Filming At Heritage Sites In Nepal: What International Productions Need To Know

Nepal's historic places are extraordinary locations for film and photography. They are also working places, religious places and protected heritage, and producing there requires considerably more than getting a permit.

Nepal's heritage locations are some of the most remarkable places a production can work in. The Kathmandu Valley alone gives you temples, courtyards, old palaces, brick streets, shrines, bahals, stone steps and entire neighbourhoods where the architecture is still part of ordinary life. That last part is important because when an international production comes to Nepal to film at Bhaktapur Durbar Square, Patan Durbar Square, Kathmandu Durbar Square or another historic site, the production is entering a place that already has its own life. People come to pray, shops open, residents pass through, religious ceremonies take place, schoolchildren walk across courtyards and tourists arrive with their phones. On certain days there may be a festival, a procession or something happening that nobody could have predicted from a recce photograph.

We have worked in these environments for many years, and the biggest difference between a smooth heritage shoot and a difficult one is usually made before the camera arrives. The location has to be understood as a working place first, and a filming location second.

A heritage location is already being used

This sounds obvious, but it changes almost every production decision.

A studio is waiting for you. A controlled backlot is waiting for you. A private location can often be cleared and arranged around the production. A heritage square in Nepal generally cannot. Even when an area has been approved for filming, it does not suddenly become a film set.

The production therefore has to work around the normal movement of the place. That affects where equipment can be parked, where the crew can wait, where generators can go, where extras can gather, how much lighting equipment can be carried into a courtyard, where cables can safely run and how long it takes to move from one setup to another. It also affects the schedule. A location may look quiet when you visit at eight in the morning and completely different two hours later. The light may be perfect at one particular moment, while the courtyard is becoming increasingly busy. A religious ceremony may occupy an area that was empty during the recce. A procession may pass through the exact route you had planned for a tracking shot.

None of this necessarily means the shoot cannot happen. It means the production plan has to be built with the location rather than against it.

This is one reason we prefer to approach location scouting in Nepal with the actual production in mind. We are not simply looking for the nicest doorway or the best photograph. We are looking at access, movement, power, crew holding areas, public circulation, equipment routes, vehicle access, security, timing, permissions and what is likely to happen around the location while the camera is working. Those things rarely appear in a location photograph.

The permit is only the beginning of the planning

For international productions, filming at archaeological and heritage locations in Nepal involves government permissions and, depending on the location, consent from the authority responsible for that particular site. The Film Development Board's current filming procedure identifies the Department of Archaeology for filming at archaeological places including Kathmandu, Patan and Bhaktapur Durbar Squares, Changu Narayan, Boudhanath, Lumbini and Swayambhunath. Other locations can involve different authorities, so the permission required for one heritage site should not simply be assumed to apply to another.

The practical side of filming permits and production permissions in Nepal is therefore something we normally start discussing as soon as we understand the project. The Film Development Board's published procedure can require information such as the script or treatment, storyboard where appropriate, details of foreign crew, itinerary, filming dates and equipment information. Changes to approved locations, shooting dates or duration can also require further consideration.

This is why we ask international producers for proper production information at the beginning rather than trying to sort out permissions from a vague idea of what the shoot might become. A heritage permit is connected to the actual production, and the more accurately we understand the production at the outset, the more useful we can be in planning the permissions around it.

There is also a practical customs side to bringing an international camera package into Nepal. Equipment lists, values and temporary import documentation can become part of the preparation, particularly when the production is bringing a substantial amount of equipment from overseas. It is much easier to deal with that while the equipment list is still being finalised than when a truck full of cases is already on its way.

One of our more complicated heritage shoots was also one of the most enjoyable

A good example is the Nippon Paint television commercial we produced in Nepal.

The brief involved Holi, colour, movement and the visual character of Nepal. The production was filmed at Bhaktapur Durbar Square and Patan Durbar Square on the same day, with more than 200 crew, around 400 extras, substantial camera, lighting and grip equipment, large generators, support vehicles and elephants. It was a large international commercial operation being carried out inside two living heritage locations within a very tight schedule.

The Nippon Paint production case study is worth looking at because the interesting part of a production like this is not simply that the finished commercial looks good. It is what has to happen around the image for that image to become possible.

There are permissions to coordinate, people to move, vehicles to position, departments to synchronise and a large number of participants who all have to be in the right place at the right time. When the locations are heritage sites and the production includes hundreds of people, generators, equipment and animals, there is very little room for improvising the basic logistics on the day.

The shoot itself lasted one day, but the responsibility did not finish when the cameras stopped. Cleaning and restoration continued for more than ten days afterwards. That part of the production is just as important to us as the shooting day because the location has to be handed back properly. If you are going to work in places that belong to everyone, the production has a responsibility to leave them in good condition.

The Nippon Paint job is one of the reasons we often use the phrase location management and fixing in Nepal when explaining what we do. The work is much broader than opening a gate or obtaining a piece of paper. It is about making the location and the production work together.

