I worked for a small TV station in western Kansas years ago and helped with remote broadcasts. Depending on location you may need to get a permit from the city (public park, street or beach) or sign a contract with a private party ( a person’s house/property, private lake, etc.) once that is done you need to determine if the people in the space will be hired actors or people from the street, if there is a dialog requiring silence so it can be recorded it is probably hired actors. People from the street require releases to be signed so there is usually a staff member running around after the shot gathering up signatures on contracts. Typically there will be large signs indicating the presence of cameras in action, being in the area after you cross into the area constitutes an acceptance of the guidelines posted on the sign. This widely varies in locations, some require you to be advised verbally instead of a posted notification. There is a lot of work involved with on site shooting, getting all of the permits for a large area and wrangling hundreds of people can cost a lot of money. A famous incident of flying by the seat of their pants is the original Ghostbusters movie. They would take a small film crew and film the actors interacting with locations without permits or approvals, it made for a spontaneous moment but carries a lot of risk.
If production assistants ask people to wait, people tend to wait. It’s something innate in us. Non extras are told to wait for a literal minute.
Legally, on a public street, everyone can walk everywhere. But people are typically reasonable. They are also confused as to how much power the PAs have to stop them.
Former extra here.
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