Pawn Shop resumes filming in Livingston after permit restored

Filming has restarted on Daily Wire's 'Pawn Shop' in Livingston, Montana after city commissioners voted unanimously on the evening of 5 October to restore its street permit.

The decision ended a three-day shutdown. Production had been halted from 3 to 5 October following an earlier commission vote, and the permit was reinstated for Bonfire Pawn Shop LLC, the company behind the shoot, according to Deadline.

The 5 October vote came after a nearly six-hour special meeting to assess whether the production had complied with its original permit. The film had been scheduled to shoot in downtown Livingston through 10 October.

The shutdown followed local backlash and safety concerns. Those included disruption to businesses around the set, including the city's only food bank, and complaints about alleged blank gunshots, pyrotechnics and a staged car wreck without proper notice to nearby residents and businesses, according to Deadline.

Under the revised conditions — the council permission needed to film on public streets — the production agreed to three main changes. It will ensure local access to the Livingston Food Resource Center food pantry, shield the public from the filming of violent scenes and from noise, and ensure private security staff do not police or harass local people on nearby public streets.

Ben Shapiro addressed the shutdown on 'The Ben Shapiro Show'. He said Livingston city commissioners had stopped production on the street for "politics, pure and simple", and he described the action as content discrimination and a breach of the First Amendment, the US law that protects free speech, according to Deadline.

The film includes a dramatisation of the fatal shooting of Renee Good by immigration officers in Minnesota in January. That scene formed part of the local debate around the shoot.