Equipment changes the way you use a heritage site

A large international production can bring a very different physical footprint to a location. Camera systems, lenses, dollies, tracks, cranes, generators, lighting, grip equipment, monitors, vehicles, catering and production support all have to get into the working area somehow. A location that looks spacious to a five person recce team can become surprisingly small once a full production arrives.

We therefore look at the equipment list alongside the location rather than treating the two as separate subjects. There have been plenty of occasions where the original creative idea was perfectly possible, but the proposed method of achieving it was unnecessarily difficult. A particular camera movement might require equipment that is awkward to bring into a protected courtyard. A lighting plan may require more power and physical space than the location can comfortably accommodate. A generator may need to be positioned much farther away than expected. A vehicle may not be able to reach the point where someone assumed it could.

These are production problems, not creative problems, and usually there is another way to get the shot. The camera position can change, the lighting package can be reduced, a different lens can give the director the same feeling without requiring a large rig, or the shot can be scheduled at a quieter time. The important thing is to solve these questions during preparation, not while a large crew is standing in the square waiting for an answer.

This is also where our wider production management in Nepal experience becomes useful. Equipment, transport, crew movement, permissions and schedule are all connected. Changing one can affect the others, so we prefer to look at the production as one operation rather than passing each problem to a different department.

A recce has to look beyond the frame

International directors and cinematographers are understandably focused on what the camera sees. Our job on the ground is to look at everything the camera does not see.

Where does the crew arrive? Where does the truck stop? How far is the equipment carry? Where can the production office operate? Where can extras wait without blocking normal movement? Where can wardrobe and makeup work? Where can the generator sit? Where can cables run? Where are the public entrances? What happens if it rains? What happens if the location becomes busy? What is happening next door? Is there a temple ceremony that needs to be factored into the schedule? Who needs to be informed before the shoot? Who is actually responsible for the site on the day?

These questions become especially important in Kathmandu Valley because heritage does not always exist as an isolated monument surrounded by empty land. In many places it is embedded directly into the city. You can be filming a beautiful old courtyard while a motorcycle is trying to get through the lane behind you. That is not a production failure. It is simply part of understanding the place you have chosen.

A proper location scout therefore looks at the whole working environment, not just the frame. We want to know how the production will arrive, where it will stand, how it will move and what the location is likely to become once the crew begins occupying it.

Bhaktapur, Patan and Kathmandu are not interchangeable

It is tempting to group the three major Durbar Squares together because they are all part of the Kathmandu Valley's extraordinary heritage landscape. For production purposes, they are different locations.

Bhaktapur has its own scale, street pattern, architecture and movement. Patan has another rhythm, particularly around the Durbar Square and the surrounding courtyards and lanes. Kathmandu's historic centre has its own pressures because of the density and intensity of the city around it. The same shot may therefore have very different production implications at each location.

This is why we do not like choosing heritage locations from photographs alone. A director may send us a reference image and say, "We want something like this." That is a good starting point. Our job is then to find out where that image can actually be made, what permissions are required, what the location looks like at the relevant time of day, how much access the production needs and whether there is another place in Nepal that can give the same visual result with fewer complications.

Our film production services in Nepal cover this wider process because location choice is rarely an isolated decision. The location has to fit the story, the schedule, the equipment, the people and the practical realities of the production.

Festivals require another level of preparation

Nepal's festivals are one of the reasons international productions want to film here in the first place. They are also one of the reasons schedules can become complicated very quickly.

The calendar matters. A festival can change the movement of an entire neighbourhood. A procession can alter road access. A temple can become much busier than it normally is. A courtyard that appeared completely available during a recce can become the centre of a religious event.

For productions specifically looking to film a festival, this is part of the creative opportunity. For productions that simply happen to be filming during festival season, it needs to be understood in advance. We therefore look at the production calendar against the local calendar. It is a small piece of planning, but it can save a great deal of trouble.

And there are occasions when the festival itself becomes the location. In those situations, the approach is different again. The production has to understand what it is documenting or staging, who is involved, what can and cannot be interrupted, and how the camera can operate without treating the event as a private film set.

There is a difference between filming heritage and using heritage as decoration

Nepal's heritage locations are visually extraordinary, but they are not merely backgrounds. A temple may still be used for worship. A courtyard may belong to a neighbourhood. A shrine may have significance that is not immediately obvious to someone arriving from overseas.

A local production team should be able to explain those things before the shoot. This is not about making a foreign production feel nervous about working in Nepal. Quite the opposite. The more clearly everyone understands the location, the more confidently the production can work.

The Department of Archaeology's responsibilities extend well beyond issuing permissions. Its work includes the documentation, protection and management of historically and archaeologically significant monuments and cultural heritage, including temples, monasteries, inscriptions, festivals and traditions. That wider understanding of heritage matters when we are planning commercial work too.

There are shots that look spectacular but create unnecessary problems. There are other shots that are just as strong and allow the production to work comfortably within the location. Our job is to understand that difference before the shooting day.

Drones are a separate conversation

A heritage production may also want aerial material of the site or surrounding city, and that should be discussed from the beginning.

