New Zealand’s national parks and many areas of protected land cover one third of the country.
A concession from the Department of Conservation (DOC) is required for all film crews and commercial photographers involved in filming/commercial photography on public conservation land managed by the Department of Conservation.
It is good practice to have as much pre-application discussion with the local DoC office as possible.
As far as possible film applicants should undertake direct consultation with stakeholders and iwi prior to lodging an application. This will reduce the time and cost required for the Deparnment to consult in many cases.

How your application will be processed
Filming applications will generally be classified into one of three categories:
• A one-off filming activity has low effects, does not involve permanent structures and does not have a duration of more than three months. This category will cover most small crew short duration film shoots.
• Low impact, non-notified applications are those that have little or no discernible effect including any long-term effect when the activity has ceased and those that do not require notification due to either the term applied for or type of interest in the land.
• High impact, notified applications are those that may have significant effects over the duration of the activity and possibly longer. They will also include those applications that require notification due to either the term applied for or type of interest in the land.

Timeframes
• For 'one-off shoots', crews should apply at least five working days prior to the start of filming to ensure completion of processing in time.
• For 'low impact, non-notified' applications, the target processing time for DOC staff is 12 weeks.
• The 'high impact, notified' process will normally take between six and eight months to complete.

Costs
There are three main areas of costs that will apply to film crews operating on public conservation land: Application Processing Costs, Location Fees, and Monitoring Costs and Bonds.

Application Processing Costs
The costs of processing the application will be recovered from the applicant.
• One-Off applications will be charged at a standard fee of $150 + GST (not including location fees or monitoring cost recovery) unless special circumstances dictate that additional costs should be recovered.
• For Low Impact, Non-Notified processes a standard fee of $1330 + GST will apply, unless special circumstances dictate that additional costs should be recovered. There will be an additional cost of $100 + GST per additional conservancy.
• For High Impact, Notified processes, estimates of costs will be provided to film crews at the early stages of the application process.
• All figures below are exclusive of GST and do not include application and processing fees and costs, or monitoring costs.
• Total daily location fee is calculated by multiplying the per person charge by the number of persons in the film crew (including actors and talent), and then adding the standard daily fee.
• Film crews often shoot only in the evenings and mornings. To take account of this, the total daily charge can be halved for film crews who film for five hours or less on any one day.
• Preparation and Clean-Up days are charged at 20% of full day rate.
• Members of the Screen Production and Development Association of New Zealand (SPADA) will qualify, on proof of membership, for a discount of 10% of the total location rentals. This discount does not apply to recovery of departmental staff time and costs.

Monitoring Costs and Bonds
Monitoring Costs
Monitoring of the activities of the film crew is often a condition of the concession. Any costs incurred by the Department will be recovered from the film crew. For larger crews, a condition of the concession may require the crew to directly engage and fund an independent contractor to monitor the filming activities and the effect of the locations.

Bonds
Bonds may be required by DOC where there is potential for damage to the environment. The bond should be enough to cover the costs of restoring the locations to their previous condition, including monitoring of the restoration.

See Commercial Filming on Public Conservation Lands
www.doc.govt.nz/About-DOC/Concessions/Commercial-Filming-On-Public-Conservation-Lands/index.asp