Richmond, VA Filming & Production: Location Permits (2026)

Richmond's location-permit fee for film productions is set out in Richmond City Code § 8-279(c)(11): a "staff cost for on-site film productions daily fee per location" of $100.00. Because the fee runs "per location," a production that shoots at multiple sites in a single day, or over multiple days at one site, owes the $100.00 charge for each site-day rather than a single flat production fee.

The location fee is part of the same "Additional fees" schedule in § 8-279(c) that also prices drone filming ($125.00, FAA license required, under item (10)) and per-street closures for special events ($50.00, under item (9)), so a multi-location shoot that also closes streets and flies a drone will layer several of these fees together. All of them sit on top of the base permitting requirement in Richmond City Code § 8-281, which charges a nonrefundable $25.00 fee to process any permit for using department-owned or managed property and equipment, rising to $50.00 if filed within seven days of the planned use. Productions using City-owned equipment, such as a mobile stage, separately owe the equipment fees listed in § 8-278.

The Code assigns this fee structure to the Department of Parks, Recreation and Community Facilities rather than to a dedicated film office, and it does not describe a separate location-scouting or advance-approval process beyond the standard grounds-use permit application.