Brookhaven, GA Filming & Production: Student Filming (2026)

Section 15-564(a) states that the provisions of Article XIV, the film production permit article, do not apply to four kinds of filming, and item (4) is student filming by a student or students duly enrolled in an educational institution. The code prints no separate definition of student filming and sets no crew size, running time, or location limit for the exemption, so the operative test is the wording of the exemption itself: the filmmaker is a student, and that student is duly enrolled in an educational institution.

The other three exemptions sit beside it. Current news productions by reporters, photographers, or cameramen employed by a newspaper, news service, broadcasting station, or similar entity are exempt. So are productions conducted by the DeKalb County School System or other educational or governmental organizations, including DeKalb County Television. Filming associated with any rally, protest, or demonstration is exempt unless the rally or demonstration is staged for the sole purpose of being included in filming.

To see what the exemption removes, compare the rules that apply to everyone else. Section 15-563 requires a permit for any filming on public property, which section 15-561 defines to include parks, streets, sidewalks, other rights-of-way, and buildings owned or leased by the city. Section 15-567 sets a filing deadline of seven days before filming in a residential area and 48 hours for other locations, section 15-568 adds a nonrefundable application fee, and section 15-571 lets the department require $1,000,000.00 per occurrence liability coverage. A student production sits outside those requirements because section 15-564 names it.

The exemption text is limited to the provisions of this article and says nothing about other chapters of the Code. Section 15-565(e) tells permitted productions to comply with all other applicable city ordinances, and the noise rules the article points to sit in article VII of the Code.