We fly our own crew and cameras to Los Angeles and handle FilmLA permits, drone paperwork and hillside logistics, so your building is filmed legally and on schedule.
Location filming across much of greater Los Angeles runs through FilmLA, which permits for the City, the County and several other jurisdictions. We fit the permit, insurance, drone approvals and the light into one schedule, then shoot with equipment we own. The production service page explains the full kit.
Choose what the project needs. Every item is shot by our own crew, not subcontracted.
Facades and elevations timed to the sun's path on that site, with a weather day held.
Straight verticals, natural light first, added light only where a room needs it.
A 60 to 120 second piece shot on RED or ARRI, with cut-downs for social channels.
DJI Inspire 3 footage for site and canyon context, flown with the paperwork FilmLA asks for.
Repeat visits that build a dated visual record for investors, lenders and buyers.
Renders and walkthroughs generated from your plans, each one labeled as a visualization while the site is still empty.
Five decisions behind one Los Angeles residential shoot. Tap a number.
A motion permit application is $931 and covers up to five locations over seven consecutive days. A still photo application is $104. Fees as published 11 November 2025.
FilmLA charges $232 per notification radius, and notices reach residents two or more business days before filming.
Hillside streets are tight. We bring a small crew, plan parking and load-in before the shoot, and keep to what the permit allows.
FilmLA wants the pilot's license, a written plan of activity with maps, any airspace authorization and two $2 million aviation insurance certificates. The jurisdiction may also require police or fire staff.
We pick the hour from the building's orientation and the season. NOAA notes the marine layer persists in early summer, which can grey coastal mornings.
Every building tells me its hour. A west-facing glass house wants late sun; a courtyard plan wants the soft time when the shadows lift off the floor.
So I fix the shooting window first and we file with FilmLA around it, with a weather day in reserve. A permit for the wrong afternoon is money spent on a worse photograph.
Choose the kind of shoot. The list shows each FilmLA step, its fee and how many business days it needs.
Fees from FilmLA's basic fees list, last published 11 November 2025; lead times from FilmLA's application guide, which rejects late applications without refund. Jurisdictions can add their own personnel costs. We confirm every line when we book.
It depends on the jurisdiction and the setup. FilmLA handles permits for many Los Angeles-area jurisdictions, and one application covers up to five locations in a week. We check the rule for your address while scoping and file whenever a permit is required.
Often, with paperwork. FilmLA asks for the pilot's license, a written flight plan with maps, airspace authorization where needed and two $2 million aviation insurance certificates. Some airspace near airports rules a flight out entirely.
Two to three weeks leaves room for the permit, the neighbor notices and a weather day. FilmLA's basic permits need 3 to 7 business days, and applications that miss the deadline are turned away.
A finished film lands inside the published film band, $15,000 to $50,000; length, locations and aerials decide where. Crew travel from Chicago and FilmLA fees appear as separate lines in the quote.
Less than they used to. FilmLA counted 4,711 on-location shoot days in Q2 2026, 12.7% fewer than a year earlier.
On ArchDaily. Our founder, Kirill Samarits, was named European Photographer of the Year by Nikon Europe in 2018.
We reply with a shoot plan, the permits it needs, the best light window and a fixed price.
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