France Film Commission: What Each Office Does and How to Get a Permit
A working guide to the national and regional film commissions in France, and how a local fixer moves your project through them.
Producers scouting France for the first time run into the same tangle fast: a national office, a regional commission, a city film bureau, and in some cases a préfecture, each with a different job. They do different jobs, and treating one as if it were another costs preparation time you do not have. This guide sets out what the national film commission handles, what the regional commissions do, how a filming permit is actually obtained in France, and where a local fixer fits between your production and each of these bodies.
As Fixers in France, we bring local expertise to international productions filming in France. Our team's deep knowledge of local regulations, crew networks, and production infrastructure ensures your project runs smoothly from pre-production through delivery.
ACT 01
France Film Commission: The National Office
Film France, a service of the CNC
Film France, created in 1995, became a service of the CNC on November 1, 2021, and today operates as the CNC's attractiveness service. It describes itself as the first source of information for foreign productions preparing to shoot in France, and its mission is to promote shooting and post-production in France. Film France helps you understand the steps needed to obtain a filming permit, and notes that permits for outdoor public places are very often issued by the municipality concerned.
- Reviewing and processing TRIP (Tax Rebate for International Productions) applications, known in France as the crédit d'impôt international or C2I
- Maintaining a national locations database of more than 21,000 filming locations
- Maintaining a database of French production services companies for foreign productions, and using it to direct foreign clients to those companies
- Coordinating the national network of film commissions, which the Film France-CNC network charter puts at 36 members as of January 1, 2026, across mainland France and its overseas territories
Free Services, No Funding
Commissions in the national network provide their services free of charge. They do not award financial aid themselves, though they can point you toward public support programs for film, television and video games, including those listed in the Panorama des aides coordinated by Ciclic. The location help this network offers is essentially pre-scouting, which is not meant to replace the work of a professional location scout.
ACT 02
The Regional Film Commissions
Five regional commissions in detail
Below the national level, regional commissions and local filming offices cover their own territories. These are five of them.
Film Paris Region
Film Paris Region is the film commission of Choose Paris Region, the Île-de-France region's attractiveness agency. Created in 2004 as the Commission du Film d'Île-de-France, it joined Choose Paris Region in 2019 under the Film Paris Region brand. It supports French and foreign productions and runs a regional locations database. It does not scout locations for you, does not offer help putting financing together, and cannot guarantee that a location will be made available free of charge; the locations it lists carry a cost.
Commission Régionale du Film Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur (Région Sud)
The Région Sud film commission's network of filming offices covers the whole region and helps with location searches, hiring, filming permits, and practical and logistical questions. The region describes these services as free.
ALCA Nouvelle-Aquitaine
ALCA, the regional film commission for Nouvelle-Aquitaine, offers a free support service in partnership with the region's network of local filming offices, which it coordinates. It helps with pre-scouting and scouting, and with logistical and administrative support that includes filming permits, production offices and casting rooms.
Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Cinéma
Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Cinéma's filming office, with bases in Lyon and Clermont-Ferrand, helps productions prepare shoots in the region, from filming through post-production, including the search for locations, technical crews and suppliers. Its services are free for film and audiovisual professionals working on short and feature films, series, TV fiction, commercials and music videos, and it keeps a database of more than 600 crew members in the region.
Occitanie Film Commission
Occitanie Film Commission provides information about the region and a range of free services, including a location database and preliminary scouting, filming permit assistance, relations with local authorities and private owners, and logistical support. It also publishes a list of companies it has reviewed and approved.
ACT 03
How to Get a Film Permit in France
There is no single nationwide permit
There is no filming permit that covers all of France. Every location you shoot in needs its own authorization, and the procedure depends on the type of location and where it is. Whatever the procedure, be ready to provide a synopsis of the scenes to be shot at the location, an insurance policy, your crew list, the project budget, and the number of shooting and prep days needed there. A permit may be a simple written agreement at no cost, or it may carry a fee set according to the nature of the project and the length of the shoot.
Outside Paris: Start at the Town Hall
For shoots on public roads outside Paris, the general rule is to apply directly to the mairie (town hall) of the municipality where you want to film. If the mairie cannot grant the permit itself, it will direct you to the relevant préfecture department. Film France's practical guide also gives one month ahead for requests to the département's préfet outside Paris; confirm the current timing with the mairie or préfecture concerned.
The Film Permit Application in Paris
Paris runs its own system, and it is the clearest worked example available. Paris Film, the City of Paris's film office and a service of the Mission Cinéma, is the single point of entry for filming-permit applications for fiction, commercials, advertising shoots, art photography, documentaries and music videos at public sites the City manages, and it issues the authorizations. Two procedures apply. A prior declaration is preferred for light shoots by small crews: a crew of 10 people or fewer with light equipment such as lights, a Steadicam or a reflector, with further restrictions listed on the Paris Film page. It is filed one week (5 working days) before the shoot and carries no fee. A filming permit through the AGATE platform is required for larger productions, parking or traffic requests, and shoots with special set-ups. It must be filed at least three weeks (15 working days) before the shoot and may carry a fee, and the file needs a synopsis, an insurance certificate, the script, technical sheets and parking layout plans, together with the signed charter against sexist and sexual violence and harassment. For exceptional shoots, such as historical films, action films or other high-impact productions, Paris Film asks you to contact it at least three months before filming starts. Once you file in AGATE you receive an immediate acknowledgment, and within 24 to 72 hours a Paris Film case officer is assigned as your point of contact; that is an assignment, not a decision on the permit.
