Porta Potties for Film and TV Shoots in Los Angeles

What does FilmLA require before a crew can film on location?

FilmLA states that a temporary use (filming) permit is required for commercial on-location filming. Applications go through MyFilmLA, submitted by 10 a.m. and at least three full business days before the first activity. FilmLA is based at 6255 W. Sunset Blvd. in Hollywood, ZIP 90028.

The permit is the production's first gate. A location manager or production office files it, and the application is where the street, the dates and the footprint of the shoot go on record. That footprint is the reason toilets are worth thinking about early: parked trailers, a catering line and a holding area all need space on a street that is not the production's own.

Our fact sheet found no portable-toilet rule in the FilmLA material, and we are not going to invent one. If a particular permit, a property owner or a city department has set a sanitation condition for your location, it will be in your permit paperwork or your location agreement, and that wording governs. Read it before you order. What this site can do is explain how base camps usually use toilets and connect you with a provider.

Where do Los Angeles shoots happen, and does it change the toilet plan?

Shoots cluster around the studio towns: Hollywood, Studio City, Burbank and Culver City. Each has a different street texture, from the Ventura Boulevard strip in Studio City to the studio-adjacent blocks of Culver City, so the toilet question is really about where a truck and a unit can fit.

Studio City takes its name from CBS Studio Center, built in 1927 on more than 40 acres. Walt Disney Studios is in Burbank. Culver City is built around the entertainment industry: Sony has been there since 1990, Amazon MGM Studios took over Culver Studios, and a 620 million dollar project is adding about 413,000 square feet. Hollywood is also home to FilmLA itself, and the Walk of Fame runs along eight blocks.

That geography helps in one way and not in another. A production on a studio lot usually plans from the lot's own arrangements; we do not know what those are and will not guess. A production on a public street or a private location in any of these places starts from nothing, and that is where a rented unit helps. You can read more about each place on our Studio City, Burbank and Culver City pages.

Beachfront and boulevard shoots add their own wrinkles. Venice's Ocean Front Walk is crowded on weekends, and Hollywood Boulevard has Walk of Fame foot traffic all day. A production there shares the street with the public, so a toilet may need to be locked, signed and kept out of frame.

What does a base camp need for toilets?

A base camp usually needs a row of units near parking and catering, at least one accessible unit, and handwash stations beside both the toilets and the food line. A flushable restroom trailer is the alternative when the crew is large or the shoot runs long and a row of single units is not enough.

Think of the camp as three zones: where cars and trucks park, where the crew eats and where the action is. Toilets belong at the edge of the first two, within a short walk but not at the catering table. A unit placed behind the sound stage or beyond the lighting setup will not get used, and one placed in the frame will not get used for long.

Handwashing matters most near food. LA County's community event rule asks for a handwashing sink for every four toilets, with soap, single-use towels and a trash container, and it applies to events under the County's program, not to a production by default. It is still a sensible way to count. Our handwash station rental page describes the unit in general terms.

Whether a trailer fits is a site question. It takes more room, needs a place for the provider's service equipment, and needs a firm, level pad. The restroom trailer rental page describes it. A production deciding between the two should say how many people are on the call sheet and how many hours the camp runs.

• Toilets near parking and catering, not in the shot and not behind the stage.
• At least one accessible unit, with a firm and level approach.
• Handwash stations by the toilets and by the food line.
• A truck lane the provider can use between takes without blocking the shoot.

How does a long shoot day change the servicing plan?

A crew that stays on one location all day uses toilets continuously rather than in a rush, so the question is servicing frequency, not just unit count. Agree the servicing schedule with the provider before the shoot, and tell them if the days run long or overnight.

A festival has peaks. A shoot has a flat, long curve: call time, lunch, wrap. A unit that is clean at 6 a.m. is still in use at 8 p.m., and a trailer or an extra unit can matter more than a single mid-day visit. Ask the provider what they can do for the hours you are filming, and say whether a night shoot is possible.

Do not expect a servicing visit at a specific minute. The provider decides when a truck can reach the location, and the production's job is to keep the lane clear and to tell a point of contact how to reach the provider. If a unit is full or damaged, the answer is a call, not a workaround. Crew members should not move, empty or open the waste tank of any unit.

Our page on servicing and pump-out explains what the provider does on a visit, and the film and TV location toilets page covers how a production typically uses the service.

Which rules might apply to a crew's toilets?

Nobody can give a single answer. FilmLA's permit pages gave us no toilet rule, Cal/OSHA's one-per-20-employees rule is written for construction, and any property owner or location agreement may add its own condition. Treat the numbers below as references, then follow what your own paperwork says.

California's construction toilet rule, Title 8 CCR 1526, asks for one toilet facility for each 20 employees or fraction, of each sex. Urinals may count, but toilets must be at least half the required number, and where fewer than five employees are on site one single-user all-gender toilet is sufficient. Federal OSHA says one toilet for up to 20 workers and one seat and one urinal per 40 workers above 20. Those rules are written for the workplace they name.

Whether any of them applies to a particular production is a legal and safety question we cannot answer. Your production safety lead, your insurer or your location manager is the right person to ask. Our guide to construction site toilet requirements in California explains the rule itself, and it is the best place to see what a count under it looks like.

Never read a rental company's description of a unit as a statement that it meets a code. Ask the provider what is on the unit and then check that against the requirement you are trying to meet.

How should a production handle neighbors, noise and access?

Keep toilets away from neighbors' doors and windows, tell the provider about shoot hours and street closures, and name one contact who can open a barricade for a service truck. A location is shared space, and a unit left where it annoys a neighbor becomes a problem for the permit.

A location shoot borrows a street, and the people who live there did not sign up for it. A row of toilets under a bedroom window is the kind of detail that produces a complaint. Place units toward the production's own parking and holding area, and say in your first call which houses or businesses are closest.

Access is the other half. A street that is closed to traffic for the shoot may be closed to a service truck as well, unless someone gives it a way in. Decide before the day who holds the barricade key, or who can wave a truck through, and tell the provider that person's name and how to reach them. The truck's timing is the provider's schedule, so a person on your side who answers the phone is worth more than a promised slot.

Finally, plan for wrap. Units are removed by the provider once the shoot is over, and the location should be left as it was found. Say so in your order, and ask when and how removal is arranged, so a unit does not sit on a residential street longer than the permit allows.

What should a location manager ask the provider?

Ask what units are free for your shoot dates, whether the provider can reach the location with a truck, how often the units are serviced on a long day, and whether accessible units and handwash stations are included. Then get all of it in a written quote before the call sheet goes out.

Be specific about the street. A location on a hillside or a narrow residential block can limit where a unit can sit and how it is reached, and that is a conversation with the provider, not a surprise for the morning of the shoot. Send a map or a photograph if you have one, and give the closest cross streets.

Costs follow unit type, quantity, duration, servicing frequency, delivery access and extras such as an accessible unit, a handwash station or a trailer. Published guides disagree about Los Angeles prices, so no figure appears on this site; see portable toilet rental cost in Los Angeles for why. A written quote is the only number to plan around.

• Shoot dates, call and wrap hours, and whether any day runs overnight.
• Street address or cross streets, and where a service truck can park.
• Crew size, and whether a trailer is wanted.
• How many accessible units and handwash stations you want.
• Who on the production is the contact for the provider.