Texas State Commercial Filming Policy

Texas State University attempts to cooperate with commercial film and video producers who wish to use university facilities when such use serves the university’s interest or the interest of Texas commerce. Priority is generally given to those activities that can help support the educational, service or outreach missions of the university. 

Procedures

All requests for commercial non-news photography, film making or videotaping at Texas State should be directed to the director or assistant director of the Office of Media Relations (OMR).

Once a decision has been made to permit film making, the OMR will be responsible for working with the production company and coordinating its efforts with all appropriate university offices.

Guidelines

The university will consider permitting the making of photographs, films and videotapes on campus for commercial non-news purposes on the basis of the following guidelines:

A production will be considered in terms of its size and complexity and to what degree it might disrupt classes and other normal campus activities. When possible, production will take place on weekends or during vacation periods.

The university expects the production to offer educational or otherwise worthwhile experiences to Texas State students. The university encourages the use of students as extras and production assistants for on-campus productions. The university requires that a copy of the production be donated to the university.

Anyone wishing to film on campus for commercial non-news purposes must submit in writing detailed information about the proposed project including locations, days and hours of shooting, number of people involved in each day’s shooting, types of activity to be filmed, list of equipment and vehicles used in connection with the filming, sizes and composition of structures involved, and security and safety requirements.

The information in “3” above and a script must be submitted to the director of OMR or the assistant director at least 30 days before filming. This requirement can be waived at the discretion of the university in the case of small productions.

The university reserves the right to review the script as a condition of project approval and to deny use of its facilities in cases where it considers the content of the film or project to be inconsistent with the university’s mission or image.

After locations are given tentative approval, the production company must take part in an initial meeting with representatives of all involved university departments. The production company must coordinate with university officials all logistical requirements and requests, including parking, equipment, transportation, etc. University representatives who should attend the initial meeting with the production company should include, but not necessarily be limited to, the vice president of University Advancement, the director or assistant director of OMR, the director of the University Police Department or his designee, the director of Parking Services, the director of the Physical Plant or his designee, the university attorney, the director of Risk Management and Safety and the manager or managers of any buildings used in production.

A commercial general liability insurance certificate with limits of $1 million per occurrence, naming the Board of Regents of the Texas State University System, Texas State University and its employees and agents as additional insureds, must be filed with the university attorney at least 10 days before the first set-up day. In addition, if the company wishing to film at Texas State has three or more employees, it must furnish proof of Worker’s Compensation insurance.

The university reserves the right to require production companies to make a damage deposit prior to the arrival of any production vehicles on campus. The damage deposit will be refunded in full when the shooting locations are inspected by university officials and found to be in satisfactory condition. Special arrangements may be made for small productions.

Each production company will be charged a location fee. The standard fee is $5,000 per shooting day. Fees for set-up days are $2,000 per day. The location use fee does not include and is independent of any facility rental, parking or related fees that may be incurred by the production. 

A shoot will be considered confirmed when a contract has been signed. The contract must contain a hold-harmless clause approved by the university attorney. The production company must provide Texas State with an insurance certificate, damage deposit (if required), a check for the full amount of the location fee and a signed contract at least 24 hours before set-up begins. At that point, the conditions in the contract become operative.