Location Management
Filming Permits in Hungary
The Process of Street Permits for Film Shoots in Budapest
Last updated on May 21st, 2020
Last updated on May 21st, 2020
Even though Hungary is a small country, its streets and buildings feature an extremely wide range of styles from the 17th century, all the way to the present day thanks to its rich history. This cultural variety spanning several eras has made it possible for Budapest to become a truly interesting and attractive shooting location. In addition, in the past years there have been significant changes in the law regulating filming on public premises. The government has consolidated and drastically reduced public premise permit fees for filming in order to make Hungary more attractive to foreign productions. Budapest has now truly became a film-friendly city.
Even though Hungary is a small country, its streets and buildings feature an extremely wide range of styles from the 17th century, all the way to the present day thanks to its rich history. This cultural variety spanning several eras has made it possible for Budapest to become a truly interesting and attractive shooting location. In addition, in the past years there have been significant changes in the law regulating filming on public premises. The government has consolidated and drastically reduced public premise permit fees for filming in order to make Hungary more attractive to foreign productions. Budapest has now truly became a film-friendly city.
Thanks to this new system, authorities can issue space reservation permits for filming within a target processing time of 5 days under a very simple one-door permitting process, even for the most prominent and most frequented tourist attractions of the city. In urgent cases, for an extra fee this time can be reduced to 3 days.
USE OF PUBLIC AREAS AND OTHER STATE-OWNED PROPERTY FOR SHOOTING FILMS (Act II of 2004 on Motion Picture, Article 12/B)
34. § (1) This Chapter shall apply to the use of any public area owned by a municipal government, and any real estate property under the management of the person entitled to exercise ownership rights under the Act on National Assets (hereinafter referred to as “Act on National Assets”) for shooting, except for major national monuments. For the purposes of this Chapter:
a) an advertisement spot subject to the Act on the Basic Requirements and Certain Restrictions of Commercial Advertising Activities shall also qualify as cinematographic works,
b) the use of public areas shall qualify as use of public areas for film shooting even if it is required for technical activities related to the shooting, and/or crew parking, evacuation and providing for an area closed for the traffic.
(2) An application may be submitted by the film producer or the film production company (hereinafter referred to collectively as “applicant”).
(3) The municipal government may permit the use of public areas for film shooting for a fee charged in accordance with Annex 3. For night shooting exceeding a calendar day by a maximum of six hours, for this fraction day the fees provided for in Annex 3 shall be applied. Any fee set for the use of a pubic area shall be due to the person exercising ownership rights. The highest fees under Annex 3 shall be increased annually by the product of the annual consumer price indices published for the second year preceding the year in question. Any fees under Annex 3 modified in accordance with this Subsection shall be published by the MNF and the municipal government holding a website, on their websites at the beginning of the relevant year.
(4) Any use of public areas for film shooting may be permitted to limit the use of private properties adjacent to the public area only to the extent absolutely necessary, and this limitation shall not impose a disproportionate burden upon the owner.
(5) Individual terms and conditions for the use of public areas owned by the municipal government for film shooting shall be regulated by the council of representatives of the municipal government in a decree. In this context it shall set special conditions for events preventing shooting but not attributable to the applicant, and for extraordinary natural events, in particular how many days after such events the use of the area must be ensured again. The council of representatives of the municipal government may grant an exemption or discount for the fee for the use of public areas below a certain duration or space, or required for the purposes of shooting films in the public interest (such as educational, scientific or awareness raising topics, or films produced in the state tertiary motion picture training). Municipal governments having their own website shall publish the terms and conditions for the use of public areas on the website.
(6) Any exemption or discount granted under Subsection (5) shall qualify as de minimis aid, to be provided exclusively in accordance with the rules set out in Commission Regulation (EU) No. 1407/2013 of 18 December 2013 on the application of Articles 107 and 108 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union to de minimis aid. De minimis aid shall not be cumulated with State aid in respect of the same eligible costs if such accumulation would result in an aid intensity exceeding that fixed in the specific circumstances of each case by a block exemption Regulations or Decision adopted by the European Commission.
