Taylor, MI Filming & Production: Location Permits (2026)

In the City of Taylor, Michigan, City Code Section 4-182(a) requires anyone who wants to use a public right-of-way, or any public or private property or facility, to produce, broadcast, or photograph a commercial motion picture, television, radio, or photographic production to first apply for and obtain a permit issued under Division 2 of Chapter 4, Article V, Production Filming, for each separate filming instance. The rule reaches any shoot meeting the Section 4-164 definition: a photographer or crew that sets up stationary equipment in one location, public or private, for longer than five consecutive minutes for a commercial purpose.

Section 4-182(b) carves out exemptions from the permit requirement. Current news crews employed by a newspaper, news service, or broadcast station covering news events are exempt, as are productions run by the city's own public, education, and government access channel or produced by or at the direction of the city itself. The article does not reach shoots inside a legally established motion picture, television, radio, or photography studio, live-venue broadcasts to large-screen monitors, internet-only video or multimedia broadcasts, or private, noncommercial events such as parties and weddings.

Everyone else, including independent filmmakers, commercial production companies, and photographers working a single location for more than five minutes, must file the application described in Section 4-183, which requires location details, ownership proof, dates and hours, expected attendance, and payment of fees set by city council resolution before the city's administrative departments will authorize the shoot.