What a Texas film permit actually costs you in time.
Updated: 1 day ago
Every Texas city's film office has a page that tells you how to apply for a permit. None of them are arranged so a producer can see, in one place, how many days each one wants and which ones want weeks. Here they are, from each jurisdiction's own page, checked September 4, 2026, with the fees where they're published. The slow clocks aren't the ones you'd guess.
One thing first, from the Texas Film Commission's own permitting page: there is no blanket permit to produce content in Texas, and the Commission does not issue permits. It will point you to who does. Private property needs a location agreement, not a permit. Everything below is public property.
Austin: three business days, and the Film Commission doesn't issue it.
The Austin Film Commission's permits page says it plainly: the Commission does not issue permits. Right-of-way permits for streets, sidewalks and alleys go through the Transportation and Public Works Office of Special Events on the AB+C portal, submitted at least three business days before filming, with payment two business days before. The Austin Police Department's film safety application runs on its own clock, five business days, and any weapons or pyrotechnics need APD and Austin Fire sign-off. A full street closure is a different animal: ten days' notice, an engineered traffic control plan, on-set police and notification signage. Parks want seven days, or fourteen for a large-impact shoot, per Parks and Recreation. The library wants twenty-one. CapMetro can take up to twenty-one.
On fees, the city's pages disagree with each other. One right-of-way page says there is no cost for a film permit; the Office of Special Events division page lists a film permit application fee, and the department's own 2024 permitting guide puts it at $286 for commercial filming plus a 4% technology surcharge, with metered parking at $32 a space per day. Budget the fee and call the Office of Special Events at 512-974-6501 if you want to argue about it. The Film Ombudsman sits in the Austin Center for Events, at film@austintexas.gov.
My own read: Austin is fast and it is easy, and the three-business-day clock is real. The five-day APD clock is the one people miss, because it starts earlier than the permit does.
Dallas: three to five business days, and the city's page doesn't say so.
The City of Dallas Office of Special Events issues commercial filming permits under Chapter 42A of the city code, for anything on public property including B-roll of city buildings and any filming of police or fire personnel. The city's own commercial filming page, on the day I checked, rendered its timeline section as empty template placeholders. The Dallas Film Commission's summary of the process says permits need at least three business days, five if the production is complex, with complex meaning street closures or intermittent traffic control, and lists fees of $50 for a standard production and $250 for a complex one, plus a $40-a-day late fee. Insurance goes to the Office of Special Events at least three days before. Confirm the clock with the Office of Special Events at 214-939-2701, because the number is the Commission's paraphrase and not the city's page.
Fort Worth: three weeks, on paper.
This is the one that surprises everyone. The City of Fort Worth's own document, "Filming in the City's Right-of-Way," revised March 19, 2025, says a minimum of three weeks is required to accommodate notices and processing, that notice to the public must go out at least three weeks in advance, and that a full closure exceeding three days needs City Council approval on a 45-day lead. Street use permit fee: $250. Certificate of insurance at $1 million naming the city. Written notice, in English and Spanish where appropriate, to every property within a block. An older city document adds a $700 security deposit that the current one doesn't mention; ask whether it still applies.
That is the paper clock for the right of way. Fort Worth carries the state's biggest television productions right now, as the ledger shows every month, and the volume shows in the process. DFW is slower than Austin by the numbers on its own pages, and that's not a knock; it's a schedule input.
Houston: a registration, not a permit, and no published clock.
Houston works differently. The Houston Film Commission's motion picture registration is, in its own words, for informational purposes only and "NOT a permit to film on City, County, State, Federal or Private property." It has to be signed by the Commission's executive director or deputy director, and it comes with a $1 million liability certificate to the city. Traffic control, lane blocks and pedestrian control mean hiring City of Houston police officers. Most city parks need their own permit. No lead time is published anywhere I could find. Whether a film street closure goes through the Mayor's Office of Special Events street-function process, which wants a minimum of 40 days for a minor street function and 120 for a major one, isn't stated on either office's page. Ask the Film Commission at 713-853-8386 before you plan a closure.
San Antonio: ten business days, free.
San Antonio runs on FilmApp, and the city's own permits page redirects there. The request must be submitted at least ten business days before the principal day of filming or photography, the permits are free of charge, a certificate of insurance is required, and sidewalk, lane and parking closures go through Public Works separately. An old city page still says two weeks for features and three days for smaller shoots; it predates FilmApp. Use ten business days.
Arlington: ten business days, and a decision inside fifteen.
Arlington launched its film commission in June with AFCI membership and FilmApp. The application guidelines say the request must be submitted at least ten business days before the principal day of filming, and that within fifteen days of a complete application the city will render a decision, which is the only jurisdiction on this list that promises an answer date. The application is free; some of the permits it triggers carry fees. Closing a street, sidewalk or right of way needs a separate Temporary Traffic Control Permit from Public Works. Insurance: $1 million general liability.
Texas state parks: ninety days.
Here is the clock nobody budgets. Texas Parks and Wildlife treats commercial filming, documentaries, drone work and still photography as media productions requiring an application, and its park-requests page says to submit completed applications up to one year and not less than 90 days before your event. The fee may be flat or a percentage of gross, set by the park, and a certificate of insurance naming the department has to be on file before the shoot. The contact is the park superintendent. If your script has Palo Duro or Caddo Lake in it, the location that costs nothing to look at costs ninety days to permit, and the Film Commission's own overview, which says parks need "several weeks," understates it.
State highways: thirty days, by rule.
Filming on an interstate, a state highway or a farm-to-market road goes through the Texas Department of Transportation, and the rule is written down: 43 Texas Administrative Code §22.13 says a request must be submitted at least 30 days before the proposed production unless the district engineer approves an exception, after first notifying the Texas Film Commission. Insurance naming the department, a traffic control plan to the state manual, and a three-year ban on future use of the right of way for non-compliance. The Film Commission's roads page says law enforcement typically wants two weeks; the binding number is the rule's thirty days. And the Commission's own warning is worth repeating: any given stretch of road can sit under up to three jurisdictions, and you need all of them.
The clock, sorted.
Austin: 3 business days for the permit, 5 for APD, 10 days for a full closure, 7 to 14 for parks.
Dallas: 3 to 5 business days, per the Film Commission; confirm with the city.
Fort Worth: 3 weeks for the right of way, 45 days for a multi-day full closure.
Houston: No published clock. Registration plus police for any traffic control.
San Antonio: 10 business days. Free.
Arlington: 10 business days, decision within 15.
Texas state parks: 90 days minimum.
TxDOT right of way: 30 days, by rule.
What the clock is for.
Permitting in Texas is fast. In the cities, it can be very fast, and it's faster still if you know the right person to call, which is most of what a local production office is. But the paper clock is what you budget, because the paper clock is what's true when the person you know is on vacation. Build the schedule to the published number, then let the phone buy you back the difference. The state's clocks, the parks and the highways, are the ones no phone call shortens, and they're the ones a show from out of state discovers in week two of prep, which is about sixty days too late for a state park.
The Austin Film Commission is the best first call in the state for anything in Austin, and every city film office on this list will walk a producer through its own process. What they won't do is track eight clocks against your schedule; that's a producer of record job, and it's the reason the producers page exists. For where the clocks are worth it, see where Texas doubles.
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