The permit costs $500 for each consecutive fourteen day period of a project, and that one fee carries police assistance, parking privileges and access to most exterior locations at no further charge. A filmmaker who can show they cannot pay it can ask for a waiver.
When a shoot needs no permit at all
There is no permit if the shoot uses a hand held camera, or a camera on a tripod, with hand held props and hand held equipment, and it does not claim exclusive use of city property. The rest of the conditions are that nobody carries a prop weapon, no prop vehicle appears, nobody performs a stunt, no actor wears a police uniform, and no production vehicle asks for parking privileges.
That covers a good deal of documentary and small crew work.
When it needs one
A permit is required for equipment packages, and for production vehicles that want parking privileges. Personal cars, minivans, SUVs and pickup trucks do not count as production vehicles here. It is also required to claim exclusive use of city property, to use prop weapons or prop vehicles, to put an actor in a police uniform, to run a stunt on set, or to ask for NYPD or FDNY assistance.
Insurance
The production carries commercial general liability cover of at least $1,000,000 per occurrence, in the name of the entity applying for the permit. The certificate reaches the Film Office 48 hours before the online application goes in, so insurance is the piece to start first. Students can be granted a waiver.