The document provides information for foreign film crews filming in Vietnam, including: - Film permits must be obtained 10 days in advance from the Foreign Press Center and include daily fees even if filming less than a full day. A government film officer must accompany crews to ensure compliance. - Film fixers can help arrange logistics like locations, transportation, equipment rentals, translations and handle small payments. Their roles include supporting permit applications, making arrangements and adapting to changes. - In addition to permit and officer fees, crews must pay the officer's food, accommodation and transportation. Officers observe filming and help with local authorities, while fixers directly assist crews.

1. Filming in Vietnam as a foreign filming crew
You/your company plan to come to Vietnam to film and there are lots of things you
want to know before coming, such as: film permit, rules and regulations, common
practices, expenses …
Below I want to share about filming in Vietnam from my personal experiences
working with 7 filming crews (from USA, UK, Canada, Poland, Singapore, Hong Kong
and Germany) since Dec 2016 together with/as a replacement of one of the best
fixers in Vietnam.
First, disclaimer, I only had chance to work with advertisement/documentary
filming, not entertainment filming, so I have no experience with entertainment
filming.
1. Film permit:
By law, all press activities need to be registered and monitored by Press authority in
Vietnam, in which, you need to apply for press visa and press permit at least 10 days
in advance to Foreign Press Center (FPC): http://www.presscenter.org.vn/
When you apply for film permit, you need to provide information of: people who are
coming, filming program and location, list of equipments, interview questions,
publication and broadcasting plan …
Film permit fee is daily shooting fee, that means if there is a day you plan to film
only 15 minutes, you still need to pay for the whole day. And if there is a day at first
you didn’t plan to film (for example, you want to use the last day for resting and
shopping), but later you decided to film, depend on the content, the film officer will
decide if you can film and you need to pay for filming that day.
Film permit fee doesn’t include drone permit fee. If you want to use drone, you need
to apply for drone permit with separate fee.
2. Film officer:
Film officer or film commissioner or government minder are term we use to address
an officer from FPC accompany the filming crew in the whole time of the filming trip.
His presence is mandatory by law. He is assigned by FRC and his name is listed in
film permit. You need to pay for his per diem, food, accommodation and
transportation (separately with film permit).
His roles are:

2. + observe and manage the filming crew to film within the content they’ve registered.
(For political reason, to make sure that they don’t make a bad image or include
wrong content about Vietnam).
On filming site, film officer also can tell you where you can film and where you can’t.
+ helping and supporting filming crew with local authorities.
Having film permit doesn’t mean that anywhere you go, you will be accommodated
by local authorities and they would make it easy for you to film. Most of the time, it
looks like the film officer just standing there observing you, doing nothing and
sometime speaking on phone, but his phone calls are to speak with local authorities.
And if the local authorities are onsite, normally the film officer speak with them the
most, explaining about the filming crew.
Normally, there should be only 1 or 2 or 3 people of local authority are onsite (or
better – none), but there was a case at Ha Tinh province, we had 10 or more people
from different departments of local authorities were onsite. Their presences are
usually harmless unless you do something not right.
What to pay for a film officer? His per diem, plus his food, accommodation and
transportation.
Normally, payment for film permit and per diem of film officer are made to film
fixer. And film fixer will make it to FRC. FRC is an independent financial organization
under Ministry of Foreign Affairs. They are provided an office, furniture and some
fixed expenses, but other expenses such as salaries for staffs or activities of
themselves, they need to pay from what they can collect. So film officer can’t totally
earn his per diem.
About paying for his food, accommodation and transportation. It really depends on
preferences and set up of filming crew. Some filming crew decide that local crew
stay in the same hotel and eat together with them, so they will just pay for
everything. Some filming crew prefer to eat and live separately, and they would
come and pay for hotel of local team by credit card, and give payment for food to
film fixer, OR sometime they just give payment for both hotel and food to film fixer.
About transportation, normally only need to be mentioned if there is flight involved.
All film officers are based in Hanoi, so if filming elsewhere, filming crew need to pay
for his transportation to come.
You can’t choose film officer to work with (you also don’t know all of them to
choose), but an experienced film fixer who have worked with lots of film officers will
make things easier. Generally speaking, film officers are supportive if you do the
right thing.
3. Film fixer:

