So heres the request I sent through to City of Melbourne Council. We initially had planned to do filming within the Carlton North area, however unlike City of Melbourne council, City of Yarra doesn’t have a low-risk filming, one page sheet to submit. What it does have however, is a 7ish page, extensively intense release form which requires highly meticulous detail… even for just a few people to have clearance to film in a few streets. Basically they have no low-risk filming work around. Melbourne city does. Oh and they require 9-10 days notice before you film. We had to film tomorrow when I was sending in request forms.

It turns out, as you can see in the email screen shot, that I thought Carlton North was apart of Melbourne City, and submitted our request form and public liability insurance wiht this in mind. When I got a reply from the lady from filming@melbourne.vic.gov.au, who kindly told me that the long, very carefully considered email (which of course has typos) that I’d sweated over was useless, I decided for us to film somewhere in the city. At this point, I thought that we’d be filming the very next day on the Carlton North Streets. So, I improvised and asked the kind lady at filming@melbourne.vic.gov.au, if we could bypass the usual 48 hours notice you must give before filming. I was also required to find some more streets, re-fillout and resubmit the low impact filming form with Carlton Streets within half an hour. That was that little bit stressful.

But sure enough, I got the mnms and Ozzy went on stage and did a great show. I also got the permission to film in Carlton, not Carlton North. I’ll upload the confirmation email in the next post.

I have to say, that this really taught me a few things. Firstly I think it really helps when you know how the system works. Next time I really should consider submitting a request form more than 48 hours before, even though I did it 24 hours before. I didn’t really do the research that I should of. In saying that, we had to organise on quite short notice with the actors, so that was probably the main reason. I’m quite happy that City Council was considerate that we were not filming excessively, and it was just on footpaths. So, you go City Council. Also it may pay to learn the geography of the city, so I don’t have to scramble at the last minute. Although now I know it can be done. Anyway, it was also a good exercise to writing emails formally, and that’s a pretty darn good skill if you want to look professional.