Modesto, CA Filming & Production: Location Permits (2026)

Modesto's only codified filming or location-permit requirement lives inside the airport chapter, Title 7, Chapter 3. 106(b) states that all persons wishing to film, tape, photograph or otherwise record activity that they wish to stage on the airport premises must seek and obtain a permit from the Airport Manager, with applications due at least twenty-four hours before the proposed activity. Subsection (b)(1) lets the Airport Manager attach reasonable time, place and manner conditions, expressly including insurance requirements, aimed at protecting public health, safety and welfare or avoiding interference with scheduled flights and other airport operations.

Subsection (b)(2) is content-neutral by design: no permit may be denied because of the content of the planned film, tape, recording or photograph, but the Airport Manager may refuse a permit if the staged activity, or the manner of filming it, poses a physical safety threat that time, place or manner conditions cannot fix, or if the activity would substantially interfere with normal airport operations in a way that cannot reasonably be limited. Subsection (c) carves out an exemption for newscasters, journalists, radio announcers and others who film, tape, photograph, record or broadcast events that happen at the airport but were not prearranged, created or staged by them, meaning routine news coverage of an unplanned airport incident does not need a permit.

Subsection (d) additionally gives both the City Council and the Airport Manager authority to cap the number of people using the airport facility, which can affect the size of a permitted film crew. The provision applies specifically to the Modesto City-County Airport/Harry Sham Field under Public Works Department oversight; no parallel citywide filming-permit ordinance for streets, parks or other City property appears in this Municipal Code.