Effective May 15, 2006

![](media/image1.wmf){width="0.7770833333333333in"
height="1.0090277777777779in"} COMMERCIAL FILMING/PHOTOGRAPHY GUIDELINES

NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

ALASKA REGION

The policy of National Park Service (NPS) is to allow commercial filming
and photography when it is consistent with the protection and public
enjoyment of park resources. NPS policy requires that primary
consideration be given to safety, potential resource damage and
anticipated disruption of normal visitor use.

By law, and to assure protection of the parks' cultural, historic and
natural resources, all commercial filming requires a permit and the
payment of a location fee. Under certain circumstances, commercial still
photography also requires a permit and payment of a location fee. The
permitting process is initiated through the Park Superintendent or
his/her representative.

Tools for management and enforcement of the permitting system can be
found in Director's Order #53, RM-53 Special Park Uses, National Park
Service Management Policies and Title 36, Part 5.5 and Title 43, Part 5
of the Code of Federal Regulations and Public Law 106-206.

The Superintendent or his/her designated representative has the
authority to determine when a permit for filming will be issued and has
the discretionary right to waive certain permit requirements.

Commercial filming is defined as digital or film recording of a visual
image or sound recording by a person, business, or other entity for a
market audience, such as for a documentary, television or feature film,
advertisement, or similar project. Under P.L. 106-206 all commercial
filming requires a permit and is subject to a location fee and cost
recovery.

A permit is not required for:

-   A visitor using a camera and/or recording device for his/her own
    personal use and within normal visitation areas and hours; or

-   A commercial still photographer under the circumstances described
    below; or

-   Press coverage of breaking news. While such press coverage does not
    require a permit, the media is subject to the imposition of
    restrictions and conditions necessary to protect park resources and
    public health and safety.

P.L. 106-206 mandates that the NPS shall [not]{.underline} permit any
filming, still photography or other related activities if it is
determined there is:

-   There is a likelihood of resource damage;

-   There would be an unreasonable disruption of the public\'s use and
    enjoyment of the site; or

-   That the activity poses health or safety risks to the public.

**STILL PHOTOGRAPHY**

No permit or fee is required for commercial still photography in NPS
units if such photography takes place where members of the public are
generally allowed and certain conditions are met. The decision to
require a permit for commercial still photography in a park is based on
the activity itself as opposed to the eventual use of the image.

Permits and fees are required under the following circumstances:

-   If photography takes place at locations where members of the public
    are generally not allowed, or where additional administrative costs
    are likely.

-   There is potential for damage or disruption of park resources.

-   There is the use of models or props which are not a part of the
    site\'s natural or cultural resources or administrative facilities.

-   There is a potential to disrupt normal visitor use

-   The photographer and/or crew wants to go use portions of the park
    before or after normal visitation hours

A permit is also required pursuant to 36 CFR 5.5(b) for persons taking
photographs of vehicles, other articles of commerce or that involve the
use of a model, set or prop for the purpose of commercial advertising.

If a photography permit is required, the NPS will impose conditions
necessary to accomplish the needed resource protection or visitor
enjoyment objectives. Liability insurance requirements and other
stipulations will commensurate with the scope of the project. For
advertising photography, it is appropriate to impose a permit condition
that prohibits implied or stated Service endorsement of the advertised
product or service.

## **COMMERCIAL FILMING PERMITS** 

## 

## Commercial filming is defined as digital or film recording of a visual image or sound recording by a person, business, or other entity for a market audience, such as for a documentary, television or feature film, advertisement, or similar project. Under P.L. 106-206 all commercial filming requires a permit and is subject to a location fee and cost recovery. 

The permitting process allows discussion of the proposed project,
provides an opportunity to understand policies, and presents avenues for
discovery of possible alternatives. It also serves to establish an
administrative record of filming activities.

**FILMING ACTIVITIES**

All authorized filming activities will be conducted in strict compliance
with Federal, state, county and municipal laws, ordinances or
regulations applicable to the area of operation covered under the
agreement. Filming is generally not allowed in those areas closed to
general public use for safety or resource considerations.

