USA Angry neighbor!
- Thread starter Peterosorio94
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Well I've met one who was familiar with every law and so whatever,which he googled before he came upon me.
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I don't understand why people are not doing this. Someone else also mentioned that dressing appropriately is important ummm yeahhhh. You don't want to get hassled and get your name out there then knock on doors. I dress business casual depending where I am. If in the upper class neighborhood then I wear a jacket and tie. MAKE SURE IF YOU WEAR A TIE TO SECURE IT SO ITS NOT HANGING DOWN OVER SPINNING PROPELLERS. At bare minimum you are knocking on neighbors door on both sides and across the street. I sometimes knock on 3 houses across the street depending on the shot I am going for. My process is to knock and say hello my name is xxx and I was hired by xxx to take footage etc. I am licensed by the FAA and fully insured by xxx. I should only be over the property that I am hired to photograph and video but sometimes you have to pull the camera back in order to get the shot that you're looking for but I will try my best to keep off of the airspace over your property. You take the time to answer any questions but keep it brief because obviously you want to get the hell out of there and most importantly give them your **** card because six months or year down the road they will call you trust me "they will call". If you have an apprehensive person that just wants to be a pain in the *** the best course of action is to tell them once you are done with your job you will take a couple of shots of their home and email it to them if they would like. Trust me everybody wants it they forget about privacy blah blah blah
you send them a few a shots unedited unless you want to spend a little time but those few pics could net you a few bux. My buddy did that once and he captured the house at the right time with the sunset and mountains in the background wow. It was beautiful and he touched it up and put a big watermark over that photo and sent them to the neighbor. The guy got a few shots for free but then once he saw that shot he wanted to get rid of the watermark so obviously my buddy charge them for it and next thing you know the guy was hiring him to come around the same time of day and get videos and shots and he turn the negative into positive cash flow. Stop worrying about other people complaining. As long as you're not breaking the law they cannot do squat and if they shoot your drone down you call the police and I guarantee you they will be leaving in handcuffs. Most local ordinances do not allow you to discharge a weapon within city limits. I will tell you I have never had a person give me a hard time because I follow my word to the T but no doubt if somebody were to shoot my bird down it would take a lot for me to not beat the crap out of them but I'm insured so is it really worth the Prison time?
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I find that an overt profesional presence is the key to reducing issues. On our trucks we have door signs, orange flashing roof lights (usually never on) and we always drop cones around the vehicle. We have company polo shirts, yellow vests, radios and hard hats, although large brim hats are more common and useful unless on a construction site where hard hats are required. We place a plastic magnetic rack flier and business card holder on the hood of the truck for when passersbys want information when we are busy flying. We talk to people and educate the public.
Asking for surrounding homeowner permission is not required locally for us, is hugely counter productive and a massive waste of time. Lets say I had to get permission from home owners within a 500 feet radius of an operation. In most neighborhoods this would involve 25 to 50 homes. During the week, nearly all the homes are unoccupied, the person home cannot grant permission or they do not wish to be disturbed. A typical residential still shoot usually takes one battery and on site time is 30 to 60 minutes. Imagine how much more I would have to charge to allow for knocking on 25 to 50 homes? The margins on residential shoots are bad enough already, especially competing with unlicensed and uninsured hacks. We are always only one bad law or local ordinance away from making an operation unprofitable.
Regards
Asking for surrounding homeowner permission is not required locally for us, is hugely counter productive and a massive waste of time. Lets say I had to get permission from home owners within a 500 feet radius of an operation. In most neighborhoods this would involve 25 to 50 homes. During the week, nearly all the homes are unoccupied, the person home cannot grant permission or they do not wish to be disturbed. A typical residential still shoot usually takes one battery and on site time is 30 to 60 minutes. Imagine how much more I would have to charge to allow for knocking on 25 to 50 homes? The margins on residential shoots are bad enough already, especially competing with unlicensed and uninsured hacks. We are always only one bad law or local ordinance away from making an operation unprofitable.
