Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Village Voice: I Turn My Camera On
New rules, but still no truce between filmmakers and the mayor’s office

Monday, October 29, 2007
Hollywood Reporter: N.Y. unveils new film permit proposal

Variety: Mayor’s Office releases permit pact,
Redraft of NY proposal hopes to cool tensions

Sunday, October 28, 2007
NYTimes: Mayor to Ease Permit Rules for Capturing City’s Image

Monday, August 7, 2007
NYT City Room blog: NYC Filmmakers Raise Their Voice

Sunday, August 6, 2007
The Hollywood Reporter: N.Y. develops new film regs

The DV Show: podcast with Picture New York and Eve McKnight of the MOFTB

Saturday, August 4, 2007
New York Times: After Protests, City Agrees to Rewrite Proposed Rules on Photography Permits

Variety: Mayor’s Office rethinks proposed rules

Friday, August 3, 2007
NY1: City Backs Down On Proposed Photography Laws Following Protests

NYT City Room: Revised Rules Coming on Filmmaking and Photography, After Uproar

Popular Photography: Proposed NYC Photography Restrictions Draw Fire
quickly followed by
NYC Mayor’s Office to Redraft Photography Restrictions

The Associated Press: NYC to revise filming permit rules that angered photographers

Thursday, August 2, 2007
Democracy Now: Independent Artists Lead Fight Against Proposed NYC Regs

Amateur Photographer (UK): New York photo liberty threat

The Villager: Critical Mass rally focuses on proposed filming rules

Wednesday, August 1, 2007
The Associated Press: NYC may require permits for many types of filming, photography
seen in The Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, NY Newsday, The Philadelphia Daily News, The Guardian Unlimited (UK), The International Herald Tribune, ABC News, and at least 100 other news outlets

WCBS Newsradio 880: Proposed New Rules Would Impact Amateur Filmmakers in NYC

Tuesday, July 31, 2007
MSNBC Countdown with Keith Olbermann names Julianne Cho and the MOFTB “Worst persons”

amNewYork: Artists fight proposed filming restrictions

AlterNet: Bloomberg Wants to Make You Pay to Photograph New York
This post, written by Lindsay Beyerstein, originally appeared on Majikthise

Monday, July 30, 2007
New York Times: A Shout Out to the M.O.F.T.B.

indiewire: With Deadine Looming, Proposed NYC Film Permit Rules Rile Indies

NY1 News: Local Filmmakers Speak Out Against New City Filming Rules

Saturday, July 28, 2007
New York Times: Picturing Protest, Artists Organize to Fight Camera Permit Proposal

The Gothamist: Protest Against City’s Proposed Photography Rules

Friday, July 27, 2007
WNBC-TV Ch.4: Shuttering Shutterbugs?

NY Metro: Groups Protest Film Rules

WBAI Evening News: segment is three minutes into the broadcast

The Gothamist: Fighting for the Right to Photograph

Treehugger: Michael Stipe and Others Respond to NYC Mayor’s Plans to Limit Cameras

NY Press: Fight for Your Right to Bear Camera

Now Public: Picture This - Photography Restrictions in NYC?!

L Magazine: Still Caring About Things That Are Happening

July 26, 2007
Village Voice: Rally Friday for First Amendment Rights

Artnet: New York Artists Protest Anti-Filming Rule

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Endangered Freedom of Expression

July 23, 2007
Urban Hawks: Save Our Nature Photographers

July 13, 2007
Anthony Kaufman’s IndieWire Don’t Let NYC Destroy Local DIY Filmmaking

July 3, 2007
NY Daily News, Editorial: Lights, Camera, Inaction

July 2, 2007
NY Sun, Editorial: Say Cheese

June 30, 2007
Slashdot: Permit May Be Required For Public Photography in NYC

June 29, 2007
NY Times: City May Seek Permit and Insurance for Many Kinds of Public Photography

Gothamist: City Proposes Limits on Public Photography, Filming

Consumerist: NYC May Require You To Obtain Permit To Shoot Vacation Movies?

Adorama Photography News: NYC to Street Photographers: Drop Dead

June 27, 2007
NY 1 News: City Weighs New Rule Requiring Permit To Take Pictures Of City Property

Summer, 2006
2006: Mayor Michael Bloomberg Announces Increase in NY Television and Film Productions. This is an article from 2006, when Bloomberg announced that the city would create a new office to ”aggressively pitch New York City around the world as the nation’s art and cultural capital” by helping cultural creatives deal with financial obstacles to making art in this city. Ironic to read considering the burdensome regulations recently proposed.