Paris: Fees, Resident Notice and Exceptions
Processing an application is free, but some actions, such as occupying public space or parking vehicles, carry a fee. Prior declarations carry none, and student, humanitarian and Paris-heritage documentary projects can be exempted from public-space fees. Production teams must circulate precise notice of the shoot in the area concerned at least three days beforehand. Paris Film does not handle requests for landmark locations such as the Eiffel Tower, the Arc de Triomphe or the Louvre, and it does not give advice on finding locations. Drone filming in Paris is prohibited without a waiver from the Préfecture de Police, which needs a complete file at least 10 days (jours ouvrables) before the flight and a favorable review; once a waiver is granted, the drone shoot must also be requested from Paris Film through AGATE. Film France's guide also notes that using police officers on a shoot in Paris requires the prior approval of the Préfet de Police.
ACT 04
Working with a Fixer
Where a fixer sits between you and the system
A film commission explains the steps and can help with permits; a fixer or local production services company takes the work of carrying them out off your hands. Commissions say they can offer better support the earlier they are approached and the more precise the information they have about your production company, schedule, artistic and technical needs and script, so a fixer's first job is often making that initial contact on your behalf with the detail commissions need.
- Assembling the permit dossier and filing it with the right mairie or préfecture, or in Paris with Paris Film through AGATE, where the file also needs the script, technical sheets, parking layout plans and the signed anti-harassment charter
- Liaising with regional and local commissions for pre-scouted locations, then running the professional scouting that commission support is not meant to replace
- Coordinating road and parking approvals with the mairie, préfecture or Paris Film, and, in Paris, any police approval with the Préfet de Police
- Flagging TRIP early: the rebate is granted selectively, after expert committee review, to the French production services company that handles execution in France rather than to the foreign production, and eligible expenses only count from the date the CNC receives the application file
The Official Channel Is the Production Services Company
None of the official commission pages we reviewed uses the word fixer; the recognized category is the société de production exécutive, or production services company. Film France keeps a database of these companies and uses it to direct foreign clients to them, and Occitanie Film Commission publishes a list of companies it has reviewed. When you are choosing a local partner in France, those lists are a useful place to start.
ACT 05
Common Questions
Do I need to contact the film commission directly or through a fixer?
You can contact a film commission directly: commissions in the national network provide their services free of charge. They say they can help best when approached early, with precise information about your production company, schedule and script. A fixer or production services company can make that first contact for you, package the detail the commission needs, and carry that guidance through to the permit filing itself.
How long does permit approval typically take?
We found no official French film commission or permitting authority page that gives a decision time for a filming permit. What is published are filing lead times: in Paris, a light-shoot declaration is filed one week (5 working days) before the shoot and a full AGATE permit at least three weeks (15 working days) before; for exceptional shoots, Paris Film asks to be contacted at least three months ahead. Outside Paris, Film France's guide gives one month ahead for requests to the département's préfet. Film France's aerial-filming guide suggests allowing 3 weeks to 2 months for aircraft and helicopter overflight authorizations, but that applies to overflights only, not to ground filming permits. Ask the relevant authority for its own timeline once you know the location.
What spend qualifies for commission support or rebates?
Commissions in the national network provide their services free of charge. The Tax Rebate for International Productions (TRIP) is different: it applies to projects initiated by a non-French company, and it is selective, granted by the CNC after an expert committee scores the project on its links to French or European culture, heritage and territory. It also has thresholds: at least €250,000 of eligible French expenditure, or 50% of the project's budget where that budget is under €500,000, and fiction needs at least five shooting days in France unless it is VFX-heavy fiction whose planned French spend is mostly digital processing. The rebate is 30% of qualifying spend, rising to 40% for live-action fiction with heavy visual effects, meaning at least €2 million of French visual-effects spend and at least 15% of shots digitally processed. It is capped at €30 million per project and paid to the French production services company handling execution.
What is the difference between the national and regional film commissions?
Film France, the national commission, sits inside the CNC, coordinates the national network, handles TRIP applications and keeps a national locations database; it describes itself as the first source of information for foreign productions. The regional commissions, including Film Paris Region, the Région Sud commission, ALCA in Nouvelle-Aquitaine, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Cinéma and Occitanie Film Commission, work within their own territories. Most help with location research and several help with filming permits, but what each offers varies: Film Paris Region, for example, does not scout locations. In Paris itself, Paris Film, the City's film office and part of the Mission Cinéma, is the body that issues filming authorizations.
Ready to Roll
Plan Your France Shoot with a Local Team
We handle the sequence above for your production: the first contact with the relevant film commission, the permit dossier and its filing with the right mairie, préfecture or Paris Film, and the coordination that keeps your shoot moving while you stay focused on the work in front of the camera. Contact Fixers in France to discuss your next project.