35. § (1) The MNF and the applicant shall agree on the use of public areas in an administrative agreement. This administrative agreement shall become valid upon approval by the council of representatives. Any activity related to film shooting, subject to an administrative permit and/or notification under legislation, other than those set out in Subsection (3) and (4) may be exercised on the basis of a notification, subject to specifying the data provided for in that legislation as the content of that application and/or notification, and submitting its annexes. If unlawfulness is established on the basis of the content of a report or administrative audit the MNF may ban the activity, conduct, and/or the maintenance of the situation affected by said unlawfulness.
(2) Any application under this Chapter for the use of public areas for film shooting, as well as administrative notifications related to the film shooting shall be submitted to the MNF at least five working days, in expedited procedures at least two working days before the planned starting date of shooting. The time limits set out in this Subsection shall apply to any amendment of an administrative agreement. Any application related to the use of public areas affecting the competences of a separate institution of a municipal government may be submitted directly to the institution specified in the government decree implementing this Act. An application for the use of any real estate property under the management of the person entitled to exercise ownership rights under the Act on National Assets may be submitted with the MNF; for the purposes of this provision the MNF shall qualify as participating authority. The MNF shall forward the application without delay, at the latest on the working day following its submission to the person entitled to exercise ownership rights for that property or to its asset manager.
(3) If a police permit is required for any theatrical guns used for the film, this application shall be submitted to the MNF at least ten working days, in expedited procedures at least five working days before the planned starting date for shooting the film. The decision must be communicated to the applicant by the planned starting date for shooting the film. No appeal may be lodged in this procedure.
(4) In any nature protection licensing procedure related to a film shooting at a site of local importance the administrative time limit shall be fifteen days. This application shall be submitted fifteen days before the planned starting date of shooting, to be provided by the MNF without delay, at the latest on the working day following the submission, to the authority competent for that procedure, for further dealing. The decision must be communicated to the applicant by the planned starting date for shooting the film. If the authority fails to make a statement by the prescribed time limit, its license shall be deemed granted. No appeal may be lodged in this procedure.
(5) In the course of any procedure under this Chapter the applicant, the MNF, the Police, the municipal government, the person exercising ownership rights, the authorities affected by the shooting, specialist authorities, and any other affected institutions shall maintain communication with each other electronically.
(6) The administrative agreement on the use of public areas approved by the municipal government shall be concluded at a time to allow the start of the film shooting at the time indicated in the application. Detailed rules for the authorizations for the use of public areas and the submission of administrative notifications, and applications shall be laid down in the government decree implementing this Act. If any authority involved in the licensing of the use of public areas, the municipal government, and/or any other body or institution fails to make a statement by the deadline prescribed in the government decree implementing this Act, its consent shall be deemed granted, with the content and subject to the terms and conditions therein specified.
(7) In connection with any application and notification related to film shooting under this Act, the authority of competence, specialist authority shall be entitled to an amount under the title of administrative service fee, one and half times, in expedited procedure fifteen times the amount that would be otherwise due to the authority or to the specialist authority in connection with that procedure. The MNF shall be eligible for 12,000 forints, for expedited procedure 55,000 forints administrative service fee for any procedure related to an administrative agreement. The MNF shall be required to repay the administrative service fee if it fails to comply with any of the time limits prescribed in the government decree implementing this Act, and for expedited procedure it fails to perform the relevant procedural action within one working day at the latest.
(8) The manager of a public road shall allow entry of the applicant’s vehicles subject to a permission to restricted traffic zones proportionately with the use of public spaces in a manner by examining, on the basis of a separately submitted application for an entry permit whether the size of the requested public space is sufficient and/or there are any obstacle to the entry of the requested vehicles (excess weight, excess size). Where the requested public space is available to a sufficient level and other obstacles exist, the entry permit shall be issued for the applicant’s vehicles by the starting date of shooting. If the authority fails to make a statement in due time, its permission shall be deemed granted.
(9) Under this Act, the organizational unit of the MNF designated for this purpose shall be entitled to exercise administrative powers with regard to the matters set out in this Chapter; it shall be competent to act in the territory of the entire country.
