With films, TV series and internet shorts at every angle, we are eager to visit the locations where our favourite’s were filmed, but whats the bigger picture?

When you google “film set locations” you are greeted with over 3 billion results. The majority of them are lists of recommendations on famous filming locations you can visit in real life!

Who wouldn’t want to visit the place where their favourite character or movie star came to life? Live in that moment and even get some selfie’s on the way!

The most popular filming locations right now are Game of Thrones, Harry Potter, American Horror Story and Breaking Bad.

While it may seem like an exciting idea to visit these filming locations, many of them are beginning to struggle with over tourism. With many locations being on small streets or hard to access areas, the local infrastructure struggles to keep up.

Breaking Bad – Netflix

The filming location for the main character in Netflix’s Breaking bad became an incredibly popular location to visit. Unfortunately for the owners of the house, it quickly became a problem for them.

Quoted telling KOB4 News in Albuqerque that the number of fans stopping by her house was “ridiculous” and that she had lost count of how many people she’d see.

Visiting tourists were also have found to of been removing rocks from their front garden, getting angry if denied access and even attempting to react the roof pizza scene.

As a result of the chaos from fans, the owners of the house have now installed a 6-foot iron fence around the property.

American Horror Story – FX

Another location where home owners have fallen victim to fandoms is the Murder house from the popular show American Horror Story. This FX original program borrowed this filming location from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Bones and Law and Order: SVU.

Due to the increased popularity of the show American Horror story, owners Ernst Von Schwarz and Angela Oakenfold said they were horrified when 100s of fans were descending on their door step on a daily basis.

Some fans have been ambitious enough to get a glance that they have attempted to climb over fences and walls just to get that once in a life time photograph.

Voc Schwarz and Oakenfold also told CBS News that they are “suing the former homeowner and their realtor for unspecified damages to build a permanent fence or hedge around the mansion.”

Game of Thrones

Game of Thrones has been one of the biggest television programmes in the last 10 years. Hundreds of fans have flocked to various filming locations of the fantasy TV show, but once again to the determent of the landscape.

Iceland’s Fjadrárgljúfur Canyon served as the backdrop for Justin Bieber’s “I’ll Show You” music video and for some episodes of “Game of Thrones.”

The Environment Agency of Iceland estimates that more than 1 million people have visited the canyon since 2015. Unfortunately, this has begun to wear away the natural landscape due to the sheer amount of foot traffic each day.

In May of 2020 The Environment Agency of Iceland reported that because the location was so overwhelmed by the amount of tourists, government officials have had to install signs and enforced park rangers to deter visitors.

Frozen – Disney 

Disney’s ground breaking film Frozen released in 2013 made over 1.28 billion USD in the box office and continues to increase in popularity each year.

This children’s cartoon about Anna searching for Elsa, her sister who has the power to convert any object or person into ice was based upon a real life location.

This town is called Hallstatt, based in Austria. With a population of less than 800 people it struggles to maintain the influx of up to 10,000 tourists a day. 

Although the tourism has brought in significant business and a boost to the local economy, residents are becoming agitated with flocks of selfie hungry fans.

Tips on how you can responsibly visit film locations:

• Be respectful: When visiting these destinations, remember that people live and work in this space. Don’t make excessive amounts of noise or attempt to climb into people’s properties.
• Visit out of season: Find out when high season is for your dream film location and visit when it’s low season. Not only will the locals thank you for reducing crowds, your photos will look better!
• Don’t hang around: Once you’ve had a chance to take that all important selfie, make sure to move on to your next location. This helps to reduce crowds as well as inconvenience for local people.

Everyone should get the chance to visit their favourite film set at some time in their life but, it’s imperative to remember that the top trending location is probably not the best!