About the Proposed Regulations
Complete Text of the Proposed Regulations
The Mayor’s Office of Theater, Film, and Broadcasting, which coordinates film and television production and issues permits around the five boroughs, is considering rules that could potentially severely restrict the ability of even amateur photographers and filmmakers to operate in New York City. The NY Times reports that the city’s tentative rules include requiring any group of two or more people who want to use a camera in a single public location for more than a half hour (including setup and breakdown time) to get a city permit and $1 million in liability insurance. The regulation would also apply to any group of five or more people who would be using a tripod for more than ten minutes, including setup and breakdown time. -(Excerpted from the Gothamist)
If the above troubles you, please take action now. The city quietly released information about the proposed regulations on the Friday of Memorial Day weekend and many of us missed the notice and subsequent hearing. The office is accepting public feedback until August 3, and the rules could go into effect this summer!
The Mayor’s Office of Film deals primarily with big film shoots (ie. commercials, features, t.v.) where permits and insurance are, understandably, a given. However, many photographers and filmmakers carry on an equally vital tradition in which spontaneous documentation of the urban environment is at the very heart of our work. Being a street photographer often means standing in a random location and waiting: for the right activity, the right light, the break in the traffic; the countless other unpredictable factors that need to fall into place to make a shot worthwhile…Permits would have to be obtained for specific dates and times and exact locations, and the insurance would be out of reach for many individuals.
The fact is that we simply CANNOT predict where, when, and how long we are going to film or photograph; we CANNOT afford expensive liability insurance policies; we occasionally NEED to work with other people or to use tripods to support our gear. (The regulations would, for example, effectively rule out a great deal of time-lapse photography which depends on tripods and cannot possibly be done with time limitations of 10 to 30 minutes, as well as the use of large format still cameras and long lenses).
Especially in the current climate, official clarification of photographer’s rights could be a positive thing. (Many of us have been shut down by police or other authorities who do not seem to understand that we DO have rights to film and photograph in public places). That said, if these regulations go through, it would invite if not require police to harass or shut down both professional artists and amateurs.
Unfortunately, we believe we must see the proposed regulations not only as a blow against New York as a city that welcomes and inspires art-making (and historical documentation), but as part of a continuum of broader attacks against civil liberties and free expression.
-From an email by filmmaker Jem Cohen
- posted Wed., Jul 25, 2007 at 11:35am
- filed in About the Rules
- [8] Comments
July 28th, 2007 at 12:59 pm
Restricting tyhe rights of amateur and independent filmmakers in New York City is a de facto restriction on freedom of expression in a city that prides itself on being a cultural center. It demonstates a bald preference for big business over small enterprize and entrepreneurs. The very idea is shamefully unjust.
July 31st, 2007 at 9:05 pm
I don’t think I’ve ever been so pissed in my entire life.
August 1st, 2007 at 5:21 am
I suppose I am a professional and exempt from the ruling
as I operate solo, still photojournalism.
But I come down on the side of groups of photographers,
still and film. Today’s amateur is tomorrow’s professional.
This is a very bad idea. There are adequate laws on the
books to handle obmoxious papparazzi and you cannot
sell photos of people whose image you take under
NYS CIvil Rights Law Section 50 and 51 anyhow. That has
been on the books for years.
August 1st, 2007 at 4:56 pm
Not only is today’s student or amateur tomorrow’s taxpaying professional but you also never know where picture taking leads you. I was a street photographer which led me to study photography both in high school, then to earn a BFA from Pratt Institute, to eventually earn a MA and become an educator. This allowed me to transcend my beginnings in a low income housing project and make a life. I believe that in that life I contributed a lot to our society and that whatever good I’ve done in my life is to a great extent directly rooted in my experience as a kid taking photos on the street of NYC. NYC is a world center of both commerce and art and this is an instance of where those two worlds collide.I know the interests of commerce are at the root of this proposed legislation guised under a quality of life issue but it goes way beyond that to encompass and potentially repress and regulate taste, cultural expression and freedom of speech AND it is potentially a tool of discrimination of all sorts. I won’t apologize for the very personal tone or content of my comment as this is a very personal issue. Under a law like this I would not have grown into what I became. This remake of NYC is getting to be a sickness. P.S. I still have a photo hanging on my wall of me as a kid on a pony in the Boogey Down taken by a street photgrapher. My whole life began with street photography.
August 1st, 2007 at 7:51 pm
I wish you the best of luck in fighting this. We recently fought a similar battle on a significatnly smaller scale (and with a much less formidable opponent) in MD. But with great success!
Ater signing the petiion, if there is anything that I or the folks in DC photo rights can do to help this effort, please let us know.
What happens in NYC will eventually affect us all, and so this is the battflefield to fight on now.
August 1st, 2007 at 7:58 pm
Gabriel, i’m with you!
August 2nd, 2007 at 11:50 am
So say this absurd bill passes in New York and Chicago is like “hey, you take photos here either without paying!” and make you get a permit too, and then San Fransisco, and so on and so forth…so does that mean i have to pay hundreds, possibly thousands of dollars for a hobby? (really a passion, and calling if you will but for all intent of purposes) since when was the government micromanage our lives?
August 6th, 2007 at 12:22 pm
[…] Film, Theater, and Broadcasting was sent back to the drawing board after popular outrage at their proposed legislation. The New York Times article about the withdrawal directly implicates public pressure in the […]