History Main / YouJustRuinedTheShot

* ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfTarzan'': In "Tarzan and the Silver Screen" Tarzan saves a woman from a rockslide, only to discover it was actually a shot for a jungle film and the actor who was supposed to save her reveals the "rocks" are just hollow props. Tarzan's incredible acrobatics do impress the director though and he's hired as the film's stuntman, to the displeasure of ThePrimaDonna star.

Subtrope of AndYouThoughtItWasReal. Compare AbuseMistake, ProsceniumReveal. Contrast with AllPartOfTheShow and SomeNuttyPublicityStunt. Often implies ArtisticLicenseFilmProduction.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TwiceUponATime'', Rod Rescueman saves Flora Fauna from what he thinks is an actual giant gorilla, but is just a Film/KingKong-themed nightmare being filmed at the Murkworks.

* Subverted in the Creator/RamseyCampbell novel ''The Grin of the Dark.'' The protagonist at one point passes by a bedroom and sees two beautiful young women about to have sex. They beckon to him, he enters the bedroom, and when he sees a camera crew recording the girls for an adult film he apologizes for ruining the shot. The director chides that he didn't ruin the shot by entering the room, it was because he looked into the camera instead of joining the girls without hesitation. Then she offers him a retake, which he politely declines.

* An episode of ''Series/{{Castle}}'' has Castle mistakenly come to the conclusion that one of his mother's acting partners from when they were young, with whom she had recently reconnected, was the murderer of the week. Rushing back, he discovers him holding a knife to his mother's neck; Beckett pulls out a gun and tells him to drop the weapon... it was a prop knife. They were rehearsing a scene, by way of reminiscing about old times.

* In the new ''Franchise/GreenLantern #1'' (circa Sept. 2011), Hal jumped from his apartment into the building next door in an attempt to stop what he believed to be a case of domestic abuse. Only after he starts pounding the snot out of the guy does he (and the reader) see the film crew.

* ''Franchise/SpiderMan'':
** In the ''ComicBook/SpiderMan'' Annual #4, Spidey disrupted a movie starring the Human Torch, believing his rival hero has gone mad, and is attacking {{Innocent Bystander}}s.
** In a bit of an inversion, in the ''Ultimate'' series, Doc Ock attacks the Spider-Man movie set, and footage of the real Spidey fighting the real Doc Ock is put into the finished movie.

** Another early issue of ''Amazing Spider-Man'' had Spidey ruining a movie shoot under the belief that aliens were invading. One of the stuntmen would eventually turn to a life of crime since it ruined his career. This trope follows web-head around a lot for some reason.
** Inverted in the first issue featuring the Green Goblin. The Goblin gets a movie studio to hire Spidey in hopes that he would have an opportunity to kill Peter and gain power in the criminal underworld. Spider-Man agrees. They start filming a "fight scene" and he begins to slowly come to the realization that Green Goblin isn't a stuntman but is rather an AxCrazy villain trying to kill him.

Compare AbuseMistake, ProsceniumReveal. Contrast with AllPartOfTheShow and SomeNuttyPublicityStunt. Often implies ArtisticLicenseFilmProduction.

%%* This happened to Impulse in an issue of ''ComicBook/YoungJustice''.

* One episode of ''WesternAnimation/WanderOverYonder'' has Wander rescuing a woman from a fire, and then being told he ruined the shoot. Then the camera catches on fire, and he put it out... only to be told he ruined the shoot. Turns out they were filming a movie about filming a movie.

The Hero (often a LordErrorProne or ComedicHero) hears a cry for help, or sees a crime taking place. Rushing in to save the DamselInDistress, he knocks the villain to the ground and -- a cameraman appears from hiding and upbraids him for ruining the shot. The damsel may start flicking through the script, or the crook complains that the director is taking EnforcedMethodActing too far. Either way, the hero is left to slink away apologetically, feeling like TheDitz he is.

Sometimes they're a FishOutOfWater who doesn't understand the medium at hand, and tries to raid a theatre stage.

* One episode of ''Manga/CardcaptorSakura'' had Sakura encounter her brother accusing his best friend of some foul deed. She rushes in to intervene, only to discover that it was all a student movie filming for his class's SchoolFestival. The director didn't seem to mind, and decides to include Sakura in the movie.