In some cases the whole permitting process can be more than 5 days if other authorities have to be involved. In case of full road closure before the filming permit a traffic management plan should be made and approved by the local public transportation authorities and the police department. The waiting time of this process depends on the exact street and area, but it can be from 4 days to 10 days.
The permit fees for the requested areas are calculated by square meters. There are there different types of areas with varying fees for a film shooting permits: parking area, technical area and shooting area. Usually for the parking area, Progressive Productions asks to have the permission 24 hours before the shoot date in order to have the possibility to clear the area from other parked cars.
Thanks to this film friendly regulation with its one-door transparent process, Progressive Productions can easily handle all the paperwork and keep eye on the process to make it as smooth as possible. We do the whole location management of the film or photo shoot from the scout session to the last moments of the shoot. As excellent location management is one of the crucial pillars of a successful production, for the last few years Progressive Productions has been putting huge efforts into this area.
The Road Closures Opportunities Budapest Provides
Hungary and especially Budapest has been a hotspot of the international film industry for decades and this tendency is growing, both relying on and developing flexible systems of road closure. A reliable method for gaining an understanding of areas that can easily be utilized for shoots is to study where previous film productions have taken place, on national and international scales alike, as well as for feature films and commercials. By in-depth research and analysis we have created a database of these frequently used areas, that provide us with straightforward overviews of the easily accessible roads around town. Let us give you a taster of our discoveries!
For example, the Andrássy Boulevard is one of the most representational and heavily used historic roads in the center of Budapest, lined with monumental tenement buildings, palaces and villas. Regardless of it having a key role in the life of the Hungarian capital, it is actually surprisingly simple to close down sections of it due to its structure. Among the boulevard’s six car lanes, four of the central ones are framed on both sides with tree-lined pavements for pedestrians, separating them from the two further lanes on each side. These outer two lanes provide all a filmmaker needs if they wish to shoot a scene using atmospheric architecture, pavements, trees and one car lane. In this case, road closure and permits are a simple procedure, since traffic can continue in the inner main lanes undisturbed, minimising the waiting time and costs of gaining permission. Naturally, the inner lanes can also be closed for shoots, but that costs more time and money.
Also, if an epic car chase scene connecting multiple roads is needed, vast closures can also be issued. For example for the Hungarian movie The Whisky Robber a 2,5 km long section was closed off affecting large sections of four connecting roads in the VII. district so that they were able to film a heated car chase in one take. The architecture in this area, as well as in the V., VI and VIII. district are very typical of the city’s golden age, full of beautifully designed, large, hundred-year-old tenement houses. Traffic here is often only in one direction and since city planning here was done in a grid structure, diverting traffic here does not cause a large disturbance in the lives of the locals.
While some streets are chosen for Budapest’s iconic turn of the century atmosphere, other streets are sought for because of their uncanny resemblance to other European capitals, or more often their images decades or even centuries ago. These are generally areas with narrower cobblestone streets and historic architecture of a smaller scale. Although Budapest has been known to double as such like Munich, Moscow and Berlin, undoubtedly its potential to create a Parisian atmosphere is most dominant. Since this is such a strong element for some when choosing Budapest as the location of their shoot, we have created a Location gallery that specialises in these parts of the city. Many of these locations can be found around the State Opera House, among which quite a few areas are pedestrianised enabling simpler road closures.
Regardless, some extremely creative film makers have even been able to utilize the traits of this city to depict places that seemingly have not much in common with Central Europe. For example, the American TV series drama called the Alienist used a street in the central Budapest for an establishing shot to situate the story in 1896’s New York. Although this is located downtown, it actually does not have heavy traffic, enabling permit issuing to be a simple process.
Other cities around Hungary are also open to and experienced in large scale road closures for international productions. For multiple scenes of the movie In the Land of Blood and Honey, Angelina Jolie took her crew to shoot in streets and bridges of Esztergom, while the historic center of the city Sopron was featured in Netflix’s The Crown. They closed down the main square and the roads opening from it to shoot the funeral scene of members of the Winson family set in Darmstadt, Germany.
