Town guide

Filming in Gloucester Township, New Jersey

A production guide to Gloucester Township’s filming ordinance, Chapter 38, as amended in its entirety in March 2025. Permits run through the Municipal Clerk, an off-duty police officer is a condition of any public-lands permit, and the definition of “major motion picture” is broad enough to catch a weekly series.

Gloucester Township is a Film Ready certified locality in Camden County. This is the Camden County township, not Gloucester City and not Gloucester County.

Everything below is read from the enacted chapter. Where the text is defective, and in three places it is, this guide quotes it exactly and tells you what to confirm rather than tidying it into something that reads well but is not the law.

Information checked August 26, 2026

Checked Aug 26 2026

County: Camden County
Film Ready status: Film Ready certified locality. The State list entry labelled “Gloucester” resolves to Gloucester Township, checked August 26, 2026. Certification does not guarantee approval, property access or location availability
Controlling ordinance: Chapter 38, New Jersey Motion Picture and Television Commission, § 38-1 to § 38-11. Adopted November 13, 2023 by Ord. No. O-23-10 and amended in its entirety March 10, 2025 by Ord. No. O-25-07
Municipal starting point: Office of the Municipal Clerk
Municipal Clerk: Nancy Power · 856-374-3534 · nanpower@glotwp.com
Clerk’s office: 1261 Chews Landing-Clementon Road, Laurel Springs, NJ 08021
Office hours: Monday to Thursday, 8:00 a.m. to 5:45 p.m. The office is not open Friday, and § 38-2B requires permits to be obtained during normal business hours
Application: A form approved by the Municipal Clerk, applied for and obtained from that office. No downloadable form is published, so request the current one from the Clerk
Standard lead time: Apply prior to three days before the requested shooting date. The Township Mayor or designate may waive the three-day period
Basic permit fee: $100
Expedited permit fee: $150, under a clause whose cross-reference is defective. See the fees section
Public-property daily fee: $150 per day when filming entirely on public property
Major motion picture daily fee: $500 per day when filming entirely on public property
Nonprofit, educational and student: $25, with no daily rate required
Private-property daily fee: None. § 38-10E imposes no daily filming fee for filming on private property. A permit is still required where public property is used
Public-lands insurance: Bodily injury $500,000 any one person and $1,000,000 aggregate per occurrence; property damage $300,000 each occurrence in the aggregate
Indemnification: A written agreement to indemnify and save harmless the municipality from all liability, expense, claim or damages resulting from the use of public lands
Off-duty police: Required. § 38-3B(3) makes hiring an off-duty police officer for the times on the permit a condition of any public-lands permit
Neighbour notice: Written notice at least three days before the requested shooting date where the production directly involves or affects businesses, merchants or residents
Filming hours: Not set by the ordinance. Chapter 38 contains no permitted hours. Confirm prep, filming and wrap hours with the Clerk
Bond or escrow: None in Chapter 38
Appeals: To the Township Council. Notice filed within 10 days, hearing within 30 days
Penalties: Fine up to $2,000, up to 90 days in jail, or up to 90 days of community service, or any combination. Each day is a separate violation
Last verified: August 26, 2026

How to begin

Gloucester Township runs filming through the Office of the Municipal Clerk. There is no separate film office and no downloadable application.

Municipal Clerk: Nancy Power
Phone: 856-374-3534
Email: nanpower@glotwp.com
Office: 1261 Chews Landing-Clementon Road, Laurel Springs, NJ 08021
Hours: Monday to Thursday, 8:00 a.m. to 5:45 p.m.

Four-day week

The Clerk’s office is not open on Fridays.

Section 38-2B requires permits to be applied for and obtained from the Clerk during normal business hours, and those hours run Monday to Thursday. Combined with a filing rule counted in days rather than business days, a Friday realisation about a Monday shoot has nowhere to go. Build that into your schedule.

There is no published application form, and that is not a problem. Section 38-2B says applications are made “in a form approved by the Municipal Clerk” and are obtained from that office. Request the current form from the Clerk rather than working from a copy found elsewhere. We do not host municipal forms.

A permit is required for filming on public property, and also for filming on private property where the work uses public property to operate, place or temporarily store vehicles or equipment, including any temporary structure, barricade or device intended to restrict or block off pedestrian or vehicular traffic. A crew shooting entirely inside a private building whose generator or truck sits on the street is inside the permit requirement.

The permit states the approved location and the approved duration by specific reference to day or dates, and must be readily available for inspection by Township officials at all times at the filming site. Keep a copy in hand, not in an inbox.

Filing, insurance and the off-duty officer

Filing. Section 38-3A: no permit will be issued unless applied for prior to three days before the requested shooting date. The Township Mayor or designate may waive that period where, in his judgment, the applicant has obtained all related approvals and adjacent property owners or tenants do not need to be notified.

