Prefecture and subprefectures

The opening of the Ministry of the Interior’s sites to filming is part of a policy to promote the State’s intangible heritage.  

More than 1,000 natural, historic, prestigious, atypical or unusual settings (prefectures, sub-prefectures, sites of the Gendarmerie nationale, the Police nationale, the Préfecture de Paris and the Sécurité Civile) are open to filming (long and short films, dramas, documentaries).  

The Pôle Partenariats et valorisation du patrimoine, which reports to the DICOM steering and strategy department of the Ministry of the Interior, is responsible for hosting film shoots. 

Procedure

• Centralisation of filming requests at the Unité de Valorisation du Patrimoine Immatériel: valorisation-dicom@interieur.gouv.fr   
• Redistribution of requests to prefectures, sub-prefectures, SIRPA Gendarmerie, as required;  
• Assessment of opportunities by mutual agreement between the departments concerned;  
• Drafting of the agreement and invoicing by the Intangible Heritage Development Unit;  
• Signature of the agreement between the site manager and the production prior to filming; 
• Filming.

Useful information

The Ministry of the Interior does not make equipment or costumes available so as not to compete with the private offer of games equipment and costume hire. 

As a reminder, actors and extras wearing police costumes must cover their costumes outside the set and filming scenes to avoid being confused with police officers or gendarmes. 

Fees

The Ministry of the Interior’s grid is based on the APIE method.  

It distinguishes between:  

• Types of production  
• The different phases: editing/dismantling – filming  
• Size of technical team  
• Set categories and location (Paris Region / outside Paris Region).  

Part of the fee is paid to the site manager. 

Website

Contacts