Gary, IN Filming & Production: Location Permits (2026)

Section 36-14 channels every film permit application through the Gary Office of Film & Television rather than a separate city department, and requires filmmakers to submit all legal documentation as part of that processing before any location work can begin. The application fee and paperwork are due by close of business, 5:00 p.m. Central time, on the Friday before the Board of Public Works and Safety takes up the request at its Wednesday meeting, giving the board a review window built into the calendar rather than an open-ended one.

Approval is entirely the board's call: the ordinance ties permit issuance to Board of Public Works and Safety sign-off, the same body that licenses scavengers under § 34-65 and approves street cuts under § 36-129, so the film office's own review is a gate before the matter ever reaches the board's public meeting. Once the board approves a shoot, the balance of the permit fees becomes due, and payment goes to the City of Gary by check. If the board denies the application, the applicant does not get the up-front application fee back; § 36-14 states plainly that it is nonrefundable regardless of outcome.

Because filming on public streets, sidewalks or rights-of-way necessarily touches the same public ways governed elsewhere in Chapter 36, from the obstruction ban in § 36-2 to the parade-permit process in § 36-1, a production that also closes a street or stages equipment on a sidewalk may need to satisfy those sections in addition to the § 36-14 film permit itself.