Insurance on public lands. Section 38-3B requires satisfactory proof of:

Bodily injury coverage of $500,000 to any one person
$1,000,000 for any occurrence in the aggregate
Property damage of $300,000 for each occurrence in the aggregate
A written agreement indemnifying and saving harmless the municipality from any and all liability, expense, claim or damages resulting from the use of public lands
The hiring of an off-duty police officer for the times indicated on the permit

The officer is not optional on public lands

Several New Jersey towns treat police staffing as something the Chief may require. Gloucester Township lists it as one of the things you must prove before a public-lands permit issues at all, alongside the insurance and the indemnity.

No rate is published. Neither Chapter 38 nor the fee schedule states an hourly cost for the officer. Ask the Clerk for a project-specific estimate before you build a budget, and do not read the absence of a published rate as an indication that the officer is free.

Section 38-3C requires the permit holder to take all reasonable steps to minimise interference with the free passage of pedestrians and traffic over public lands, and to comply with all lawful directives issued by the Police Department.

Chapter 38 contains no bond, escrow or damage deposit. That is an observation about the current text, not a guarantee that no security will be asked for.

Fees, and the clause that does not say what it means

Section 38-10 sets the schedule. The daily fees are payable in addition to the basic permit.

Item	Fee
Basic filming permit	$100
Basic permit processed on an expedited basis	$150
Daily fee, filming entirely on public property	$150 per day
Daily fee, major motion picture, filming entirely on public property	$500 per day
Nonprofit filming for educational purposes, including student films	$25, no daily rate required
Filming on private property	No daily filming fee

Quoted exactly, not corrected

The expedited-fee clause cites a rule that does not exist.

Section 38-10A prices a waiver of “the provision of § 38-3A requiring expedited processing of a permit application within 24 hours of the filming date”. Section 38-3A says nothing about 24-hour expedited processing. It is the three-day filing rule.

So the $150 figure is real and enacted, but the condition that triggers it is described by reference to language the ordinance does not contain. If you are filing inside the three-day window, get the Clerk to tell you in writing which fee applies rather than reasoning from the text.

Check whether you are a “major motion picture” before you budget. Section 38-1 defines the term far more broadly than the phrase suggests. It captures work financed or distributed by the named studios, and also:

Any major streaming service, with Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Prime Video named
Any film with a budget of at least $20,000,000
Recurrent weekly television series programming

A weekly series shooting a single public-property day is charged $500 for it, not $150. Unlike some New Jersey ordinances, the $20 million line here reads “at least”, so a budget of exactly $20,000,000 is inside the higher rate rather than sitting in an unpriced gap.

Section 38-9 adds reimbursement on top of all of the above: the applicant reimburses the Township for any lost revenue, such as parking meter revenue, repairs to public property, or other revenues the Township was prevented from earning because of the filming.

Notice to neighbours, and the two-day proof

Section 38-4B: where the production, by reason of location or otherwise, will directly involve or affect any businesses, merchants or residents, those parties must be given written notice at least three days before the requested shooting date.

The notice must tell them that objections may be filed with the Municipal Clerk. Objections form part of the application and are considered in reviewing it. That is a real consequence: an unhappy neighbour is not just a phone call, they are an input into whether your permit issues.

Ambiguous as enacted

Proof of service is due “within two days of the requested shooting date”.

The ordinance does not say whether that means two days before or two days after. Read alongside a three-day notice requirement, the natural reading is before, which would mean serving notice on day three and filing proof by day two. But the text does not say so.

Serve early, file the proof with the Clerk immediately, and ask the Clerk to confirm the deadline in writing.

Section 38-4A also requires the permit holder to conduct filming so as to minimise inconvenience or discomfort to adjoining property owners, and, to the extent practicable, to abate noise and park production vehicles off the public streets.

Refusal, extra staffing, waivers and appeals

Refusal. Under § 38-5A the Township Mayor or designate may refuse a permit on the basis of objective facts, after reviewing the application and a report on it from the Police Department and other Township agencies involved with the proposed filming site, where filming at that location or time would violate any law or ordinance, unreasonably interfere with the use and enjoyment of adjoining properties, unreasonably impede traffic, or otherwise endanger public health, safety or welfare.

Extra staffing you may be required to pay for. Section 38-5B reserves two rights:

One or more on-site patrolmen where the production may impede the proper flow of traffic, at the applicant’s cost as a cost of production
An on-site licensed electrician where existing electrical power lines are to be used and the production company does not have a licensed electrician on staff

The electrician requirement is unusual and easy to miss. If your plan involves tying into existing power rather than running your own generator, raise it at first contact.

The waiver section contradicts itself

Section 38-7 is headed “Waiver of requirements of chapter by Mayor or his/her designate”. Its text then reads that “The Township’s business administrator or his/her designee may authorize a waiver… if the mayor or his/her designate determines that a waiver thereof may be granted”.

The heading names one officer, the authorising clause names another, and the determining clause names a third formulation. We are not choosing between them. If you need a waiver, ask the Clerk who signs it and get the answer in writing.

