Sudden appearance of sprawling San Francisco homeless encampment turns out to be a movie set

“Sudden appearance of sprawling San Francisco homeless encampment turns out to be a movie set”: Residents in San Francisco were surprised when a sprawling line of tents appeared overnight on Battery Street near the Financial District, prompting confusion among commuters heading to work Friday morning. The encampment looked convincing enough that some passersby compared it to Tenderloin and initially assumed city homeless sites had been moved. Local residents later learned it was part of a film set for a new Netflix AI thriller, directed by Joseph Gordon-Levitt and starring Rachel McAdams and Jeff Daniels. The city’s ability to attract productions is linked to incentives, including a $1 million cash rebate approved earlier by the Board of Supervisors. Additional support can come through California’s tax and credit program, with the film commission citing 120 global incentives. The Motion Picture Association estimates filming on location generates about $625,000 per day, without counting broader tourism effects from showcasing San Francisco on screen.