Regards
That is one of the reasons to carry hull insurance. If someone does shoot your drone down, you are going to get it replaced. According to the FAA from what I have seen in the media, UAVs are considered aircraft and shooting one down falls under 18 U.S.C. 32 which makes it a felony to shoot at a drone or threaten flight crew. That is yet another law that has yet to be put to the test though. Best practice is to be proactive and inform those that are likely to be affected beforehand, rather than dealing with the fallout after the fact. Notify the public in person or a simple form letter left in a mailbox. People respond to that a lot better than just showing up and surprising them.
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In the years I have been flying, never once has someone threatened to shoot down my aircraft. I do carry hull damage, but I have never used it. People often try and talk with me while flying. I simply ask them to wait a few minutes until I land the aircraft. Most of the time I am done with the job when I land to talk with them. Curiosity is common, privacy concerns are rare but happen now and then and only a few times in many hundreds of jobs have I ever had someone aggressive and threaten to call the police. Numerous times I have been approached by the police, but never because they were called. I remember once 5 police cars all showed up, only to find that they were in a drone club and they had not seen an Inspire flying. I flew an extra battery and took selfies with them. Countless times I have sold jobs while flying, typically when a realtor drives past.
I disagree on being proactive and attempting to notify or get permission. Trying to get permission or even notify a large number of homes in the area of an inexpensive 60 minute job is not practical. You cannot leave a letter in a USPS mailbox, that is against the law. Unless you are going to drop off notices days before, leaving something that day is not much of a notification . Driving to a job location twice would drive up costs. There are few if any people home during typical week days and you are more likely to get the cleaning maid rather than an owner. I do make sure that the owner of the property I am shooting is informed, nearly always the realtor is present and I instruct them to inform the HOA if required. Typically it is a boring 30+ minutes in a nearly empty weekday neighborhood and nobody cares.
The bottom line is that this is a business and I want to spend as little time as possible to get quality shots and get paid. With margins as tight as they are, I could not be competitive if I had to get the permission of dozens of home owners prior to a shoot. It is hard enough competing with unlicensed and uninsured hacks who can care less about following any rules or best practices.
The real problem is... Why is it always trash day when ever and where ever I have to shoot a home?
I do not disagree with either of you but I feel when first starting out if your not talking to people they won't know you exist
I've gone shopping in Los Angeles and seen yellow notes taped to the storefront' doorframe advising that a commercial film shoot was going on that day between the hours of x and x. They seem to blanket an area of at least a block and done by some film permit agency in LA. The costs to do so must be high though.
I recall reading where the Huntington Beach government was asking for some 500 foot radius "Okay" needed by all neighbors within the radius to fly a drone so police would have some enforcement power. What became of it I don't know. It would cover a lot of homes to get written permission from though.
I recall reading where the Huntington Beach government was asking for some 500 foot radius "Okay" needed by all neighbors within the radius to fly a drone so police would have some enforcement power. What became of it I don't know. It would cover a lot of homes to get written permission from though.
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A commercial film shoot is an expensive operation involving numerous people and permits not similar at all to most inexpensive drone shoots.
Such a local law would make Real Estate shoots all but impossible to do at a reasonable price. A 500 foot radius would incompass 20 to 50 homes in a typical neighborhood. It would take weeks to get written permission and likely you would never be able to get them all, basically killing that local drone business.
My point is that while it is important to look and act profesional, don't go looking for problems. You start knocking on doors and leaving pamphlets all over and I am certain someone will get pissed.
In Toronto film permits can be as cheap as 50 bucks and in surrounding areas FREE. Visit your local office and enquire about a permit. You might be surprised.Also you don't have to hire a cop. That gets expensive.
Actually, commercial shoots can be only one person with a camera and tripod in LA. Still the price will start at $660 with FilmLA as they call it commercial if you stand to make money from publication, even if it is less than the permit fee. They don't care.
