Legalities for Filming Events (UK)

[Jinsin456]

Hi guys I'm having a bit of a conundrum lately as I've been asked to film a local event but can't really find what I'm looking for specifically.

First off I'm in the UK and the event is a local gala / fete so there will be a fair crowd there. I'm not a commercial pilot, purely a hobby flyer. I got asked to do it as one of the organisers has saw my videos of the local area on YouTube.

If I can do this I would like to do it by the book. I know there are rules for flying over crowds and I don't even know if it would be worth it considering how far away I would need to be, would I get good footage from the min distance?

I also currently don't have liability insurance, I usually fly in the countryside so there's never really a risk of damage to anyone or their property. Can you get one time event insurance in the UK? I'm reluctant to spend a lot of money as I obviously can't charge as I'm not a commercial pilot. I don't mind paying a bit towards the community but don't want to be too much out of pocket.

There's probably a lot I haven't though about but any advice, even whether it's worth looking into it any further would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Scott

 

[willhay555]

As you're not being paid and obviously you're not restricted in the area you plan to fly in the only issue is risk.

I would say that as you're not allowed to fly over crowds of people you're going to be solely in trouble if anything happens.

 

[BorisTheSpider]

Hi Scott

If it's smaller than 1000 people, then no specific rules apply to such an open air gathering, other than the usual 50M away from people not under your control.

Not being able to charge doesn't mean you can't cost-share, as PPLs for example can do when flying privately in a group, so if the organizers can pay the cost of insuring you, and you cover the cost for example of your fuel to get to the event, the wear and tear on your drone etc. then it seems to me it would be reasonable to argue you weren't receiving payment for doing it. Possibly there's some way the organizers, who I presume have public liability insurance for the event itself, can check with their insurer and confirm to you in writing that they indemnify you in case of any claims.

Be careful if the organizers intend to use the footage for promotional purposes because you may then be performing commercial work even if no money is changing hands. It's a bit of a grey area. Without more specifics it's difficult to say whether that's something you should be concerned about or not.

 

[D95GAS]

You might want to consider the following purely for peace of mind. I recently joined "FPV UK", cost me just under £8 for the remainder of the financial year, and all members get £5 million public liability insurance.

 

[Jinsin456]

I've messaged the organiser and told him I wouldn't be able to take any payment, I don't want anything to be honest as it's for a small community and the venue is a 3 minute walk from my house so no fuel etc would be required.

I'll find out if their insurance covers me but if it's that cheap then it's probably worth getting anyway for personal use, just in case.

Not sure about crowd numbers, I'll need to find that out.

As for promotional, I doubt it will fall into that category. It's a local community group that are organising the event and they just want some coverage for their Facebook page, there would be no advertising and it's a free annual event so there's no money to be made documenting the event I don't imagine.

The only question that's really left is music. I currently have a creators subscription to epidemic sounds, if I posted the video to my YouTube channel and let them share the video then I think I would be good... Maybe.

 

[willhay555]

Hi Scott

If it's smaller than 1000 people, then no specific rules apply to such an open air gathering, other than the usual 50M away from people not under your control.

Not being able to charge doesn't mean you can't cost-share, as PPLs for example can do when flying privately in a group, so if the organizers can pay the cost of insuring you, and you cover the cost for example of your fuel to get to the event, the wear and tear on your drone etc. then it seems to me it would be reasonable to argue you weren't receiving payment for doing it. Possibly there's some way the organizers, who I presume have public liability insurance for the event itself, can check with their insurer and confirm to you in writing that they indemnify you in case of any claims.

Be careful if the organizers intend to use the footage for promotional purposes because you may then be performing commercial work even if no money is changing hands. It's a bit of a grey area. Without more specifics it's difficult to say whether that's something you should be concerned about or not.

All good advice but really?

Do you honestly think the organisers are expecting footage of such an event taken at a distance of over one hundred and fifty feet away and above?

This is the problem, balancing the guidelines with expectation.

 

[Jinsin456]

All good advice but really?

Do you honestly think the organisers are expecting footage of such an event taken at a distance of over one hundred and fifty feet away and above?

This is the problem, balancing the guidelines with expectation.

I think I could make it work. I'm thinking most of the footage would be taken from the ground with a few drone shots to show scale and an aerial view. Tbh I don't think the Drone would feature heavily in the video because not much would be changing