Las Vegas
Clark County issues the film permit for the Las Vegas Strip — not the City of Las Vegas. The Strip runs through unincorporated Clark County, and the county's film permits division covers filming on public property there: sidewalks and streets, the exteriors of commercial buildings, drone work, and anything else that affects the public right-of-way. The City of Las Vegas only has authority once a shoot crosses north of Sahara Avenue into downtown and the Fremont Street area.
Las Vegas Boulevard looks like one continuous street, and most of what people call the Strip — the resort corridor from Sahara Avenue south to Russell Road — is not inside the Las Vegas city limits at all. It is unincorporated Clark County land. That matters for jurisdiction, but it does not mean every shoot at a property like Mandalay Bay, Caesars Palace, or along the Las Vegas Convention Center corridor needs a county permit. An interior shoot inside a resort, done with the property's own agreement, does not require one; the county permit is triggered by exteriors, anything touching the public right-of-way, and special effects such as pyrotechnics or prop weapons. A producer planning a Strip shoot still needs to know which office governs the parts of the work that do leave private property — applying to the City of Las Vegas for any of that is applying to the wrong office entirely, which can cost real days once the mistake is caught.
Clark County's process is straightforward once a production knows where to send the application. The permit itself carries no charge, but the county collects a processing fee of forty-five dollars, paid online only. Applications must go in a minimum of ten calendar days before the first day of filming — later submissions risk missing the shoot date entirely. The county also requires one million dollars in liability insurance from a US-licensed carrier, with Clark County and the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department named as additional insured on the certificate.
None of this applies to a shoot that never leaves the inside of a private building — that case is covered next.
Most of what a video crew shoots at a Strip resort — a ballroom, a meeting room, a lobby, a stage inside a convention hall — is filming inside a building with the owner's agreement, not on public property. Clark County's own film permit FAQ addresses this directly: “if you are filming inside a building or home and have an agreement with the property owner allowing the filming, you do not need a film permit,” unless the shoot affects the public right-of-way. The Nevada Film Office states the same principle for private property generally: filming there does not require a film permit, only the property owner's permission.
A permit still applies once a shoot crosses outside that interior agreement. Per Clark County and the Nevada Film Office, a permit is required when a production:
A crew shooting entirely inside a resort's own space, with that resort's sign-off, is working under the property's location agreement — not a government permit.
Cross north of Sahara Avenue and the rules change. Anything in the City of Las Vegas — including downtown and the Fremont Street corridor — needs a City of Las Vegas film permit instead of a county one, for any commercial, still-photo, music-video, documentary, or motion-picture shoot, per the city's own film permits page. City applications go in at least five working days ahead of the shoot; that grows to fourteen working days if the production needs street closures or practical effects. The city has not published a flat processing fee, so confirm the current cost directly with the Film Office at (702) 229-6272 or Filming@LasVegasNevada.gov before budgeting for it.
Fremont Street itself adds a second layer. The Fremont Street Experience — the canopy-covered pedestrian mall — requires its own filming permit in addition to the City of Las Vegas permit, arranged separately through the Experience's own office. A crew planning a downtown shoot needs both approvals in hand before call time, not just the city's.
The Nevada Film Office also maintains a free production registration at film.nv.gov; complete it alongside whichever local permit applies.
Beyond the interior-filming exception above, a county or city permit — where one is required — still does not get a crew onto private resort property on its own. Individual hotel-casinos commonly require their own certificate of insurance — often naming the property itself as additional insured — plus a signed location agreement covering access, escort requirements, and house rules for the specific space being filmed. Budget time for this step separately from any government permit; a property's legal or security office can take longer to turn around a location agreement than the county takes to approve a permit itself. For more on how individual properties handle this, see our guide to filming at Las Vegas casinos.
We have built productions around this jurisdictional split for years. If you are planning a Las Vegas shoot and are not sure which office to call first, our Las Vegas video crew team can walk you through it before you file anything.
Related: trade show and convention video production, filming at the Las Vegas Convention Center, and drone and aerial video in Las Vegas.
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