1\. RESOURCE DAMAGE - Filming activities that exhibit the potential for
resource damage will be denied. Cutting trees or otherwise damaging
vegetation, destroying or altering resources will not be allowed. Any
activities that disrupt or alter the natural behavior of wildlife will
be discouraged and may result in the permit being denied.

2\. WILDLIFE - The harassment of wildlife is prohibited by law.
Photographing or filming of resident wildlife will be permitted only
when such wildlife will not be molested, harmed or disturbed. All
filming will be conducted in natural, unaltered settings to assure area
integrity and the safety and well being of film crew and wildlife.

Approaching a bear or any large animal within 50 yards is prohibited.
Continuing to occupy a position within 50 yards of a bear utilizing a
concentrated food source, including but not limited to, animal
carcasses, spawning salmon, and other feeding areas is prohibited. Under
no circumstances will the permitee be exempted from this distance rule.

Wildlife captured elsewhere may not be used in any in-park filming,
whether trained or not. Domesticated wild animals are included in this
restriction.

3\. DISRUPTION OF VISITOR ACTIVITIES - National Park Service policy
states that filming activity must not unduly disrupt normal visitor use
of the park.

4\. USE OF AIRCRAFT - The use of aircraft for commercial filming
activities is allowed under strict guidelines. The use of fixed wing
aircraft for commercial purposes or scouting purposes is permitted only
if the FAA Advisory Circular (91-36C) recommended minimum altitude of
2000 feet above ground level is observed. Landing fixed-wing aircraft in
the park must be approved as part of the application process. Helicopter
landings are restricted to designated heli-spots. These limitations
apply to all commercial filming permits. An aircraft use request that
exhibits potential for degradation of visitor experience or park
resources will be denied.

**REQUESTS FOR PERMITS**

Requests may be made in person at park headquarters or by telephone or
letter. An Application for Photography/Filming Permit, a park-specific
Commercial Filming Questionnaire and the \$200 non-refundable
application (Cost Recovery) fee is required from all applicants before
an application will be considered.

Once a proposed filming request has been processed and approved and the
permit is prepared, an authorized representative (producer or director)
must provide bond and use fees, sign, and return the original permit.
Final terms of agreement and special instructions as they may apply to
authorized filming activities will be presented and discussed. A copy of
the completed permit/agreement must be carried on-site at all times
during filming activities and must be presented upon request to any
authorized park personnel.

Permit request by letter should be addressed to:

Film Permit Coordinator

National Park Service

4230 University Drive, Suite 311

Anchorage, AK 99508

**APPLICATION FOR PHOTOGRAPHY/FILMING PERMIT**

The Application and a park-specific Commercial Filming Questionnaire
(both enclosed) must be completed and returned, along with the
applicable non-refundable application (Cost Recovery) fee, to the Film
Permit Coordinator before a filming permit will be considered. Please
make checks payable to the National Park Service. Information returned
must be specific, especially that information dealing with site
locations and actual anticipated filming activities. Insufficiently
prepared applications can result in a protracted, more expensive
permitting process that may result in denial of the application.

1\. PRE-PERMIT CONFERENCE - Filming permits will only be issued after a
briefing by the Film Permit Coordinator or her/his representative and in
no case before the Application Questionnaire and application fee have
been properly submitted. All locations must be approved prior to filming
and depending on the complexity of the proposed project; one or more
on-site visits to proposed locations may be necessary.

Up to 30 days may be required for administrative review of a proposed
filming activity, though smaller projects may require less time.
Smaller, less involved projects may allow a pre-permit conference via
telephone.

2\. DENIAL OF PERMIT - Request for filming permits will be evaluated in
a manner consistent with current applicable legislation, regulations,
policies and guidelines. Filming permits may be denied for any of the
following reasons:

-   Resource Damage. If, in the opinion of the Superintendent or
    designee, the filming activity requested represents an unreasonable
    threat to the resource (including wildlife), the permit application
    will be denied. Consideration will be based on both long and
    short-term effects as they relate to environmental, archeological
    and historic preservation laws. Any significant cultural objections
    must be mitigated before a permit will be approved.