Ground filming permission does not automatically mean permission to fly. Drone and aerial filming in Nepal can involve additional permissions and coordination with the relevant authorities, and the exact requirements depend on the aircraft, location, operation and circumstances of the shoot. This is one reason we treat drone and aerial filming in Nepal as part of the production planning rather than something added to the call sheet at the last minute.

The important thing for a production is not simply knowing that permission is required. It is allowing enough time to obtain it and making sure the proposed flight is considered alongside the ground production, particularly around sensitive heritage, religious and urban locations.

If aerial work is part of the creative idea, we want to know that when we are planning the shoot, not after the heritage permissions have already been submitted.

The paperwork should reflect the real production

One of the things that makes international filming easier in Nepal is being precise at the beginning.

If the production is bringing a large camera package, tell us. If there are hundreds of people, tell us. If there are animals, special effects, generators, cranes, vehicles or complicated lighting requirements, tell us. If the director wants to move between several heritage locations in one day, tell us that too.

The reason is simple. The paperwork, permits, location management and logistics all have to reflect what is actually going to happen. The more accurate the information is, the fewer surprises there are later.

This is particularly important when international productions bring their own equipment into Nepal. A detailed equipment list is useful for both production planning and customs preparation, and it gives us a realistic understanding of the physical scale of the shoot before we start working out access and movement.

Our line production services in Nepal are built around this kind of coordination. The local production team should be looking at the complete picture rather than treating permits, crew, equipment, transport and locations as unrelated tasks.

Sometimes the best solution is to build part of the location elsewhere

This is another option international productions should keep open.

Nepal has an enormous range of architecture and landscapes. If a particular heritage site is too sensitive for the proposed action, if the crew size is too large, or if the creative requirement involves something that cannot reasonably be done at the original location, we can often look for an alternative.

Sometimes that means another heritage location. Sometimes it means a private courtyard. Sometimes it means a controlled location that has the architectural character the director wants. Sometimes a small section can be recreated.

There is no reason for the famous name of a location to become more important than the scene itself. The audience does not know that the camera was supposed to be three hundred metres away. They only know whether the scene works.

That is also why we maintain a much broader understanding of filming locations across Nepal, rather than limiting location research to the places that already appear in every tourist photograph.

What we ask an international production before we start scouting

The more information we have, the better the first recce will be. We normally want to understand the creative requirement first: what is the scene, what does the director want to see, how many people are involved, what is the intended camera movement, what equipment is coming into Nepal, how much time do you have, and are you looking for a controlled environment or do you want the real life of the location around the action?

From there, we can begin looking at locations, permissions, access, schedules, logistics and the practical side of making the shoot work. A useful first package usually includes the project description, treatment or script, reference images, proposed dates, estimated crew size, equipment requirements, number of extras, vehicle requirements and the locations already being considered.

You do not need to have every answer before approaching us. A treatment, moodboard, location reference or even one paragraph explaining what you are trying to make is enough to begin the conversation. That is also how we approach the wider Filming In Nepal knowledge base, because many productions start researching Nepal long before there is a confirmed booking.

Heritage filming is one part of producing in Nepal

The Kathmandu Valley gets much of the attention because its historic architecture is so immediately recognisable, but productions often combine heritage with very different environments. A commercial may move from a Durbar Square to a modern city street, then to a village, forest, mountain location or studio within the same production. A feature film may need several provinces. A documentary may need access to people and communities as much as it needs a particular monument.

This is where our broader production experience becomes useful.

Location Nepal has been working with international productions in Nepal since 2009, across commercials, television, film, documentaries, stills and more specialised productions. Our work has included location management, fixing, casting, permits, logistics, equipment, high altitude production and the many practical jobs that sit between an overseas production's creative plan and what can actually be achieved on the ground.

The Location Nepal production archive includes international projects such as Nippon Paint, Black Narcissus, Our Girl, Gap Year, Up In The Wind, Samsonite and CELCOM, among many others. They are very different productions, with very different requirements, but together they show something useful about working in Nepal: the country can support a remarkably wide range of production scales and environments when the preparation is done properly.

Heritage filming is one part of that work. It just happens to be a part where preparation is particularly visible when it is done badly.

The most useful conversation usually happens before the recce

If you are considering Nepal for a commercial, television production, feature film, documentary or photography project, send us the idea before you lock everything around a particular location.

We can look at the creative requirement and then work through what Nepal can offer. That might lead us to Bhaktapur. It might lead us to Patan. It might lead us somewhere much less obvious. It might involve a heritage site, a private courtyard, a street that has never appeared in a location library, or a combination of several places that gives the production exactly what it needs.

That is the part of location work I have always enjoyed most. A photograph gives you the beginning of the conversation. The real work starts when you ask how you are actually going to put a crew, a camera, a story and a production into that place without losing what made the place interesting in the first place.

For international productions coming to Nepal, that is where a good local production partner becomes useful. If you already have a brief, treatment, moodboard, location reference or simply an idea you are trying to work out, start a conversation with Location Nepal and we can begin from there.