Whoops, probably should have done a "more inside." Sorry.

Permits are absolutely required even for the smallest of shoots here in L.A. Even if it looks like characters are just "walking down the street or something," there is a significant amount of production infrastructure outside the frame, and that can't just be done in the middle of the city without accommodations being made.

"Hollywood" Oh god yes, they're filming a pilot near my building and anything outdoors requires trucks, lights, tents, wires, union reps, crew. I always thought that was the reason that any exterior shot on 30 Rock is basically "the alleyway behind Silvercup Studios" cause location shooting so time-consuming and expensive.

Avoiding the expense and hassle of location shoots drives a lot more production choices then you'd think - I remember the RJM podcasts about Battlestar episodes explaining that scene episode had to be limited to a few rooms cause they needed to budget for big space battles later or the only reason we're in the basestar now is cause the set is actually just the exposed walls of the soundstage cause they needed to save as much money as possible.

In fact I've heard from a few people that the dramatic lighting and shadowy sets of 4s-era film was to disguise cheaper backlot sets and re-used interiors and deal with war-time blackout restrictions.

er 40s-era.

In NYC, permits, for sure. It's not as easy as just showing up with the actors and a camera. There's a MASSIVE amount of crew and vehicles (trailers, etc) involved in even the simplest of shots. Generally they get a permit and the street is shut down for 1-2 days.

You have to remember, too, that there are a lot of union workers involved in a film shoot (SAG for actors; not sure about crew), so there are all sorts of rules governing how things are done.

Even the simplest shots take lots of prep and organization. They filmed a shot in the movie Abduction on my block that was just 15 seconds of a car driving down the street and it took hours to do. They sent out flyers two weeks in advance warning us to move our cars on that date and to stay off the street during the shoot.

Wow, interesting answers. Thanks for the info!

SAG for actors; not sure about crew

IATSE, right? There are also separate guilds for directors and editors.

When I was on 20/20 and they wanted a shot of me walking down the street in NY, they just shot it and that was that. Not a Hollywood blockbuster, of course.

I think that I have heard of low-budget, indie projects winging it, and sometimes getting caught and sometimes getting a way with the shot. Don't ask where I heard/read this.

"News/Information" shows sometimes get a pass on permits, how else could a reporter show up at the scene?

Also the amount of crew and equipment is way way less

Here's a tip for the new Age of Intellectual Property: If the City gives a film crew a permit to shoot on your street, wait for the TV show/movie to come out, check to see if any property of yours is visible in the scene and make a formal complaint of copyright violation. Because the color you painted your house (or even the visible-from-outside drapery in your apartment) is YOUR intellectual property.

Because they are doing exactly the same thing to everybody else...

Hmmmm.....I think my dad had that covered a while ago, but not for those reasons.

My parents' next door neighbors are incapable of living within their means and constantly rent out their house for filming, which also disrupts the entire block.

I think that I have heard of low-budget, indie projects winging it, and sometimes getting caught and sometimes getting a way with the shot.

It happens all the time. I've seen film students' sets get shut down by the cops for filming in a quiet park on a Sunday afternoon. Guerrilla filmmaking is possible, but you have to be ready to bolt or disperse in case Officer Krupke comes by.

As for professional films, I've been involved in two shoots. For both, they came in days ahead, staked it all out, then during the shooting day they put up stanchions and cleared entire areas, one a several-block radius of parklike area around a big old wooden church and one a boardwalk and beach area. Nobody got in the stanchions unless they were part of the film in some way. I was an extra in one of these films and they just scattered us around the parklike area and we were supposed to just be walking, chatting on benches, reading, etc - acting like people in a park. This was fun for about 30 minutes but unfortunately it went on for many hours, until sunset IIRC. So my impression was that no, if you see it on a major Hollywood film it was directed, not just 'background.' I don't know at what scale the need for this to be the case disappears -- I can't imagine it's true for crazy helicopter shots of cities, but who knows.