It really is ridiculous as a magazine might pay you $500 for an article with photo, but the permit part of it can run into the thousands. Been through that bunch of times and often it will kill a shoot with fees like a road encroachment fee to park your car on a forest road that a county built through a national forest area where the forest service wants $220 for their permit, but to park you car costs $1,600 from the county who built that road in the forest even though others visiting the forest park free or pay a small entry fee. Not to mention an out-of-county one-day business license, monitor (i.e. A N.F. ranger hourly wage.), ACORD 25 insurance papers, etc. for maybe only 2-3 people. Not to mention the entire process can take weeks or months to sort through legally.
I've gotten into arguments with a film commissioner where grandma can set up her oil painting tripod or easel on a sidewalk and paint for hours under an umbrella, but one guy with a tripod and camera for 10 minutes is called commercial by their asinine laws and needs to pay a few hundred for the same privilege where granny doesn't. People just see the word "camera" and the price rockets in some locales.
If a drone job is commercial and they feel they can make money off it - even if you don't, and stand to lose money - they will still go for the high figure. It's why some people shoot guerilla-style (Shoot and run.) in LA and even the majors do it at times. If it kills the real estate drone business, they won't care either (Actually, the privacy-rights and safety curmudgeons might actually like that too!). Pay up or go home seems the motto of the bureaucracy.
/rant
Wow!
I can't believe how restricted you are down there. I thought it was tough in Canada. Looks like you need to get all drone operators together and make a change. Start fighting back.
Sent from my iPhone using InspirePilots
I can't believe how restricted you are down there. I thought it was tough in Canada. Looks like you need to get all drone operators together and make a change. Start fighting back.
Sent from my iPhone using InspirePilots
Hollywood is fighting back. Most of the current CW roster of TV shows are now being shot in Vancouver. LA is getting too expensive to shoot in legally. Governor offered incentives, but it's still too much.
I had a Nikon repaired at Nikon USA on Wilshire Blvd. When I came out, I headed towards downtown in the slow-as-usual traffic. I saw some guy with his camera and bag (Bad idea to have a camera bag and tripod visible in LA.) shooting some model posing by the lights and buildings. Just the two of them having fun shooting and not really bothering anyone on the sidewalk. A cop car ahead of me at the stop light with two cops were pointing at him and I thought they'd go after him for not having a permit or something (One looked like he was scanning the car's laptop maybe for photo permits in the area?). Sure enough, light turns green and their car roof's red and blues light up and they pull over to him by the sidewalk. Wish I had time to watch, but they probably shut him down without having a permit. Welcome to LA.
I like to leave my card with the neighbors, you never know, they might be a customer
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Investing a little time in public relations and talking to people in and around the areas you intend to operate is worth it as far as I'm concerned. Pretty much any good business is built on it's reputation at least that's been my own experience over the years, so if people have concerns I don't mind talking to them. Usually it's just a quick chat to explain who we are and what we're doing. I only come across the bad tempered people once in a flood. More often than not, it's usually a case of people coming out to watch what we're doing and they are fascinated by it. Always helps to have people talking about you and your business in a positive way. As Bob said, you never know they may be a customer one day.
Speaking of business cards, I got my new cards back from the printers the other day. I designed them myself, as I did the logo and my website. I went with raised print on the side with my name and details, plain print on the rear with the logo and a grey background. I'm loving the raised print, it makes the card tactile and looks great too
Got a decent deal on them too, which is always a bonus.
Speaking of business cards, I got my new cards back from the printers the other day. I designed them myself, as I did the logo and my website. I went with raised print on the side with my name and details, plain print on the rear with the logo and a grey background. I'm loving the raised print, it makes the card tactile and looks great too
Got a decent deal on them too, which is always a bonus.
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I think you hit on a point...first appearances leave lasting impressions. Utility workers and other construction types are seldom hassled.