January 7, 2005
New York Times: Want Shots Like These? Get a Permit; Ban on Subway Photography Would Defy a Tradition

June 7, 2004
New York Times: Subway Photography Ban Spurs Underground Protest

The restriction of spontaneity is the enemy of creativity; even if it may be financially possible for artists with smaller budgets to obtain insurance waivers and continue to film and photograph the streets of New York, it would be a great loss for a lens of red tape and permissions to become the only one through which such a vital city may be captured.
(excerpt, complete text after the jump) (more…)

Artists fight proposed filming restrictions
By Justin Rocket Silverman, amNewYork Staff Writer

Up-and-coming singer Ano Okera needed to forgo the expense of renting a sound stage to shoot his music video, so he gathered six friends to dance with him in Union Square.

His was not the only low-budget video or still photography shoot there that day, and like the others, Okera never considered getting a film permit for his one-camera operation.

Yet under proposed city rules, he would not only need to apply for a free film permit weeks in advance, but might also have to buy $1 million in liability insurance. (more…)

We’ve had an incredible first week - major pieces in The New York Times and on WNBC-TV News. Our ePetition is close to 10,000 signatures after only a few days online. More than 450 people thronged (more…)

Rap is music with a message, and a new rap video has a message for Mayor Michael Bloomberg: don’t mess with our creativity. As NY1’s Solana Pyne filed in the following report, new rules covering filming in the street has got one group of filmmakers stirred up.

Olde English is a group of independent filmmakers who make their living with comic videos. Their latest project (more…)

The e-petition has already gotten 6000 signatures in less than 3 days! This obviously attests to the depth of concern over these regulations. If you haven’t yet, please sign the petition and tell your friends to do the same. You’ll be joining the likes of Michael Stipe, Patti Smith, Larry Fink, John Cameron Mitchell, Barbara Kopple, St. Clair Bourne, Jennie Livingston, Albert Maysles, producers from 60 Minutes, Sesame Street, MTV, VH1, Court TV and more, and photo editors from Magnum, Getty, USA Today, Time Magazine, Fortune Magazine, and Forbes.

The all-too-brief period for public comment ends Aug 3. Please make your voice heard now. Post your work shot in NYC or new work commenting on this issue to YouTube or Flickr. Visit our video section to view video comments. Photos added to the PictureNY Flickr group will be displayed randomly in the top banner of the website.

+ Tag the video “PictureNewYork” and “CameraWars”.
+ Send the links to jcho@film.nyc.gov and to us at info@picturenewyork.org

(more…)

PRESS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Contacts:
Lisa Guido 917-573-2282
Laura Hanna 917-821-8092
info@picturenewyork.org
www.picturenewyork.org

Picture New York asks Mayor’s Office of Film to “Do The Right Thing”
As Period for Public Comment on Camera Permits Ends,
Will Deliver 26,000+ Petition Signatures Opposing New Rules

NEW YORK CITY. On Friday afternoon, Picture New York representatives will hand deliver a stack of 26,000+ petition signatures to the Mayor’s Office of Film, Theatre and Broadcasting in time for the close of public comments on proposed rules that would significantly restrict the rights of photographers and filmmakers and could criminalize street photography in certain circumstances.

“The First Amendment insists on the right to petition the government for a redress of grievances and that’s what we’re doing.” says Eileen Clancy of Picture New York, a coalition of filmmakers, photographers and arts organizations that sprang up two weeks ago to fight the proposed regulations.

“The City asked for comments on the proposed rules, and over 26,000 - many of whom are industry professionals - respond: don’t try to regulate something that doesn’t need regulation,” says Lisa Guido, Emmy award-winning TV producer and founding member of Picture New York. The petition calls for:

(1) The proposed rules to be thrown out, and
(2) A new, more inclusive process of consultation to determine what regulations are really needed and to whom those regulations should apply.

The proposed rules say that two people using a handheld camera in one location for more than a half hour would need a permit in order to shoot. Permits generally require one million dollars worth of liability insurance. Five people with a tripod would need a permit if they stay in one place for more than ten minutes – including set-up and breakdown time.

The new rules could endanger the ability of independent artists to make a living, points out Jem Cohen, another founding member and a filmmaker whose work is in the collection of the Whitney Museum of American Art. Cohen states, “The regulations are oddly oblivious to the tradition of street photography, which is entirely built on spontaneity. Street photographers have never been able to know in advance where, when and for how long they’ll work.”

Supporters of Picture New York include Alfonso Cuarón, director of last year’s acclaimed feature film “Children of Men,” and “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban,” who wrote, “You have my total support, I only beg to disagree when you say ‘directors like Cuarón won’t be affected by these regulations’ as I’m affected whenever Freedom is restrained by anything that is not Responsibility. ”

Additional support for Picture New York has come from luminaries like documentarians Barbara Kopple, Albert Maysles, D A Pennebaker and St.Clair Bourne; rock musicians/photographers Patti Smith and Michael Stipe; director John Sayles and producer Maggie Renzi; Peter MacGill of Pace/MacGill Gallery, Magnum photographers Susan Meiselas and Gilles Peres; and director John Cameron Mitchell.

To date, the Mayor’s Office of Film has said only that it will review the new regulations in light of the comments and letters they have received.

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