IMO, Why open a potential can of worms? Chances are that there are no provisions in the tenants rental or lease agreement that prevents him/her from videotaping on or in his/her rented domain for any purposes - commercial, private or otherwise.

I wouldn't get the managers / owners authorization if it were not required to do so. Why? because they might want to stick their hand out for a little grease - where none is warranted.

The risk vs reward is about zero. No manager / owner is going to sue a tenant who does not violate the terms of their rental / lease agreements.

Jay Mitchell

Thanks for the feedback. I originally was thinking along the same lines as Jay, if what is being filmed is not illegal and there is no clause in their tenant agreement prohibiting filming then there should be no issue.

Our equipent and crew is small and is not expected to disrrupt the livelyhood of neighboring tenants.

Chad

Anyone who owns a property is entitled to know what their property is being used for and who is using it. Most tenancy agreements will preclude any use other than domestic.

If there is a profit then the landlord is entitled to their cut. Otherwise that is just freeloading and that affects us all by raising prices, rents and taxes.

It never ceases to amaze me how filmmakers think they are entitled to use other people's property or intellectual copyright because they don't want to pay for the use of it.

I'll bet if you were the landlord, you wouldn't be happy about it.

The property owner must be notified. The tenant is very unlikely to have any sort of right to have a shoot in their apartment.

A property owner who is on the ball should at least ask for an insurance certificate that names them as additional insured and loss payee. Also, you need to notify the adjacent apartment dwellers, although you don't need their permision for anything. Just cooperation.

That being said, if you really do keep it small, don't bring heavy equipment like a camera dolly inside, don't do a tie-in, never blow a breaker, never ask the neighbors to turn down their music, and only shoot for one day, you might get away with it. Your impact should be no greater than having movers in the apartment.

<edit> A little more thought here. The goal is to get everyone protected. You don't want the tenant kicked out because of your suit. It's really in their interest to get everyone down on paper.

As far as notifying the landlord goes it really depends on the impact you're going to have and what the tenant's contract is with the landlord. My own rental contracts when I lived in San Francisco dictated the number of guests I could have as well as how long they could stay. Most film crews, even small ones of 3-4 people would drive the neighbors nuts because they go in and out so much.

I've had at least one instance where a landlord blamed all their electrical problems on a tenant who'd allowed a film shoot in their flat. They lost the flat, and this was in a city with very protective rent control laws.

On the other hand, just about any corporate shoot I've been on has been in a tenant's leased property and I serieously doubt they told the landlord. Even big companies like Apple Computer are leasing property. But no one at these companies complains about a film crew (it's the biggest excitement they'll have for the next month!)

Rob Mack

If you don't have investors who require protection for everything, and this is just a no-budget indie production, then it is of course possible to do what so many big names have done before you: shoot in stealth mode with no permits, no grip trucks, and no visible signs outside the apartment that there is a shoot.

If you need a dolly and/or a jib, etc., rent gear from Microdolly (http://www.microdolly.com, they are represented worldwide. Their gear is really lightweight, comes in inconspicuous-looking duffel bags, and sets up in minutes.

Lighting this way takes a bit of preparation and skill, let me know if you need some pointers on this.