New Film Permit Fees and Incentives for 2020
Effective Tuesday, August 4th the City of Vancouver will be implementing a new fee structure for film permits and parking requests. These fees are being introduced after significant consultation with film industry leaders through the City’s Motion Picture Leadership Group and follow a presentation of the information below to industry at the MPPIA Virtual Townhall on Friday, June 12th. A recording of that town hall presentation is available to view on MPPIA’s YouTube page at https://youtu.be/RNzmlmue2EQ
About the Motion Picture Leadership Group
In late 2019, the City’s Motion Picture Leadership Group (MPLG), a City-convened group composed of industry leaders to enable engagement with motion picture industry to collaborate on long term strategic priorities and initiatives; such as simplifying fee structures and making Vancouver one of the greenest productions centers in the world.
About the new fee structure
A single daily, city-wide permit fee of $1,000
The need for multiple Film Activity and Street Use Permits on a per-location basis is being discontinued and a single permit fee is being introduced in its place. This flat daily fee of $1,000 will cover an unlimited number of locations and activities during one day of filming, eliminating the need for multiple permits and allowing for more accurate budget forecasting.
Fixed fees for parking signage and parking-meter hooding
A fixed-fee structure for parking signage and meter hooding will be introduced, allowing for more accurate preproduction budgeting. Previously costs were variable, with actual cost being disclosed only after filming was complete. The fixed fees for parking are based on the Engineering Fee Schedule for Temporary Stopping Zones (TSZ) as defined in the Street & Traffic By-law which is updated annually. For 2020 the fees for TSZ are as follows:
For signage production, installation, and removal: $ 146.13
For meter hooding (when meters are in the zone): $ 111.49
*Budget for a TSZ fee to be applied for each location or “zone”; for example if you have a mid-day move these fees will apply at each location used that day; and/or if you have on street staging area for circus or work truck zones, away from the primary filming site, that circus/work truck staging area will require its own TSZ.
Late-night & early-morning surcharges
The City is implementing a late-night and early-morning surcharge of $2,000 per occurrence in addition to the daily film permit fee for shoots taking place in residential areas outside of current filming guidelines. This adjustment will better reflect the resident impact and additional administrative costs associated with the activity. This fee will be applied to any activity in a residential area conducted outside of the standard hours of filming outlined in the City’s filming guidelines.
About the new incentives
Clean-energy incentives
To encourage the development and use of clean energy technologies, both the daily activity fee and the late-night activity fee are eligible for a 50 per cent reduction if filming proceeds with a reduced reliance on diesel-fuel generators. When eligible, this incentive would be applied to both the daily permit fee and the late-night & early morning surcharge.
To qualify for this incentive a production must meet the following requirements:
Demonstrable effort to reduce the use of at least one diesel generator each day of filming, which could include the use one or more of the following clean energy alternatives:
City of Vancouver power kiosk
Private property tie in
Alternative clean tech, such as battery or hydrogen technology
Ultra-low impact activity incentive
Ultra-low impact filming, such as still shoots, short films, documentaries, music videos, b-rolls, and splinter units will receive an 80 per cent reduction on the flat daily rate.
To qualify for this incentive a production must meet the follow requirements:
less than 15 persons
minimal equipment
minimal parking
no traffic control
no diesel generator
no curfew extension
Next Steps
This new fee structure for permits is just one step toward making Vancouver production easier for filmmakers. These changes will be implemented concurrently with a new online permitting system which is expected to take place on Tuesday August 4th. Updates to the City’s web pages on filming will also be updated at that time.
Please see our other blog post regarding how we will manage any productions that have permit requests in the pipeline when we transition to the new fee structure.