Why do some films choose to shoot scenes spontaneously in crowded areas like NYC without getting permits?

 Getting the permits necessary to shut down New York City streets and other public areas can be extremely expensive. And if your film does not have a budget for that, you simply film your scene the best you can while New Yorkers go about their lives.

To give you an idea how expensive we’re talking, during the filming of Vanilla Sky it cost $1 million to seal off Times Square for three hours and film a single scene there.

(Times Square, all closed off for the filming of Vanilla Sky, one Sunday morning in November.)

Now Times Square is a much bigger lift than other places in the City, but it helps put things in perspective.

To shut a street down completely, you will need a plan to deal with the traffic problem you’re about to cause, permits to do so and the NYPD to do all the work of traffic control and pedestrian diversion for you. And you can bet you’re paying for the NYPD officers to block the street off.

Because this is a major pain in the neck for New York City, and you will pay through your nose for the privilege.

Instead, you can simply go out and film right on an open street, no permits necessary. But this does mean you will deal with the crowds and the traffic whether you like it or not.

And trust me, this can be an issue.

(“Hey, I’m walking here.” Though the real incident behind this scene wasn’t used in the film, the production recreated it using a rented cab with an extra behind the wheel to get a better take a bit more safely.)

One of the most famous scenes in film history was improvised after a real life taxi nearly ran down Jon Voight and Dustin Hoffman as they crossed a busy New York street during the filming of Midnight Cowboy.