Netflix staged a fake homeless encampment at Battery and California Streets in the Financial District for a thriller called "2034" — realistic enough that residents called 311.

Tents lined Battery Street this month, enough of them that a commuter named Andrew Eljumaily stopped and took stock. "I was walking around, and there's a million tents everywhere, which seems more than normal for this area," he told ABC7. It was more than normal. It was also a film set.

The production was Netflix's "2034," a thriller directed by Joseph Gordon-Levitt and starring Rachel McAdams and Jeff Daniels. The fake encampment — constructed on Battery near California in the Financial District — was convincing enough that some residents called 311, believing the scene was real, according to SFGate and the Chronicle. Downtown cleaning crew workers on Battery were the ones fielding questions from the curious and the confused. "It looked real," passerby Bei Liu told CBS News. "I didn't know it was for a movie, but it looked pretty real to me." A post on r/sanfrancisco captured the street-level reaction: "I watched people walk by looking horrified."

No specific film permit number for the Battery Street shoot was available in public records reviewed for this piece. Film permits in San Francisco must be submitted at least seven business days before filming through Film SF, which coordinates approvals across city departments — but those records aren't routinely published in searchable form.

The production is operating under the city's "Scene in San Francisco" incentive program, which offers qualifying productions up to a 100% rebate on city fees and tiered rebates on local spending. Film SF estimates productions in the city generate roughly $625,000 per day in direct economic impact. Carolyn Tyler, a Film SF commissioner, acknowledged the friction the scene caused while defending the broader stakes. "It was disturbing and sad," she told ABC7, "because it's not just about these big filmmakers and actors making money. It's the trickle-down economy, everything from hotels to caterers."

"2034" is part of a larger pattern of Netflix activity in the city. Morgan Sackett, executive producer of Netflix's A Man on the Inside, said the incentive program was decisive in his decision to bring Season 3 of that show to San Francisco to shoot extensively. "I believe this new film incentive will go a long way to restoring San Francisco as a filmmakers' destination," Sackett told the Chronicle.

The tents on Battery Street are already gone. The block is back to being the kind of corner you walk through on the way somewhere else.