This is why you need to get permits

Every year some indie auteur or student film maker tries to "fly under the radar" and not bother with permits or the simple expedient courtesy of calling up the desk sergeant at the local precinct to tell them " we are staging a fake crime scene for a movie shoot at x location and z time, just so you know." And people risk getting their heads blown off for no good reason.

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SALEM, Mass., Aug. 24 (UPI) -- Police officers in North Andover, Mass., accidentally interrupted a movie set thinking it was the site of a robbery attempt, a director says.
Director John Depew said he was filming a scene at a North Andover convenience store last weekend when police officers suddenly stormed in to apprehend their suspects, Boston's WCVB-TV reported Sunday.

"They came in and they said, 'Drop the gun' and I couldn't see the officer because he was behind (me)," Depew said. "I said, 'It's a movie, it's a movie -- we're filming a movie!'"

Depew said two actors playing robbers for the last Sunday's scene were placed in handcuffs by the officers, but were released after the situation was explained.

WCVB-TV said the confusion was brought about by a mistaken 911 call from an unidentified individual who said an actual robbery was taking place at the store.