Film Locations

Are they shooting a TV episode on your block? Has a location scout asked to use your house to film a TV commercial? Has a police car chase scene for next summer's action thriller tied up your commute home? Dealing with location filming is as much a part of living in Los Angeles as Sig Alerts and Lakers flags. Still, the rubberneckers in us are curious to know what is filming on location, and where.

WASHINGTON - Although the prospect of drones flying over U.S. cities is generating cries of spies in the skies, groups from California to Florida are fiercely competing to become one of six federally designated sites for testing how the remotely piloted aircraft can safely be incorporated into the nation's airspace. North Dakota boasts of its "minimal air traffic congestion. " North Carolina, whose license plates read "First in Flight," cites its aviation history. California pitches its diverse geography: desert, mountains and ocean.

The Chamber of Commerce is encouraging residents to get into the movie business. The Orange County Film Commission is expanding its list of potential movie locations in the area, and the chamber is inviting property owners willing to offer their homes or offices as potential film locations to submit photographs of them. The Orange County Fairgrounds were the setting recently for scenes in a movie directed by Tom Hanks.

A tour of four architecturally distinctive Altadena homes that have been used as film locations for movies and television will be held today by the Altadena Guild of Pasadena's Huntington Memorial Hospital. Parking for the tour is in the Great Western Bank parking lot at 2246 N. Lake, Altadena. A shuttle bus will carry visitors to the homes. Tickets, $19, can be purchased at the first home. Two gardens also will be on the tour, and complimentary tea will be served in one of them.

IN A lengthy article about the spirit and physicality of Los Angeles in film ["The 25 Best L.A. Films of the Last 25 Years," Aug. 31], I see no allusion to the fact that without location managers, these films would not exist. Nowadays, location managers bear the burden of finding, clearing, booking, permitting and managing film locations. It's an unsung job, but on the few occasions that a major article touches upon this subject, it would seem to me that location managers rate at least a mention.

The Palos Verdes Estates City Council last week introduced an ordinance limiting motion picture filming at private residences to one time per year. If the ordinance is adopted as expected at the next council meeting, it will become effective Feb. 23. Motion picture companies have been required since 1988 to obtain a permit before filming in the city. But city officials have reported a growing number of complaints about frequent filmings at some homes.

The secret is out. The life and lore of the legendary 007 will be celebrated Oct. 23-27 in Jamaica at the James Bond Festival. Sponsored by the Jamaica Tourist Board and private companies, the festival will open Goldeneye, the former home of Bond's creator Ian Fleming, to public tours for the first time.

I enjoyed your "Set Pieces" article about Edward Doheny's Greystone Mansion, one of my favorite L.A. film locations [" 'Blood' Work: Digging Up a Mansion's Mystery," Dec. 27]. But if the makers of "There Will Be Blood" had tracked down the ingeniously economical Fox B-picture "The Day Mars Invaded Earth," which was shot extensively on the grounds in 1962, they would have found that the disused bowling alley had been seen on film, fully functional, in black-and-white CinemaScope. "Mars" provides probably the most extensive tour of the property, inside and out, of all the features that were shot there, including such better-known works as "The Loved One" and "The Disorderly Orderly."

MOVIES Who needs Coachella when a weekend of stellar cinema awaits you at the TCM Classic Film Festival? This year's installment features a variety of beloved favorites — including "Cabaret," "The Searchers" and "Chinatown" — screened in A-list venues such as Grauman's Chinese Theatre and the Egyptian. TCM Classic Film Festival, locations, times and prices vary. Thu.-Sun. http://www.tcm.com/festival.