card authorization or you may in person by check or cash.
• When our office has received all the necessary documents, reviews, and approvals, we will email the completed film permit to you.
• Upon completion of filming, you may need to pay a balance for any additional costs that may have accrued including Sheriff hours or outstanding rider fees, etc.
• Had a great filming experience? Let us know!
• Our office always follows what has filmed locally and may attempt to promote your project once it’s released. For projects great and small, please let us know when and where it’s being released or if you’re submitting to any film festivals and we’ll do our best to boost it.