Benjamin Button was set in my Montreal neighborhood. Two streets were "Paris," and another was "Moscow." They filmed in summer and trucked in faux snow.

And last week, I was the Hampton Jitney on Sherbrooke -- it was clearly there for a film (unless there's some special Montreal-Montauk service I don't know about).

Er, I SAW the Jitney, not "was."

I went to Gonzaga U in Spokane, WA. It's sort of a dreary and empty town, but it has the "look" of a big city. There are lots of fairly nondescript buildings and the GU campus is every bit the standard college package. It's a convenient place to film, because there aren't many people to bother, and it's CHEAP.

As bizarre and amusing as it is to run into Christian Slater on your way to work, it's less entertaining to be nearly trampled by a stampede of extras filming a "panicked mob at a parade/assassination" scene. Especially if you've got no clue what's going on and you're left to wonder what on earth the marching band is running from...

My partner works in film, my brother works in film, four or five of my closest friends work in different areas of film. This is an area where I have an absurd amount of knowledge - the most notorious lately would be filming a VERY small independent on the Bridle Path in Toronto and hearing about having to get the permissions of neighbours in order to film - apparently Gordon Lightfoot's a sweetheart and Conrad Black's butler didn't really know what to say.

They constantly shoot that Jason Schwartzman/Ted Danson series in Ft. Greene and screw up all the parking for the neighborhood. And the buses take forever to make it down DeKalb with their row of trailers parked there.

I don't know what the local ordinances are in Montreal, but there is at least the possibility that they cannot do this without your consent and potentially compensating you.

We have filming almost every day! We live in downtown Los Angeles and didn't realize until we moved in our little pocket of town has a ton of filming. Nearly every car commercial on television contains scenes from behind our house and there are reality tv shows, scripted tv and movies... not to mention the print ads.

The one that really excited us though, was realizing that they film all of the exterior bar scenes from It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia in front of the building behind ours! A couple of weeks ago they were doing a scene where Danny DeVito pulls up in a yellow Lambo wearing a matching yellow jumpsuit!

Here are some pics on Flickr that I took from our roof:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sparkershop/3550436158/in/set-72157617608444862/

There was a Robert De Niro film set in my town last summer, and a Harrison Ford movie the summer before that. It was fun to see all the trailers, lights, crew and dressed-up extras everywhere (especially since none of this happened on my particular street).

I once almost barreled straight into De Niro one morning as he was stepping out of his trailer on my way to a class. I was whizzing by because I was running late and only had enough time to think "Wow! That was Robert De Niro! He's short!"

"...but there is at least the possibility that they cannot do this without your consent and potentially compensating you."

Um, they're on a public thouroughfare - not on/in her private property. Residents and businesses have no say in the matter.

As long as the filmmakers have their permits w/ the city and aren't altering anyone's private property, they can do pretty much what they want.

They filed the 1988 John Hughes movie, 'She's Having a Baby" across the street from my parents house - someone on the set lost their dog and stopped by to use my parent's phone to call the local police (remember the pre-cell phone days?) - they were really nice and offered to let my mom come down and watch the filming.

Then I was driving a friend through my hometown and we stumbled upon a full-on Christmas display complete with fake snow so we parked the car to get out and watch the filming. We watched a scene where a stunt man rang a doorbell and got and electrical charge and flipped off the front steps of a house (actually the house where I took my Brownie/Girl Scouts oath). As we were leaving we asked the cop on duty what was being filmed and she told us it was a John Hughes production about a little kid who got left behind when his family went on vacation. I thought that sounded pretty stupid and figured the movie would fail. I guess it's good I'm not in the film industry.

When The Dark Knight was filming in Chicago, I saw Heath Ledge skateboard by once with green Joker hair and a Starbucks in hand.

And ER used to shoot tons of scenes under the el tracks next to my office building. No Dr. Doug sitings, though, unfortunately.

"We have filming almost every day!"

Same here in SF - I see so many production crews here, doing films, commercials as well as still photography for print ads websites and brochures.

At least half the car commercials, car brochures and photos for websites are shot in downtown San Francisco on Saturdays.