The factors the ordinance lists are clear enough: traffic congestion at the location, your ability to remove vehicles and equipment from public streets or property, the extent of restrictions you are requesting on streets or public parking, the nature of the filming including whether it is indoors or outdoors and the proposed hours, the effect on adjoining and nearby owners and occupants, and the Township’s prior experience with the applicant.

Appeals. Section 38-6 sends an aggrieved applicant to the Township Council. Written notice of appeal setting out the reasons is filed with the Mayor or designate within 10 days of the decision, and the Council sets a hearing within 30 days of filing. The Council decides by resolution at its first regularly scheduled public meeting after the hearing, unless the appellant agrees in writing to a later date.

If the Council does not adopt that resolution in time, the Mayor’s decision is deemed reversed and a permit shall be issued in conformity with the application. That is a genuinely favourable provision for an applicant and worth knowing about.

Who else gets a copy, and what else applies

Section 38-8 requires copies of the approved permit to go to the Police and Fire Departments before filming takes place, and to the New Jersey Film Commission.

The applicant must permit the Fire Prevention Bureau or other Township inspectors to inspect the site and the equipment to be used if that is deemed necessary, and must comply with all safety instructions they issue.

News is outside the chapter. The § 38-1 definition of filming expressly excludes the filming of news stories within the municipality.

Chapter 38 reaches property within the jurisdiction and control of the municipality. Camden County roads and parks, State highways, NJ Transit property, school district property and private land each have their own controlling authority, and a Township permit does not reach any of them. Confirm the ownership of every surface your production touches before assuming one permit covers the day.

What we are not publishing for Gloucester Township

Three things a production will look for that Chapter 38 does not contain, stated plainly rather than filled in from another town’s ordinance:

Filming hours. The chapter sets none. Section 38-7A(4) lists “the proposed hours for filming” among the waiver factors, which is a consideration, not a permitted-hours rule.
Police, patrolman or electrician rates. Required at your cost, never priced.
Bond, escrow or damage deposit. Not in the chapter.

We also do not publish a named film liaison, because Chapter 38 designates none and the Township publishes none. The Municipal Clerk is the route.

Common questions

Who issues a film permit in Gloucester Township?

The Office of the Municipal Clerk. Chapter 38 routes every application through the Clerk, and the current Municipal Clerk is Nancy Power, reachable on 856-374-3534 or at nanpower@glotwp.com. There is no separate film office. Note the Clerk's office is open Monday to Thursday only, 8:00 a.m. to 5:45 p.m.

Is there a downloadable film permit application for Gloucester Township?

No. Section 38-2B says applications are made in a form approved by the Municipal Clerk and are applied for and obtained from that office during normal business hours. Request the current form from the Clerk rather than using a copy found elsewhere. The absence of a published PDF does not mean there is no process.

How much does a film permit cost in Gloucester Township?

The basic permit is $100, or $150 processed on an expedited basis. Filming entirely on public property adds a daily fee of $150, rising to $500 per day for a major motion picture. Nonprofit and student educational filming is $25 with no daily rate. Filming on private property carries no daily fee, though a permit is still required where public property is used. Section 38-9 adds reimbursement of lost Township revenue such as parking meter income.

Does a weekly television series pay the major motion picture rate in Gloucester Township?

Yes. Section 38-1 defines major motion picture to include recurrent weekly television series programming, any major streaming service such as Netflix, Hulu or Amazon Prime Video, and any film with a budget of at least $20,000,000. That means $500 per day on public property rather than $150. Check the definition before you budget.

How far in advance must a production apply in Gloucester Township?

Prior to three days before the requested shooting date, under section 38-3A. The Township Mayor or designate may waive that period where all related approvals are in hand and adjacent property owners or tenants do not need notice. Because the Clerk's office is closed on Fridays and the rule is counted in days rather than business days, treat three days as the outer limit rather than a target.

Does Gloucester Township require an off-duty police officer for filming?

On public lands, yes. Section 38-3B(3) makes hiring an off-duty police officer for the times indicated on the permit a condition of issuing the permit, alongside the insurance and the indemnity agreement. The Township may separately require additional on-site patrolmen where traffic could be impeded, and a licensed electrician where existing power lines are used. No rate is published for any of these, so ask the Clerk for an estimate.

Official sources

Checked August 26, 2026 against Chapter 38 of the Township of Gloucester Code read in full through the eCode print view, the Township’s Municipal Clerk page, and the State certified-localities list. A URL used by earlier research for this ordinance is dead and was replaced with the live chapter under code root GL0340 Report a correction or updated permit requirement.

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Reviewed by Sam Moskowitz, producer & director of photography

This guide is researched and reviewed by Sam Moskowitz, a New Jersey-based producer and DP who runs BLL Films. Sam’s production and cinematography credits include work for Netflix, History Channel, Hulu, the NFL and Google. Every changing fact on this page carries a verification date; see how this site is researched for the full process.

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