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-   Supervisory Requirements. If it is determined supervisory
    requirements for the proposed filming project will place
    unreasonable burdens on staff capacity, the permit application will
    be denied. This denial will be made irrespective of the permitee's
    willingness to pay supervisory costs.

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-   Disruption of Visitor Activities. If the proposed filming would
    conflict unduly with the visitors' normal use of the park, the
    request may be denied.

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-   Safety. Activity posing undue risk or hazard to the general public
    will be denied.

4.  

-   Regulatory Conflict. Requests for filming which will result in an
    electronically or digitally edited product that depicts an activity
    in direct conflict with regulations prohibiting the "depicted"
    activity in an area that the general viewing public recognizes as a
    national park area will be denied.

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-   Inability to Obtain Insurance/Bonding. The applicant is unable to
    obtain the necessary bond and/or insurance certification.

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-   Failure to Agree to Pay Assessed Cost Recovery. The applicant is
    unwilling to agree to pay the estimated cost recovery.

**TERMINATION OF THE PERMIT**

All filming permits issued by the National Park Service are "revocable"
on 24-hours notice or without notice if the terms of the permit are
violated. Deliberate infractions of terms contained in the filming
permit or the deliberate making of false or misleading statements
concerning intended actions in order to obtain a permit are causes for
immediate termination of the permit and for possible prosecution.

A penalty may be levied against the permittee for inconveniences to the
park associated with the revocation of the permit or default on
conditions of the permit. Adjustment for unused filming days will be
made by the park and pre-payments returned to the permittee.

**GENERAL LIABILITY INSURANCE**

General liability insurance issued by a United States company is
required in order to protect the U.S. Government from claims or
litigation connected with injury or damage resulting from the actions of
the permittee or his/her agents or employees. It is also necessary in
order to avoid undue tort liability to the Government and to assure that
permittees are not judgment-proof if a visitor was injured through the
negligence of film company representatives.

Those companies that normally carry extensive general liability
insurance must obtain a rider naming the [U.S. GOVERNMENT]{.underline}
as [additional insured]{.underline} on the insurance certificate. Others
must obtain the necessary coverage on their own. An original copy of
this certificate of insurance must be provided to the park.

General guideline amounts include:

1.  Still photography - \$300,000 bodily injury plus \$50,000 property
    damage per occurrence.

2.  Electronic media - aggregate \$1,000,000 per occurrence.

3.  Special activities with high damage/injury risks - \$3,000,000.

Insurance requirements may be waived if, in the opinion of the
Superintendent or his/her representative, there is little or no
possibility of injury or damage to persons or property resulting from
the proposed activity. Additional insurance amounts may be required at
the Superintendent's discretion, based on proposed filming activities.

**BOND REQUIREMENT**

The purpose of the bond is to insure that the resource is left in as
good condition as it was prior to the filming, and to cover resto­ration
costs. General­ly, bonds will be re­quired in amounts at least equal to
the estimated cost to the Government for clean up and/or restora­tion
that would be necessary if the permit­tee failed to meet NPS permit
conditions. A performance bond may come in various forms, for example a
cash­iers check, certified check, irrevocable terms of credit, or similar
nego­tia­ble instruments, paid for by the permittee/production company to
cover re­source damage resulting from the activities of the permit­tee.

-   The Superintendent may set the bond require­ment at zero if the
    activi­ties permitted will not require clean up or restoration.

-   A bond is never used as a penalty.

-   A bond may also be used to recover NPS costs (administrative and
    monitoring/management) only if the Superintendent speci­fies it as a
    condition of the permit.

-   The bonding instrument must provide the Superinten­dent with
    immedi­ate access to the funds when needed.

-   Personal or corporate checks may be acceptable in some
    circum­stanc­es.

