{"id":819552,"date":"2026-08-20T05:20:09","date_gmt":"2026-08-20T05:20:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/819552\/"},"modified":"2026-08-20T05:20:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-20T05:20:09","slug":"charleston-seeks-to-tighten-film-photography-permit-rules-to-limit-downtown-disruption","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/819552\/","title":{"rendered":"Charleston seeks to tighten film, photography permit rules to limit downtown disruption"},"content":{"rendered":"

CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCIV) \u2014 Charleston officials are moving to tighten and formalize the city\u2019s rules for commercial film and photography permits,<\/a> aiming to reduce disruptions for residents \u2014 particularly those living downtown.<\/p>\n

Charleston currently requires permits for film or photography that affects the public right of way, such as streets and sidewalks, and the rules are mainly applied to commercial shoots. But many of the existing requirements are guidelines handled through policy, and city staff want to codify them into city law.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese policies and guidelines are basically a list that an applicant goes by that lets them know what they need to do when they apply for a permit for approval,\u201d said Dan Riccio, the city\u2019s community services section chief.<\/p>\n

Riccio said the effort is intended to \u201cimprove the quality of life of all our residents, but yet allow for these activities to occur in a safe way\u201d with minimal impacts.<\/p>\n

City staff said they have not had issues with applicants complying under the current approach, but codifying the rules would make them enforceable.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe policy currently stands administratively, it\u2019s not codified,\u201d Riccio said. \u201cThe reason we would like to move forward with codification is because it is an enforceable tool. At this point, it is basically not enforceable. But we haven\u2019t had any issues with any of our applicants during our approval processes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Under the proposed changes, those seeking permits would be required to provide parking plans in advance and follow guidelines designed to limit day-to-day disruptions. Riccio said shoots can directly affect residents because many locations are \u201cright in front of people\u2019s residences,\u201d impacting parking, staging areas, equipment and vendors.<\/p>\n

\u201cVendors need to find off-site locations to store their vehicles and stage them,\u201d Riccio said. \u201cAnd that\u2019s one requirement.\u201d<\/p>\n

Charleston City Councilman Mike Seekings, who represents District 8, is also pushing for a requirement that residents be notified when permits are granted.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo have some predictability and consistency in the residential districts so people know what\u2019s going to be happening day in and day out, week in, week in, month in, month out. It\u2019s really important,\u201d Seekings said.<\/p>\n

READ MORE | Hanahan ethics dispute ends with settlement, fines for councilwoman Colvin-Shea<\/a><\/p>\n

Seekings said the city also needs to balance commercial filming and photography with the impacts of tourism in popular areas.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey want to take videos, they want to show the world where they\u2019ve been,\u201d Seekings said. \u201cAnd a lot of places, some more than others, are very popular, like East Bay Street and Rainbow Row. So on top of that, if we allow for commercial activity filming, photography, it\u2019s really just a lot. And so we just have to balance it.\u201d<\/p>\n

City officials said family photos and wedding photos around town would not be affected by the changes.<\/p>\n

For large-scale projects, Riccio said those shoots require a special events permit and approval from the Special Events Committee.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to kind of clarify that a film and a photography permit will be for the smaller scale type of operations,\u201d Riccio said. \u201cAny larger scale will have to go to the full committee for Special Events for approval, because they take a lot more logistics and police and, and all kind of, of, different, issues that evolve around a larger, scale impact, photo shoot and filming.\u201d<\/p>\n

Seekings also wants permitting to better account for neighborhood routines, including street sweeping and trash pickup.<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t get in the way of all those things,\u201d Seekings said. \u201cLet\u2019s think about that as we permit commercial activity where private enterprise is making money off of the city of Charleston, and we have to manage it, we get the burden of it. Let\u2019s just make sure it\u2019s an appropriate burden at the appropriate time.\u201d<\/p>\n

The proposed ordinance is being developed alongside the city\u2019s reworking of its tourism management plan. Riccio said the city is reviewing tourism-related issues \u201cas they affect the quality of life of our residents,\u201d including the filming and photography policy being incorporated into the special events permitting process.<\/p>\n

City staff said they are working with community stakeholders and elected officials to finalize the ordinance. The proposal must go through committee and then three readings at City Council. Riccio said he hopes the changes will be codified within the next six months once the ordinance is ready.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCIV) \u2014 Charleston officials are moving to tighten and formalize the city\u2019s rules for commercial film…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":819553,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[228,226,227,229,88],"class_list":["post-819552","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-design","tag-entertainment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/819552","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=819552"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/819552\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/819553"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=819552"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=819552"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=819552"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}