Everything you need to know to film legally in Toronto (Updated 2018)
Laws for filming in Toronto
Here’s everything you need to know about filming in Toronto, legally! This includes when you should get permits, and where to get them.
If you need help getting your film FUNDED then here’s how to pitch to effectively.
I should preface this article by stating (and this should be obvious) that this is not legal advice to what you should or shouldn’t do. This is merely an attempt to collect information that you (and I) would need to know before you soldier onto the finish line.
I’ve been through the ringer before and had to backtrack when I began figuring it all out. Hopefully, this article will help you avoid the mistakes I made when I started.
Besides, you are going to need all your last drop of blood/sweat/tears to finish the picture. Why would you waste it on something you can avoid?
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Copyrighted Music vs. You
I’ll begin with what most people are thinking about: copyrighted music.
You have to ALWAYS ask permission and get a “materials release” (click here for an example) signed by the owner of such music. If you are using a track from your friend’s band, this can be as easy as writing up a contract stating that such and such band or songwriter is allowing such and such producer to use this track on such and such production.
Your producer, the artist and at least one witness that is not affiliated with either party should sign it. The best way to make it more legally binding is by adding the stipulation of exchange of some money for the music (this can be even as low as a dollar).
Here are some of the other things to consider:
Public Domain Music
A Mozart composition, for example, is in what we call “public domain” which means that the copyright on the composition has expired since copyright only lasts between 50 to 70 years after an artist’s death. When an artist dies, copyright is transferred to whoever is in charge of his estate and since Mozart has been dead for more than 100 years it’s safe to say that no one from the Mozart family is going to sue you.
However you have to keep in mind that even if it is public domain there is still a copyright on the recording which belongs to whoever recorded the version of the song you are using.
The only way to make it truly legal is to hire (or do your own) rendition of the song making you the owner of the recording.
Popular Current Music
The higher you go in fame of the artist (at least when it comes to current artists), the more complicated it is getting permission to use their music. If you would like to use the latest Meghan Trainer or Maroon 5 track (and I don’t know why you would) this is something that you, as an independent filmmaker, probably don’t have the means to achieve it.
It all depends on your budget and how big your production team is. If you are like me where every project is a passion project and no one is getting paid, then you should consider avoiding popular tracks by famous artists at all costs. In my opinion, it is not worth the headache.
But if you are really keen on it, you would need to get what is called a “Synchronization License” which gives you permission to “sync” a song with visual media and a “Master Use License” for the permission to use the recording.
The cost can vary depending on how the song is used, how many people will see it and what is the type of “visual media” you are using the music in.
Nevertheless, you are looking at at least a few thousand bucks investment. You should figure out how much you really need it/what do you really need it for before you begin contacting the label/artist.
Despite my pessimism, I wish you luck if you choose to go down the road of trying to contact these big companies.
William Goldman (seen above) in Adventures in Screen Trade (which I highly recommend) broached the subject of being mistreated in Hollywood. Reading his book made it clear to me that the worst response is no response. He wrote the book in the 80s about screenwriting but it is still relevant to all dealings between the little guy and the big guy.
In any case, if they even get so much as an email back telling you to go fuck yourself, you should consider yourself lucky.
Fair Use vs. the World
Fair use is a tricky thing but in the end it all comes into context of how the ‘material’ is used in the film. The more a ‘material’ is a central focus of your work, the more important it is to get permission.
Here are some examples:
Background in public
You as a filmmaker or photographer are allowed to shoot anyone (or anything) as background as long as it’s a public space where there isn’t an expected privacy (like for example a bathroom).
This goes for license plates of cars as well. I mean it would probably be a good thing to blur it out but you don’t HAVE too. If you look at a lot of television shows, they tend to blur out license plates just to be safe and I believe that is the smart thing to do.
In a perfect world you would get a release form signed by everyone that walks into your shot but obviously, when you don’t have the budget required to have a completely closed and controlled set, getting every single person to sign a release is just not realistic.
Luckily the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms protects your privilege of not having to get permission in this case. It makes it ‘fair use’ which means that you don’t have to worry about blurring every single face and walking around with a huge stack of release forms in the trunk of your car.
Yes, the context can be debated. Which makes balancing the fine line of fair use difficult.
A good rule of thumb is if a person or face attracts too much focus in your shot and doesn’t just seem to be there just to add atmosphere, then you should probably get them to sign the release.
Covering music
This should be obvious at this point but if you choose to have someone record a cover of a popular song, you would still need permission from the original artist to make it 100% safe legally.
