City Guide Filming in Santa Clarita, CA
Production Permit Fees
- Standard Permit Fees
- Motion Picture Permit - $415
- Motion Picture Permit (MROZ) - $166
- Rider - $87
- Film Office Monitor - $85 per hour
- Notifications
- Regular set - $144 per location
- Complex set - $295 per location
- Signature Survey - $273 per occurrence
- Traffic Control & Road Use
- Right Of Way Use - $216 per day
- Road Closure - $755 per day
- Road ITC - $279 per day
- Road Parking - $339 per day
- LA County Fire Department Fees
- Film Permit Review - $288 per permit if applicable
- SFX Permit Review - $288 per SFX permit if applicable
Minimum Insurance
- General Liability - $1,000,000
- Drone Usage - $2,000,000
- Aircraft Usage - $5,000,000
Additional Permits
- Regular permits
- Permit Application Fee - $863 for up to 10 locations
- Permit Rider Fee - $137
- FilmLA Monitor - $41 per hour
- Fire Review Fee - $282 per permit if applicable
- Fire Safety Officer - $196.99 per hour. Minimum 4 hours
- Student Permits
- Simple Productions - $33
- Complex Productions - $124
- Filming With Animals In LA County
- Animal Exhibition Permit Fee - $25
- Every Additional Day - $25
Discounts
About Santa Clarita
Santa Clarita is a Californian city that has quietly made its mark in the film industry for decades. Nearby Hollywood tends to steal the filmmaking limelight in this region, but you've probably seen a lot more of Santa Clarita on screen than you realize.
What makes Santa Clarita so attractive to filmmakers? In truth, there are several factors. Santa Clarita is a low-rise city with no skyscrapers to block the views from the streets of the three mountain ranges surrounding it. The city's neighborhoods are prime examples of middle-class suburban living, and it's the location of the Six Flags Magic Mountain theme park, but that's not all.
Just outside the city limits of Santa Clarita are terrains with unusual topography that lend themselves well to both science fiction and Westerns. Within easy driving distance are canyons with endless hiking trails, lakes for boating and watersports shots, plus more than enough wild open spaces and woodlands, with no humans in sight, perfect for those isolated backwater scenes.
You won't be the first to get excited about Santa Clarita as a shooting location. Bridesmaids, A Star is Born, Captain Marvel, Django Unchained, and The Flintstones were all filmed on location in Santa Clarita. As far back as the 1960s, producers recognized the otherworldly potential of places like Vasquez Rocks, which became a feature of several episodes of the original Star Trek TV series.
Now you're all fired up and ready to start scouting filming locations in Santa Clarita, take a look at what's on offer on Giggster. You'll find a selection of suitable places for any movie genre, from action to period drama to comedy and horror. Quentin Tarantino gave Santa Clarita the thumbs up as a filming location, so should you!
Do I Need a Filming Permit in Santa Clarita?
All commercial filming in Santa Clarita requires a film permit. The only exception to the rule is if you're filming on a certified sound stage.
Getting a film permit for filming in Santa Clarita is a relatively simple process as long as you have all the required documentation prepared before you start.
Uncomplicated Productions
Simple productions can leave it as late as two days before the estimated shoot start date to submit a film permit application, but it's not advisable. It's better to do it a little more in advance in case you’re requested to submit any extra paperwork.
Complex Productions
Productions that will be using special effects, want to film in sensitive locations, need to organize road closures, or have complicated parking requirements should make their application at least five working days before the film shoot start date. Once issued, a permit is valid for a maximum of fourteen days and covers the production company for up to ten different locations.
Student Permits
Student filming does require a permit, but most student projects are eligible for discounted permit fees. You will need to provide a letter from your place of study on headed paper stating that your film project is for non-commercial educational purposes to be eligible. The said letter must be dated within the previous thirty days of your permit application. Students are also required to submit other documentation needed for a regular film permit, such as an insurance certificate and written permission for filming on private property.
Non-profit Organization Permits
If you’re a non-profit organization, you may be eligible for discounts on filming permit fees You will need to submit a 501 letter proving the production company’s non-profit status before your permit will be issued.
Permit Management in Santa Clarita
Film Santa Clarita
Film permits in Santa Clarita and a surrounding thirty-mile radius of the city are managed by Film Santa Clarita. The non-profit organization has been functioning for over two decades and aims to help make filming in Santa Clarita easier and more accessible.
As well as processing applications and issuing film permits, Santa Clarita Film offers a complete coordination service and maintains a film industry-related resource library.
