We Don’t Need No Stinkin’ Permit
June 12, 2008 by David Bergman
Yesterday I had another shoot with innerpartysystem. Kerrang really liked my photo of the guys in the video monitors and will be running one of those images as a poster in an upcoming issue. But for the “introducing” piece on them, they wanted something where you could see them a little better.
We decided that the band would put duct tape over their mouths and pose in Times Square. Since we picked this location just a couple of days ago, I called the Mayor’s Office of Film, Theatre and Broadcasting about obtaining a permit on the day of the shoot. I specifically mentioned Times Square and the nice girl on the phone said it wouldn’t be a problem.
That’s actually code for “Don’t be silly, sir. Of course there will be a problem.”
As a side note, the permit office is in the Ed Sullivan Theatre where they shoot the Late Show with David Letterman. When I went down there, I was in the elevator with building engineer George Clarke (a character who often appears on the show), and on my way out of the building I practically walked into bass player extraordinaire Will Lee. The cool thing about New Yorkers is that celebrities walk around on the street and everyone is too cool to care. But we can still write about it on our blogs!
After turning in my permit application, I waited for a bit before being informed that they now require seven days advance notice for Times Square permits.
After explaining that this wasn’t a big production — just four guys in a band with me and my assistant, she told me that my application was denied. Perfect. I asked if I needed a permit if I wasn’t going to use a tripod or put down any stands. She said if I looked like a tourist and didn’t block any traffic (pedestrian or automotive), I would be fine.
That night at the shoot I had my assistant Jenica Miller hand-hold a small flash as we walked around Times Square with the band. This was guerrilla shooting at its finest.
At the first set-up, it took literally three seconds before a cop came over and told us to move on. I politely pointed out that we weren’t blocking anything and asked if we could shoot there for a few minutes. He politely told us to move on. Immediately.
We walked down the street a bit and started to shoot under an overhang at a theater. I got off a few frames before a private security guard informed us that we were on private property and had to leave.
It looked like this was going to be a long night but things got better after that. We walked a couple of blocks away from the chaos and were able to shoot without any hassles – even posing in the middle of the crosswalk about 15 times.
At one point, a cop started coming towards us so we turned away and walked in the other direction. He called out and asked us what we were doing and why we walked away when we saw him. We told him we were just taking some photos. He was totally cool and said it was fine as long as we didn’t block traffic.
So I guess it just depends on which cop you get and what kind of mood he’s in. Unless of course you’re a celebrity. Then no one would care.
I had heard about the new license NYC was going to require… I wondered if it was just a ‘big prodution’ thing, or if it was REALLY going to apply to all.
At least I’m glad to hear that some police still have common sense enough to let you get on with your work.
new york’s an interesting place..really, though..fuck permits. you really don’t need them..I mean, like you said, if you were to create a huge deal out of the shoot, like with tripods and lights and stuff, it probably would’ve caused some commotion..but the shot came out great. seriously. (:
——-