Photography and videotaping on the Elon University campus

All commercial, non-news photography or videotaping must be approved in advance by the Office of University Communications. This does not apply to projects related to academic courses or departments, programs or organizations of the university, or to personal-use photography and videography, such as snapshots of people or the campus.

Here are the guidelines and policies for commercial photography, filming and videotaping at Elon:

Commercial use of Elon facilities

Elon University protects its name and landmarks from inappropriate commercial use but strives to cooperate with film and video producers desiring to use Elon facilities when it can be demonstrated their activities serve the university’s interest. Priority generally is given to those activities that can help support the educational missions of the university. The Office of University Communications will use appropriate means to facilitate such endeavors.

Procedures

All requests for commercial non-news filmmaking, videotaping or photography at Elon University should be directed to the Vice President for University Communications. Once approval has been granted, the Office of University Communications 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. Whenever possible, production should be scheduled for weekends and during breaks in the academic calendar.

  1. The university expects the production to offer educational and/or extracurricular experiences to Elon students. The university strongly encourages the use of students as extras and production assistants for on-campus productions. The university also encourages representatives of production companies to make themselves available for classroom discussion of their work. Elon also requires that upon completion, a copy of the production be donated to the university’s library.
  2. 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; type of activity to be filmed; list of equipment and vehicles used in connection with the filming; sizes and composition of structures involved; security and safety requirements.
  3. This information along with a detailed concept and script for the production must be submitted to the Vice President for University Communications for review at least 30 days before the start of production. This requirement can be waived at the discretion of the university in the case of small productions.
  4. A walk-through of all proposed shooting locations must be conducted with an appropriate Elon representative at least 10 days in advance of the desired dates. After locations are given tentative approval, the production company must take part in an initial meeting with representatives of all the involved university departments.
  5. A commercial general liability insurance certificate with limits of $1 million per occurrence, naming Elon University and its employees and agents as additional insureds, must be filed with the Executive Vice President for Business, Finance and Technology at least 10 days prior to the first set-up day. In addition, if the production company has three or more employees, it must furnish proof of Worker’s Compensation insurance.
  6. 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 can be made for small productions.
  7. Each production company will be charged a location fee which will be determined on a case-by-case basis. Any representation of official Elon logos or seals must be approved in advance of production. Charges for usage of proprietary Elon photographic images must be negotiated with the Office of University Communications. In addition, the production company will pay all incurred expenses such as those for electricians, food services, security, janitorial services, etc. Fees for set-up days will be decided on a case-by-case basis. Cancellation of a production within seven days of the start of filming will result in a charge.
  8. Elon University will prepare a location agreement, to be signed by the appropriate official of the production company and the university’s Executive Vice President for Business, Finance and Technology or his/her designee. A shoot will be considered confirmed when this contract has been signed by both parties. The contract must contain a hold-harmless clause approved by Elon University Counsel. The production company must provide Elon with an insurance certificate, damage deposit, check for full amount of location fee and signed contract at least 24 hours before set-up begins. At that point, the conditions in the contract become operative.