Permit application forms can be downloaded from the Film Santa Clarita website. They can be returned either by email or in-person to the office, the address of which is:-
City of Santa Clarita – Santa Clarita Film Office
23920 Valencia Boulevard, Suite 100
Santa Clarita, CA 91355
If you want to film at more than ten locations, apply for a second film permit. All fees must be paid before issuing.
What Insurance Do I Need in Santa Clarita?
You must have adequate liability insurance to obtain a film permit in Santa Clarita. Below are listed the minimum amounts, but if you have a complex production or will be using special effects, the film office may insist you have higher coverage. It's a good idea to consult with Film Santa Clarita before purchasing coverage to ensure you have the correct policy when applying.
The insurance certificate must also endorse the City of Santa Clarita as additionally insured, or it won't be accepted.
If you can’t meet any of these requirements, you’ll need to explain in writing why you can’t meet the requirement to the Office. They will determine if the shoot can go ahead without the necessary insurance.
Note that these requirements are minimum requirements. Larger and more complex shoots may require additional insurance which will be determined by the Office.
What Kind of Filming Locations Are Available in Santa Clarita?
Outdoor locations are the true stars of Santa Clarita. Believe it, the folks of this city go all out to provide every type of scenery imaginable for filmmakers. The more you discover, the more you're going to be bowled over - so much so you may start planning another film shoot before you've finished your current one.
There are places around Santa Clarita that are renowned for their unusual landscapes. The most outstanding is the Vasquez Rocks Natural Area. Vasquez Rocks is an arid, desert-style location where the sandstone rocks protrude at a windswept-looking forty-five-degree angle. It's a magnificent spot for any Western movie and dusty enough for a script set on the planet Mars.
When your movie calls for a camping location with a lake, you need to go navigating waterways, or you need somewhere you can get your stuntmen on wakeboards or jet skis, then the Castaic Lake Recreation Area is for you. The rangers are used to filmmakers, so you'll get a warm reception. Collaborating with a film crew beats chasing rattlesnakes and bears any day.
The outskirts of Santa Clarita are ideal if you're considering a remake of any TV series like Little House on the Prairie or Bonanza as you'll find isolated cabins and entire ranches where you can film them. If that's not your genre because you prefer horror or Dukes of Hazzard-style car chases, you’ll fall in love with the zombie town and its acres of land with miles of dirt tracks.
The streets of Santa Clarita have an old-world appeal that shouts middle-class 1970s but, for some reason, are favored for crime series, so if you're creating your version of CSI or Charlie's Angels, you'll love the archaic atmosphere.
You can't make an entire movie of external shots only, so by now, you're probably starting to think of what internal shoot locations you'll find to back up the great outdoors. The answer to that is plenty.
In Santa Clarita, there are houses available for filming that fit the criteria for those all-American family scenes that would also suit characters like bank managers or company CEOs. If that is not posh enough, there are deluxe mansions fronted by enormous swimming pools perfect for a millionaire jet-setter. If you want something not quite flashy, there are plenty of those too.
There are one-off locations, too, like a mission-style stone church complete with a bell. A forested area where the trees have branches twisted enough to creep anyone out, and it comes complete with a log cabin. Old wooden barns, liquor stores, and even a wooden Wild West ranch house complete with hitching posts, windmill, barrels, cartwheels outside, and all the furnishings inside.
There are some great business locations available for filming in Santa Clarita. They vary from a fully equipped veterinary surgery to a skincare salon. There are vintage diners with leather seating to a vinyl record store. Now, that is antiquated and very era-related.
Need a workshop where cars can be pimped, cars included, a smart gym, or a stainless steel trailer in Santa Clarita. You've got it. The filming locations in and around it make it stand out from other cities in California, including Hollywood.
Special Requirements in Santa Clarita
Private Property Permission
Even if you will be filming on privately owned property in Santa Clarita, you will still need to have a film permit. Film Santa Clarita also requires you to submit written confirmation that you have the owner's permission to film on their property. You will need to submit the proof of permission when making your permit application.
Filming At Vasquez Rocks Natural Area & Castaic Lake Recreation Area
The Vasquez Rocks Natural Area and the Castaic Lake State Recreation Area both fall under the jurisdiction of the Los Angeles County Parks and Recreation Department. To film at Vasquez Rocks, you will need a separate film permit to the one you may have obtained for filming in Santa Clarita.
The Los Angeles County Parks and Recreation Department does not manage film permitting for Vasquez Rocks. Film permits for Vasquez Rocks and Castaic Lake are managed by FilmLA. Applications can be made online via the FilmLA website and must be submitted at least three working days before the estimated filming date and earlier if possible.
