North Carolina Filming Laws Every Film Crew Must Know

The Tar Heel State is widely known for its pristine mountain beauty and amazing structures and scenes. People come to North Carolina from around the world to engage in film shoots. Shoots that range from small crew productions to full feature, massive crew productions of all sizes. Before you plan a film shoot in North Carolina, make sure that you’re following the local North Carolina Filming laws. As well as other local rules and regulations.

Here’s what you need to know. 

North Carolina Laws on Filming in Public

First (and most importantly) North Carolina filming laws that pertain to commercial filmmakers shooting in public almost always require a permit.

You can obtain a film permit from the local film office, or county offices, for the individual area in which you’ll be filming.

Request in Advance

Make sure that you request a permit at least 2-4 weeks in advance. This allows proper time for processing without delaying your production.

A film permit will be necessary if you’re going to film on any NC roadway, in a park, or on any city owned property including sidewalks and many hospitals.

NC Child Labor Laws when Filming

In addition to obtaining a film permit, North Carolina filming laws in respect to minor working talent members and crew are incredibly important. The rules that surround minors working on a film set in North Carolina are both stringent and strict.

Provisions apply to minors that work on film sets. But there are separate provisions by SAG-AFTRA. This applies to minors that work as performers, actors. Or even other talent in motion pictures, radio, television productions, and other forms of child labor. 

If hiring minors to help with other areas of production, NOT talent, you’ll need to follow these North Carolina filming laws:

• Do Not hire any children that do not have a Youth Employment Certificate.
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• Make sure 15% of the child’s gross earnings are set aside in a trust to be preserved for future benefit.
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• Consider following additional guidelines from the Screen Actor’s Guild regarding Young Performers. 

Code of Conduct in NC

In addition to the North Carolina filming laws that filmmakers and their crews must follow, it’s important that all filmmakers that come to the Tar Heel State to film maintain a code of conduct that remains in line with the integrity and professionalism of the state.

Under the Code of Conduct, individual regulations such as providing proper notification to any nearby business owners or property owners when a permit is granted, or properly maintaining privacy and respect of others while filming in the state are covered in the Code of Conduct. 

Maintaining your own reputation, and following the individual North Carolina filming laws while you’re in the state is important for many reasons but most of all –  you’ll avoid legal challenges if you just follow these simple requirements while you’re filming in NC.