No matter how you slice it, whether you remix it or you change the words but keep the melody, any piece of the original work is still the property of the artist and the label and can be claimed as copyright infringement if you don’t have permission.
Money is always at the forefront of this issue. If you make even a single dollar on the picture, they’ll want their 80 cents of it. If I’m making them sound like greedy fat cats it’s because they are.
For further information, take a moment to contemplate the picture below:
Ok, fine. Maybe I’m being a little extreme but I’m just illustrating a point.
Chances are nobody’s going to come after you because you are most likely not even a blip on their radar. They don’t even know who you are which makes it easier for you to get away with certain things.
This, on one hand, is bad because you haven’t really made anything worth their attention but it can be a good thing as well. You have more freedom to do exactly what you want to do without having to deal with the marketing and legal department at Universal putting their grubby hands all over it.
Enjoy it while it lasts. You won’t have these luxuries when you’re driving to Stage 4 on the Paramount lot.
YouTube
YouTube has a monetization system where your channel can get a strike for using anything copyrighted. With music, for example, they can mute the audio on your video.
Or just take down your video all together.
This functionality is protective of the artist’s and the record labels copyright and what happens to your video can be all or none of the above, you have no control over this.
You can always not monetize your video but that still doesn’t protect you entirely. The audio can still be muted and ads will be played.
Even if you happen to get lucky and nothing happens, I know you’ll still want your short or feature to be seen by as many people as possible and this creates the problem. More eyeballs means there will be more people picking it apart bringing about more risk legally and narrowing the possibility of being able to claim ‘fair use’.
You see the issue? What I’m trying to hammer in your skull is that the context of ‘fair use’ can be debated. It’s something that needs to be questioned on a situational basis. There is no blanket government law or policy on how to make sure something is fair use. It’s the wild west where you use your own discretion.
If you happen to get sued for it, I’ll be up to the judge at the time to decide.
Of course an artist such as yourself knows what your intentions are. You know you are not trying to hurt or steal from anyone but big corporations don’t care. All they see is dollar signs and how you affect their income.
That’s why most of the big record labels take ownership of the masters of an artist’s music. It’s all about keeping their source of The Almighty Dollar flowing and ‘blowing gold all over the place’ as Daniel Plainview said.
Filming on private property (including local business, homes/apartments and the TTC)
Filming on private property, like everything else, requires a proper location release form (click here for an example). For local business, it’s usually a snap to get the owners to sign a form. I’ve shot in a few local business and most of them are quite cool and either let you do it for free on off hours or for very little money.
When it comes to apartments is trickier because the resident is usually renting so you would need to get the signature from the owner of the apartment (which would be the building manager/superintendent plus the actual owner of the building).
For a house it’s simpler since the owner of the house lives in it. If it’s a friend it can be the same situation as a getting a friends band’s music. Get a contract, sign it, he/she signs it, give them some money to make it more legally binding etc.
Now filming on the subway is a costly one. It costs roughly from $600 to $850 per hour depending on how many cars you want. That isn’t including the cost of hiring the crew needed for the TTC to allow to shoot on their subway in the first place (Chief Subway Supervisor, Safety Inspector, Electricians etc.).
Keep in mind that you also are not getting a closed subway car so people will be walking in and out while you are filming. It is all very costly and time consuming so I’d say you’d be better off setting your story somewhere else.
Just think of how important the subway really is to your story and how changing it to some other setting would affect it. In most cases, it doesn’t really matter so you’d be better off skipping the TTC overall.
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Here I have tried to cover some the possible things you’d need to think about when it comes to legally shooting in Toronto.
To summarize, just be aware that fair use is tricky and use it at your own discretion.
In most cases, you’ll be fine as long as you are not breaking any laws while you are filming (trespassing on private property, breaking into a home, vandalizing public property etc.) and get your basic legal bases covered.
Asking for permission plays a big part in your life as an independent filmmaker. There is no harm in asking, the worst you’ll get is a no. When it comes to what you do after that….well….use your own discretion. If you feel like a situation is a stretch when it comes to claiming it is fair use, you should probably ask for permission and take the no as a sign not to do it.
It’s a very tricky thing. I hope this helps you in figured it all out.
Links that might help you:
Here is an example of what standard release forms could look like:
http://www.cifvf.ca/English/MaterialsRelease.eng(final).doc
http://movies.fsu.edu/content/download/172611/1503600/file/Location%20Release%20Form.pdf
http://www.filmandbroadcast.org/Downloads/music-release.pdf
Still want to film on TTC Property?
https://www.ttc.ca/TTC_Business/Filming_on_ttc_property/index.jsp
Need a house to shoot in? Start here.