Permit fees for filming in LA County parks:-
Regular permits
Permit Application Fee - $863 for up to 10 locations
Permit Rider Fee - $137
FilmLA Monitor - $41 per hour
Fire Review Fee - $282 per permit if applicable
Fire Safety Officer - $196.99 per hour. Minimum 4 hours
Student Permits
Simple Productions - $33
Complex Productions - $124
Insurance requirements are the same as the ones needed for a Santa Clarita film permit.
Filming With Animals In LA County
If you're planning on filming with animals in LA County, no matter whether they're horses, cattle, dogs, or rattlesnakes, you will need a special permit.
The application form for an Animal Exhibition Permit can be downloaded from the FilmLA website. It's on the LA County special requirements page. Once completed, the form must be mailed to the County of Los Angeles Department of Animal Care and Control. Before you can collect your permit, you will be required to pay the relevant permit fees. This also has to be done by mail. No credit cards or cash payments will be accepted.
Animal Exhibition Permit Fee - $250
Every Additional Day - $25
Crediting The City Of Santa Clarita
While it's not an obligatory special requirement for filming in Santa Clarita, the city authorities appreciate you adding a – Thank you to the City of Santa Clarita – in your film credits.
What Does it Cost to Film in Santa Clarita?
Listed here are some, but not all, of the fees you may incur for filming in Santa Clarita, the Thirty Mile Zone, and the Movie Ranch Overlay Zone (MROZ).
Additional Fees
None of the above fees include any charges you may incur for filming on city or private property.
Geographical Jurisdiction of Santa Clarita?
The city of Santa Clarita itself occupies around seventy square miles of the Santa Clarita valley in northwest California and is home to almost a quarter of a million people. Santa Clarita has mountainous regions all around it, consisting of the San Gabriel, Santa Susana, and the Sierra Pelona Mountains. The three ranges form the Transverse Ranges. At its furthest northeast extremes, Santa Clarita is bordered by the city of Forest Park and to the southeast, Lang, Humphreys, and the southeast section of the Angeles National Forest. Santa Clarita is bordered to the south by the Whitney Canyon Park and the Santa Clarita Woodlands Park. To the west is Castaic Junction, and to the north, Castaic and the Castaic Lake State Recreation Area. Santa Clarita is within the Thirty Mile Zone, a zone radiating thirty miles around Hollywood production companies use to calculate worker's daily pay rates. Film productions shot inside the zone are not considered to be on location. Santa Clarita’s Movie Ranch Overlay Zone is within the thirty-mile zone.
Outreach in Santa Clarita
There has been a lot of filming activity in and around Santa Clarita over the years. It's an activity that has become a big part of city life and an even grandest part of the city's economy. No authority wants to lose a multi-million dollar income because the city residents disagree with how a film production has been carried out.
Film Santa Clarita, the city's film office, has made notifying the community around your chosen film location statutory. This is not a job you can undertake yourself.
The film office produces and distributes notifications about your filming activities. The notifications are sent out two days before filming commences to all households and businesses within a five-hundred-foot radius of each of your chosen shoot locations.
The film office charges a per-location fee for the service, and if you're shooting at ten different locations, it can be costly. The fee charged depends on the complexity of the shoot and the disruption it may cause to the community.
Notifications
Regular set - $144 per location
Complex set - $295 per location
Community Management in Santa Clarita
Because you forked out for the Film Santa Clarita's obligatory notification service does not mean you are home and dry with community management.
If someone responds to the notification negatively, then you may be required to conduct a signature survey of the area. Film Santa Clarita may also ask you to survey if they consider your filming activities exceptionally disruptive to the local community. Whether they request a survey is entirely at their discretion.
You will be expected to visit every household and business within a specified radius of the shoot location to obtain as many signatures as possible stating they are not opposed to your filming. This is where having a good community manager who is fantastic at public relations comes in.
The survey is not something you can go about willy-nilly. The film office provides the correct survey forms and a list of addresses to visit. There is a charge for this service too.
Signature Survey - $273 per occurrence
Most residents and business owners must sign in favor of your activity. Many negative responses, and you won't be issued a film permit. The survey should be submitted to the film office and assessed by them before your permit application.
Conclusion
There's no doubt Santa Clarita and the surrounding landscapes have something to offer any filmmaker. The locations are exceptional, and Santa Clarita is, at heart, a film-friendly city, although it may not appear to be on occasion. Yes, there are plenty of rules and regulations for filming in Santa Clarita.
The city authorities do like filmmakers to follow the regulations set out, though, so make sure you're really in the know about them before you start shooting your movie scenes.
Follow the guidelines for filming in Santa Clarita set out by Film Santa Clarita, and they'll welcome you back time and time again. Don't follow the filming regulations in Santa Clarita, and you could find yourself leaving a trail of desert dust behind you when they kick you out of town.