How Far In Advance Should Film Shoots Post No Parking Signs?

A neighbor whose car was towed for filming earlier this week wrote to voice her frustration and get some clarification on NY film shoot guidelines. She says:

Our car was moved due to filming (Black Box) on the block where we had parked it (Argyle between Cortelyou and Dorchester). There were no signs in recent days saying that they’d be filming today. The signs only talked about filming on the 13th. There ARE signs now. And it is possible they were there yesterday–I am not sure. But there was definitely not enough advance warning.

It seems as though there should be at least a week’s warning so if you are going out of town or something, you can be sure to move your car before you go.

The NY Office of Film, Theatre, and Broadcasting website only specifies crews should post signs and letters “as early as possible in advance of their shoots to notify the local area,” so we reached out to Marybeth Ihle, Press Secretary for the OFTB, who got down to brass tacks.

“No Parking signs must be posted by a production a minimum of 48 hours in advance,” she says. “If a resident or business owner have any questions or concerns about filming, they should reach out directly to the production. Contact info for the production is provided on signs posted by the productions.

“If their concerns aren’t being addressed, they should contact our office immediately via 311. Don’t wait until after the shoot. Our office will take appropriate action right away.”

We’ve seen signs posted as early as a week ahead of time, but we also recently ran into one crew posting signs about 18 hours before vehicles were to be moved and filming was scheduled to start.

On the upside, if your vehicle is moved, it is supposed to be at the expense of the production and location managers are supposed to keep a log of exactly where they’ve placed it (that also goes to our local precinct)–but has that rung true for any other folks caught by filming without adequate notice?

Furthermore, is 48 hours enough, an unnecessarily long amount of time, or just right? And how often have you seen crews cutting it closer than two days ahead of time?

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You can learn more about rights and rules for neighborhood film shoots here. If you’re worried about shoots disrupting parking, make sure to take note of Location Manager contact information listed in our filming posts–and if you see signs posted that we don’t, please send photos, cross streets, and other relevant notes to editor@ditmasparkcorner.com so we can spread the word.

Photo by ditmasparkcorner