People who are filming for money, and I don't mean a $50 real Estate snap shot, have professional photographer/videographer organizations who can fight for them. They are expensive to join and unless you are making real money they probably won't give you the time of day.
I firmly believe that the majority of us simply want to go out and get a great video of our favorite vacation spot or that National Park we visited.
Unfortunately our waters have been muddied by the people posting their questionable flying on You Tube. We all know who they are and we can condemn them and call them names but they are not going to go away and the FAA is not about to let that sort of behavior continue so that are slapping down all flying. Well, not all because AMA clubs will (I hope) continue to fly under the AMA guidelines. The FAA does not have a police force to enforce any of their guidlines/regulations but if necessary they will enlist Barney Fife to do it for them. That should be the big concern about this latest ruling. If that happens then you may as well pack up your stuff, put it on eBay and settle for 5 cents on the dollar because that is all it'll be worth.
My feeling is that supporting the AMA, the ONLY organization even working on this, is the best idea.
My feeling also is that the FAA may be reacting to the law suits filed by the AMA and some others.
The particular mood in DC for the past few years has been very one sided and the agencies have been empowered to do as they damn well please no matter what public opinion is and friends, that ain't over yet.
Sorry, there's parts of this I disagree with. The MPAA stepped into this long before they supported the COA for the six companies that got them. Most of the trade organizations you mentioned for photographers and videographers are concerned about protecting the livelihood of their current members and although some of the existing membership are using drones for AP that represents an overwhelming minority. So I don't think any of the professional trade organizations, such as they are today, are going to step up to meet this challenge and even if they did what do they know about it?
This issue is not about the rules and regulations, its about whether we have the right to do this and who gets to define what THIS is. Although the AMA knows a lot about the RC World what do they know about protecting the rights of small UAS business owners? I'm not slamming them, they are doing exactly what they should be doing, protecting the rights of the hobbyist. Filmfly has eloquently made the case for creating an advocacy group to represent the rights of sUAS small business owners which should not be in conflict with either the AMA or AOPA so although I hear some skepticism from FlyGirl and you make a good point that the AMA is the ONLY I think Filmfly's recommendations is to change that. Let's create an organization that helps the AMA and that can earn the respect of AOPA, EAA and other member organizations that will have an impact on our future.
If you've read the threads I've been on regarding this issue you know that I am passionate about this issue and my support for it is not mutually exclusive, I support the AMA and will whole heartedly support any effort to create an organization that supports my right to fly commercially.
So I actually think this might be easier than we think, FlyGirl you started this thread so I kind of consider it yours, I'm going to go to the thread that I started, "Promoting Commercial sAUS" and ask everyone who contributed to the video, volunteered to help at the air show and participated in the discussion to join Filmfly on the "Representation for Commercial sUAS" thread, not to continue the debate but to start the organization, so I'm asking that you do the same.
I agree with Filmfly that the people who film for a living should band together. There should be a professional organization even if there was no need to take on the FAA. The trick is getting someone to actually try to do it and I don't hear any individual stepping up to that plate to take a swing at it. I have heard people talk about AOPA and it seems to me that they might be the best ones to handle the profession especially if COA's and Certifications are going to be the requirement. I don't know if anyone (probably not) has even tried to see if they would be amenable to taking on the fight. If they did though, the AMA and AOPA along with the group of resellers that was formed could be a pretty formidable group.
