El Monte, CA Filming & Production: Student Filming (2026)

El Monte's location filming law carves out four categories that don't need a Chief of Police permit under Section 5.64.040: filming solely for private or family use (subsection A); filming used in a criminal investigation or civil proceeding (subsection B); filming or production for news purposes by reporters, photographers or camera operators employed by a newspaper, news service or similar outlet covering events of general public interest (subsection C, defined in Section 5.64.020); and filming or videotaping "for noncommercial purposes" (subsection D). It is this last category, the noncommercial-purposes exemption, that covers most student film and class-project shoots: a production made for coursework, a portfolio reel, or festival submission without paid commercial distribution generally is not engaging in the "business or activity" of filming for public exhibition or television within the meaning of Section 5.64.030, so it falls outside the permit, the five-business-day filing deadline, the $100 fee, the $1,000 bond, and the $1,000,000 insurance requirement that apply to commercial productions.

The code does not use the phrase "student filming" and gives the Chief of Police no separate certification process for claiming the exemption, so the determination turns on whether the shoot is genuinely noncommercial. A production that pays cast or crew, sells footage, or is made for a paying client is a commercial motion picture or television production and needs the Section 5.64.030 permit regardless of who is behind the camera, including students working on paid commercial gigs.