NATIONAL PARKS AND WILDLIFE SERVICE
New South Wales is home to some spectacular and diverse landscapes offering attractive backdrops for filming purposes. Screen Hunter is the delegated agent for the National Parks in the Hunter, including Stockton Bight, Barrington Tops and the Myall Lakes.
Any filming that takes place on land protected by NPWS has a set of conditions relating to the particular area. These conditions ensure that commercial filming and photography are carried out in a manner that does not compromise the Service’s conservation objectives.
You must submit an application with Screen Hunter if you wish to film in any National Park in the Hunter. Upon approval, ‘Consent to Film’ documents will be issued detailing specific conditions for the location you wish to use as well as your responsibilities as a filmmaker in this location. You are required to read the consent thoroughly, sign and return to Screen Hunter prior to filming. If your filming activities do not comply with NPWS filming conditions, permission to film will not be granted.
All commercial activities, including commercial filming and photography, which take place in national parks and other protected areas managed by the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service, part of the Office of Environment and Heritage (OEH) need to be licensed. If you are filming or taking photographs as a hobby, as a tourist or as a personal interest then you are not considered to be undertaking a commercial activity, so you are not required to be licensed.
It is an offence under the National Parks and Wildlife Regulation 2002 to undertake a commercial activity in a national park or other protected area managed by OEH without a licence.
If you are interested in filming in a National Park, please fill in the ‘Request to Use National Park & Wildlife Reserve’ during the application process.