The woes of shooting video in USA

Permits. Permits. Permits.
You will never see the end of it. And for a low-budget / no-budget film maker it means money money money. Of course I am talking about 'spending' money.

In the upcoming short movie, I have this small 5 minute scene that happens inside a train. To shoot inside Caltrain, you need to get a permit for about $500. And then there is another rate per hour.. On top of that, you need to rent out half a car which means, you must buy round trip tickets for 140 seats. And you also need to buy insurance.. So for a day it could be anywhere from $5000 and up. Great for Hollywood high budget. Bad news for independents.

I even tried the local Light rail. It needs about $500.

Even parks.. Public parks require you to pay a fee even for taking wedding portraits. Now forget shooting on streets. Its true. There ain't no free lunch here. Now if you are wondering why most of the independent short films are done in a bedroom with 2 people talking, this is why.

Even in places like Santa Cruz where there are no fees, you still need to take an insurance. That may cost you about $300.

Now of course, there is another way. The guerrilla method. You don't take permits. You run with a small crew and shoot in public places. Make sure your camera is small and you are not carrying huge reflectors. Might work for some situations.

Balu and I went out to shoot a scene near Santa Clara University. The spot was night next to a busy road across from the Cal Train station. After some time, a cop showed up and started asking us questions. It was clear he did not know what to ask or expect. He kept asking what pictures we were taking. He wanted us to say it was the train station but we told him that we were doing a home video (Of course, Divya and kids were around, so was another family). We gave him our IDs. He went to his car and came back 10 min later, took our statement and left. The man was a bit cold in the beginning but by the time he left he was cool.

Given the post 9/11 scene in here, people tend to report stuff that are out of the norm. And someone called into say that we were shooting videos of the train station. Well, its a good thing people are alert.

Just makes you think how easy it is to get something done back in India. But there you don't have the tools and gadgets.. Just the talents and the location. Thats why when ever I go to India, I go prepared. I try to take everything. Things are available but just not as easily.