Those bond amounts, paid in advance, should be depos­it­ed into the
designated park account upon receipt. Should the permittee fail to
perform any part of the necessary clean‑up or restoration, or fail to
reimburse the NPS for costs associated with the permit, the account will
be used to make any payments neces­sary. Any remaining balance will be
returned to the permittee. If the bond is insuffi­cient to cover costs
the permittee will be issued a bill for collection for the amount of the
deficit. Bonds must be handled appropriately and accounted for at all
times. Funds from bonds, including letters of credit, shall be withdrawn
only in the amount owed to the NPS.

**NATIONAL PARK SERVICE SUPERVISION AND COSTS**

Filming permits are issued by authority of the Superintendent or his/her
designated representative. All Commercial filming permits and still
photography permits are statutorily subject to cost recovery and a
location fee, neither of which may be waived. The location fee is
determined by the type of activity (commercial filming versus still
photography), must be based on the current schedule and is determined by
the number of permitted days and the number of people on park lands
associated with the permitted activity. A day is defined as a continuous
24 hour period.

Application for a filming permit must be accompanied with the tendering
of a non-refundable application (Cost Recovery) fee of \$200. Permit
preparation and administrative time in excess of the standard time
normally required to complete permit negotiations will be charged at
\$50 per additional hour and added to the nonrefundable permit charges
above. These fees will be retained by the NPS regardless of whether a
permit is approved and issued or not. Checks should be made payable to
the National Park Service.

# 

# FEES

There are four applicable fees:

1\. Application and Administrative Fee

2\. Monitoring/Management Fee

3\. Location Fee

4\. Performance Bond.

1\. APPLICATION and ADMINISTRATIVE FEE - The non-refundable application
fee is \$200.

Any permit preparation and administrative time in excess of the standard
four hours (\$200) normally required to complete permit negotiations
will be assessed at \$50 per additional hour and appended to the above
standard permit charges.

## MONITORING/MANAGEMENT FEES

## Costs may vary based on the project's complexities, the resource risks involved and the level of monitoring required for each filming project:

## Continual Monitoring (park discretion):

> \$50 per hour with a minimum of 3 hours per day; not to exceed \$400
> per day. A day consists of a maximum of 8 hours. Daily use in excess
> of 8 hours will be charged at \$75 per additional hour of use.

-   Spot Monitoring (park discretion):

> \$200 per day. Daily use in excess of 8 hours will be charged at \$75
> per additional hour of use.

Filming activities authorized by permit will be supervised by an NPS
employee to assure full compliance with all terms of the permit. In
operations involving few people and minimal equipment or, taking place
where there is little possibility of damage or violation of other permit
requirements or, inconvenience to the visitor, filming activities will
be spot monitored to assure compliance. The level and type of
supervision will be based on the extent and complexity of filming
activities.

The minimum daily calculated cost for tracking and site-monitoring of
the permitted activity, once approved, is based on the premise that no
more than one NPS representative will be required for continual on-site
monitoring. A minimum \$150 fee is charged for continual monitoring
required by one NPS representative for up to 3 hours or less. Any
portion of use less than 3 hours each day will not be prorated, but
charged at the \$150 daily 3-hour minimum rate. Additional hours of
daily monitored use will be billed at \$75 per hour per monitor
required.

If, in the opinion of the Superintendent, the filming project will
involve significant numbers of people (5 or more) and/or equipment
exhibiting a degree of resource or visitor impact potential, supervision
will be on-location and continual. Each additional NPS employee required
to monitor and control the filming site will be charged to the permittee
at \$50 per hour to offset overtime and administrative costs incurred.

Estimated daily site-monitoring costs must be paid to the NPS prior to
actual filming. Payment must include the aggregate amount for all days
authorized. All costs associated with permitted activities which exceed
the estimated minimum daily site-monitoring cost will be billed to the
permittee after completion of filming activities. The monitoring of any
site rehabilitation which may be necessary upon completion of filming
activities will be charged to the permittee at \$50 per hour per monitor
required. Performance bond will be withheld until all costs are paid.

