Working with Animals

Overview

Incorporating an animal into a production can be challenging as they will often behave in an unpredictable manner. Even the most highly trained working animals can do unexpected things. This can cause significant delays, accidents, or even injuries on set.

The presence of any animal on a film set is consider a high risk activity. Based on how they will be used may require the purchase of an additional insurance rider to incroporate them into a production as their involvement is not covered under the school’s base production insurance policy and must be scheduled to be insured.

Students who choose to incorporate animals into their production must submit an Uninsured Activity Application for review by the Risk Management Panel.

Pets On Set

Bringing non-working animals to set by cast, crew, guests or extras is strongly discouraged. The American Humane believes that an active film set is not a suitable environment for pets, as they cannot be properly supervised and cared for appropriately by cast and crew members who are engaged in their primary duties.

Should a pet or service animal be brought to set by guests, it must be contained or restrained and supervised at all times. Pets shall not be allowed to freely roam on set to prevent accidents from happening, even when a student production is shooting at their or a family member’s home.

Pets are not permitted on the set when working animals are present to reduce the chance of distracting or provoking the working animal.

Service Animals On Set

Service animals are permitted, but should only be used when absolutely neccesary. They must be contained or restrained and supervised at all times.

Wildlife

When filmming at exterior locations, student productions will envitably come across wildlife. Incidental and intential filmming of wildlife, from safe distances, is permited. Coherse or intentially interacting with wildlife to facilitate photography is permitted.

There are several indegious and envasive predators as well poisonous snakes and insects found in around Central Florida that student productions should be mindful of when working on location. This includes, but is not limited to:

• Aligators
• Black bears
• Coyotes
• Wild cats such as bobcats and Florida panthers
• Venomous insects such as fire ants, caterpilars, spiders, scorpions, bees, wasps, and mosquitoes
• Venomous snakes such as rattle snakes, cottonmoths or water moccasins, and coral snakes

Student production filmming outside of the Central Florida area can visit the Wildlife and Habitat section of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission website to help determine what types of wildlife may be located at an exterior location that they intend to shoot at.

Additional guidance can be located in the Working in Wooded Areas and Around Bodies of Water articles.