3. Theoretically speaking, film officer also can play the role of film fixer. He also can
speak both English and Vietnamese and also can arrange things. But practically, the
person who come with the role of manage and observe the filming team isn’t
suitable with the role of serving the filming team at the same time. You could easily
tell film fixer to run errands for you, but you couldn’t really tell the film officer to do
that.
So, what’re roles of film fixer?
+ Supporting with registration of film permit and drone permit (if any). Normally
when you work with fixer, you need to work with fixer only, and fixer would work
with FPC.
+ Preparation for filming scene:
- scouting locations: rural-looking place, busy motorbike driving street, identify
current address from old address, …
- speaking with people in advance to prepare for filming. For example, if you want to
film at a restaurant, you need to speak with the restaurant in advance to ask their
permission to film and setting up scene, so they can prepare in advance. Sometime it
would involve extra payment if needed.
+ Arrange transportation: normally car, but sometime also boat (for example, if you
want to film a boat tour on Ha Long bay). For filming crew, as having a lot of
equipment, you would like to have a car with open space at the back (have the
chairs folded or removed), so you can take or put in your equipment easily. Some
filming crews are big (like 20 people or more) and you would like to have a truck to
carry all luggage and equipment, rather than put them in a van. However, due to
traffic law in Vietnam, all of these are usually not possible. (Ask me for further
explanation).
Film fixer will also try to arrange driver(s) with experiences working with filming
crews, since working with filming crew is different with working with tourist
groups, however, we can’t promise anything. Film fixer usually doesn’t own cars nor
drivers for filming. We would sign contract with car service company to provide
car(s) with driver(s), and they arrange for us drivers who are available.
Drivers are usually experienced working with tourist groups more than filming
crews. With tourist groups, there is usually fixed schedule for pick up and drop off.
With filming crew, it’s not like that, filming time can be estimated, but doesn’t really
happen exactly as schedule.
A driver with experience working with filming crew would be much easier to work
with. Sometime car would be an object for filming, or filming would happen inside
the car or through car window, and driver need to adjust with that. For example,
when we filmed langurs, we told the driver to drive slowly and silent in the forest.

4. When we detect langurs, we told the driver to stop and turned off the engine,
everyone kept silent and only the cameraman and camera assistant approach closer
to the langurs to film.
+ Translation for interview. Help to arrange filming scenes, communicating with all
related people.
+ Help to rent extra equipment which filming crew didn’t bring with them. Help to
hire extra people if needed (sound man, person who help to carry things
+ Asking for signature for release forms.
+ Give food recommendations: filming crew doesn’t always have time to research
about food, so fixer usually need to give food recommendation based on preferences
and budget of the filming crew. These usually aren’t stated, but fixer need to ask or
observe or use experiences to recommend. Some filming crews have people prefer
different things: a person doesn’t eat pork, another doesn’t eat beef, another doesn’t
eat spicy, … some filming crews prefer open space over closed space. Though filming
crew comes to film and not to eat, giving filming crew good experiences is one part
of work of fixer.
+ Researching information online. Giving information about weather, traffic, …
+ Help to make small payments. Due to credit card and foreign currencies aren’t
widely accepted everywhere, filming crew from abroad may not have VND or small
changes all the time, fixer can help to make small payments and filming crew will
reimburse afterward. Sometime fixer also help to gather bills and put into excel file.
+ All around no name tasks: help to buy USB, batteries, things …
+ When filming crew need to split into 2 teams, normally film officer would go with
the team which have more chance to meet local authorities (such as shooting beauty
shots/city shots), while fixer goes with the team which need more speaking and
arrangements.
+ Adapt with changes: the work of the fixer would be easier if everything stays as
planned but most of the time, it doesn’t. Changes can happen because of many
reasons:
- Things don’t happen as planned: flight delayed, queue up at the airport take much
longer than expected, weather change, member(s) of filming crew got sick and
couldn’t work …
- Director/creative team change their mind.
- Some VIP/stars aren’t easy to work with.

5. Last minute plans and ideas are always hard to deal with and arrange, but anyway, a
fixer always need to be aware of those and make the best out of the circumstance.
4. Others:
+ When your team arrives at the airport, normally film fixer & officer will come to
meet and pick up you of course. But please note that Noi Bai airport is no longer
allow people with signboard to stand in door of arrival hall, must stand outdoor. So I
usually write name of the filming crew on a half of A4 paper (A5) and try to stand
indoor.
+ Sim card with 3G: must buy at airport to avoid registration (wasting time).
+ Exchanging money at airport is also recommended for rate and convenience.
+ Airport is usually not allowed to film, specially when it’s closer to National Holiday
when airport is crowded and reach to highest security level. (You can stay in the car
and film via the window, though).
+ Cash withdrawal is limited to 2 million VND/time, with withdrawal fee is 50,000
VND/time.
+ Weather is unpredictable, and forecast isn’t usually precise, so if you have option 2
in case it rains, please include in the filming schedule.
Anyway, filming is intensive. What audiences watch for an hour may take one week
to film. However, filming is still a joyful and interesting experience. It tells stories.
(to be updated)
1) Definition: Fixer here means to support press-related activities in:
research, contact, communicate, interpret, apply for visa, permit, arrange schedule,
transportation, arrange equipment, people like sound man/drone operator, etc
upon to the demand of the correspondent/journalist/production firm.
Correspondent/journalist can be professional or semi-professional.
2) Legal basis of press activities in Vietnam:
Decree no 88/2012/ND-CP and Circular no 84/TTLB.

6. Authority to manage: Foreign Press Center