3\. LOCATION FEE

  ----------------------------- ----------- -------------------------- -------------
  [Motion                                   [Commercial Still          
  Picture/Videos]{.underline}               Photography]{.underline}   

  1-2 People camera and tripod                                         
  only                                                                 

  1-10 People                   \$150/day   1 -- 10 people             \$50/day

  11- 30 people                 \$250/day   11- 30 people              \$150/day

  31 -- 49 people               \$500/day   Over 30 people             \$250/day

  Over 50 people                \$750/day                              
  ----------------------------- ----------- -------------------------- -------------

4\. PERFORMANCE BOND

See information on bond requirements on Page 5 of this document.

#### ON-CAMERA APPEARANCE by EMPLOYEES 

On-camera appearances by employees are allowed under the following
conditions:

-   The employee is selected and/or approved by park management, and is
    depicted performing his or her normal duties, or serv­ing as a
    subject matter expert.

-   The employee\'s appearance supports NPS goals and has a benefi­cial
    effect for the Service.

-   The role is not scripted.

-   The employee is paid by the park as part of his or her regular
    working hours. The permittee will reimburse the park for this cost
    as part of the monitoring cost recovery.

-   If the filming requires overtime or back filling of positions, the
    NPS will be reimbursed for any such additional costs through the
    permit­ting process.

#### GRATUITIES

The Standards of Ethical Conduct for Employ­ees apply. Generally,
employees are forbidden from accepting gratuities from prohibited
sources. However, there are exceptions that allow employees to accept
modest items of food and refresh­ment.

The NPS recognizes that the work day for a film production company
typically lasts longer than eight hours. NPS employees assigned to
monitor permit activities must be pre­pared to sustain them­selves over
the entire time span. The Super­in­ten­dent may, on a case-by-case basis,
grant the employee permis­sion to accept provisions from the permittee.

-   If the permittee offers meals, the Superinten­dent may autho­rize the
    employee to accept the food provided.

-   Market values of the individual meals and aggregate market value of
    all meals, provided by an individual permittee may not exceed the
    limits set in 5C.F.R Part 2635.204.

**OFF-DUTY GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES**

Off-duty Government employees may work for filming companies only if
they do not perform or appear to perform official duties. Off-duty
employment while in uniform is not permitted. Personnel engaged in
actual supervision of the permittee are not allowed to engage in
off-duty employment with the filmmaker under any circumstance. The
Superintendent must approve off-duty employment requests.

## **GOVERNMENT PROPERTY and SYMBOLS** 

-   Government property, including the uniform, will not be used, loaned
    or rented to a film company, or diverted from its normal use, for
    filming purposes except as stated below. (See 43 C.F.R. 20.735.15.)
    Rental of NPS equipment on a reimbursable basis pursuant to 16
    U.S.C. 1‑b(5) is authorized only to persons who \"render services or
    perform functions that facili­tate or supplement activities of the
    Department.\"

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-   Government Symbols: Use of the NPS Arrowhead in titles, credits or
    other deliberate disclosures requires the permis­sion of the NPS
    Director (36 CFR 11.2 and Special Directive 93-7).

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-   Special Directive 93-7 declares that use of the Arrow­head is
    controlled through law and regulation. Hence, under 36 C.F.R. 11.2,
    the Director may authorize the use of the Arrowhead \"for uses that
    will contribute to purposes of education and conser­vation as they
    relate to the program of the National Park Service.\" The NPS may
    actively assist filming and photography activities that promote
    public understanding and appreciation of the National Park System,
    and the Director may authorize use of the arrowhead symbol for such
    filming projects. All other uses are prohibited, such as
    advertis­ing, promotional or directly commercial purposes.

-   Incidental filming of the symbol which may include the shoul­der
    patch of a uniformed employee, an NPS vehicle or an entrance or
    similar sign is not prohibited.

#### UNAUTHORIZED FILMING

Filmmakers or photogra­phers may be unaware that certain filming
activities require a permit, cost recovery, insurance certificate or
performance bond. When the Superinten­dent or a park staff member becomes
aware that filming activities that would normally require a permit are
being conducted without a permit, he/she will contact the individu­al or
group, explain the require­ments necessary to comply with regulations and
resolve the issue as soon as possible. A photographer or filmmaker who
fails to obtain a required permit may be subject to enforcement action.