This happened to me when I was staying with friends at the artist residency in far remotest Iceland (Seydisfjordur)! Turns out they were filming a commercial, and when we got back from a day trip, they wouldn't let us in until they'd gotten their shot!

Those stage crew trucks seriously can hog up all the parking space!! When they came over to the next block in Belmont Shore, it was brutal than an interesting experience. We were already suffering from minimal parking space in our neighborhood. I was so glad they didnt stay overnight or that would'va caused a riot at our block.

Tequila red, wow--thanks for sharing that. that leaves a better lasting image in my head about Heath's real self.

There is "filming" on my block this weekend! The area around our apt is full of one way streets, and they blocked my route home. Now I have to drive 2 more blocks and go in a dang circle to get into my parking garage.

It is also a night scene, and the lights are very annoying. They have a ton of security, and tents so we really have no idea what they are filming.

A movie with Neil Patrick Harris has been filming on my street in Philadelphia for the past week. Everyone from the crew has been fairly quiet and respectful -- and pretty cool about letting little kids take a look at the equipment. I can imagine it would be a hassle if one were looking for parking since their trucks are taking up about 4 blocks of prime street parking, but thats fortunately not a problem for us.

A couple of years ago, several outside shots from the movie In Her Shoes was filmed where we used to live, and that was vastly more disruptive.

my parents were approached and asked if they wanted their home to appear regularly in Lincoln Heights (tv show??). My parents have a creepy halloweeny/paint peeling/no lawn looking place. My parents are still debating it. We have at least 1 or 2 filmings a year on our street and they're part fun/horrible.

"As long as the filmmakers have their permits w/ the city and aren't altering anyone's private property..."

Um...I'd say shining a spotlight directly into someone's home as this post suggests is happening is altering their property, and in many jurisdictions could be considered trespassing. Also a lot of towns have started instituting lighting regulations to control "light pollution."

"...they can do pretty much what they want."

Pretty generalized statement. I suppose you've never heard of noise regulations before? The point is they can do whatever they want within the parameters of their permit. I don't think a simple permit to utilize a public thoroughfare allows you free reign in that space.

When I lived in Paris in the 5th arrondissement, there would be loads of filming on my street (rue mouffetard). I made friends with a Malaysian crew filming a romantic comedy on my street one night, and they asked me to be an extra in a cafe scene! I even got a free glass of wine out of it.

They also shot a Nora Ephron film (Julie and Julia) last year on the mouffe' and changed all the store fronts so that they were circa 1930s. I

Lots of Lawn Order stuff near where I work in Hamilton Heights. When I first started there it took me a while to figure out that the swarms of cop cars were there for more benign reasons.

When I lived in Philly where the swarms of cop cars were seldom benign, there was a movie being filmed across the street from my work building and they displaced a lot of lunch trucks earning the eternal ire of some of us and an entire block of parking next to a hospital earning the eternal ire of others.

They filmed a NZ film 'River Queen' in my wee hometown while I was at high school and working part-time at a supermarket, and although I didn't see any of the filming (they were doing it right up the Wanganui River as it was a period drama), I wound up selling Kiefer Sutherland Epsom salts one night. It was fairly amusing and livened up my evening.

A movie with Meryl Streep has been filming in my city (Santa Barbara; supposed to be out at Christmas), although not my neighborhood. Lots of blocked off blocks of the downtown area, but not too bad overall. I haven't seen Ms. Streep, but practically everyone I know has.

At least you have something exciting going on. I do think it is possible they may pay you for your inconvenience (as per one of the above posters).

At some point during the winter, they filmed an episode of Rescue Me directly outside of my windows in Bushwick, Brooklyn. The scene involved numerous fire trucks and a rather intense car crash. The strangest part of the whole scenario was peering out of my window at the stuntmen smiling and high-fiving after t-boning the two cars they were driving at the corner. Not an especially pleasant way to wake up in the morning, but an interesting one nonetheless.

The Law and Order crew blew up an abandoned building just down the street from my nieces' pre-school in NYC a few years back. Needless to say, there was a nursery full of frightened little peanuts who needed soothing after that.