* In the new ''Franchise/GreenLantern #1'' (circa Sept. 2011) had Hal jump from his apartment into the building next door in an attempt to stop what he believed to be a case of domestic abuse. Only after he starts pounding the snot out of the guy does he (and the reader) see the film crew.

* In [[http://occupyrichierich.tumblr.com/post/69214763211/the-servants-rush-to-interfere-only-because-they one]] ''ComicBook/RichieRich'' story, Richie's friend Jackie Jokers attempts a serious role for a change, but his scenes kept being ruined by the Rich family servants attempting to cater to his percieved needs (specifically Chef Pierre, Cadbury the butler, and Bascomb the chauffeur). The director gives up on the movie, but it was eventually released as a comedy instead.

* The ''Action Figure Theatre''’s Series/DoctorWho story “If Only” has the Doctor seeing a woman being menaced by a monster and runs in to knock it down… but the gets shown off the set by an irate director. Subverted, in that the ruined take gave them more footage to work with than any of the other ones (where the actress kept missing her mark).
* This is how Kirito meets Leafa in ''WebVideo/SwordArtOnlineAbridged'', when he literally crash-lands on a scene of three Salamander players menacing a lone Sylph. They're actually a bunch of [[TheRoleplayer roleplayers]] acting out an IHaveYouNowMyPretty scenario, and Leafa, though a Kendo veteran in real life, eagerly begs the Mysterious Stranger to "rescue" her so she can be a proper DamselInDistress.

* ''Film/TheNakedGun'': In the first film Frank Drebin defends his CowboyCop behavior by mentioning the time he saw a bunch of men stabbing someone to death in the park and he shot them. The mayor says that it was a stage-in-the-park production of ''Theatre/JuliusCaesar'', and Frank shot five actors--[[SelfDeprecation good ones]]!

* A woman finally convinces her husband to go to the opera with him. [[MenAreUncultured He's completely bored]], but going along with it. At the beginning of the third act, he asks his wife where the restroom is. She half whispers and half mumbles directions to him, and he sets off. He gets hopelessly lost in the opera house. Finally he open up a door to find a lovely courtyard with a fountain in the middle. He decides when you gotta go, you gotta go, so he pees in the fountain and eventually finds his way back to his seat as the opera is ending. "Oh dear," he says with feigned sadness; "did I miss the rest of the Opera?" His wife replies "No, Harry, ''you were in it''."

** In one book Alice meets a few strangely dressed and talking old men, and believes them to be time travelers. They are actually robotic actors.

** The witches all do this later on. There was a mix-up where the real witches went to confront the troupe and were mistaken for the actors, while the actors had been mistaken for the real witches and arrested. So Granny, Nanny and Magrat spend the time they're on stage picking apart the fake flame, questioning why nobody cleaned the cauldron out, and generally making everyone laugh when they shouldn't be. That wasn't the only thing that made the performance [[TheShowMustGoWrong an utter disaster]], but it didn't help.

* On ''Series/Batman1966'', the Caped Crusader interrupts the Penguin filming a bank robbery scene for his movie. It's all part of the Penguin's plan, forcing Batman to star in the Penguin's movie to avoid a lawsuit. Subverted as Batman reveals to Robin that he did see the cameras but decided to play along in order to find out what the Penquin's scheme was.

** Earlier in the episode, [[TheDitz George]] goes to the theatre with Edmund. After seeing the murder scene at the end of the play, he calls for the "perpetrator" to be arrested, not realising that it was made up. Immediately after, a genuine BombThrowingAnarchist storms the stage and threatens Prince George, who responds by applauding wildly and chiding his butler for "Not realising when something's made-up", thus managing to invoke both this trope, and AllPartOfTheShow within a single scene.

* An episode of ''Series/{{Castle}}'' has Castle mistakenly come to the conclusion that one of his mother's acting partners from when they were young, with whom who she had recently reconnected, was the murderer of the week. Rushing back, he discovers him holding a knife to his mother's neck; Beckett pulls out a gun and tells him to drop the weapon... it was a prop knife. They were rehearsing a scene, by way of reminiscing of old times.

** In "Fade in to Murder", Columbo ruins the take of the VillainOfTheWeek, an actor who's the lead in his own DetectiveDrama. The backstage crew try to quietly shoo Columbo away, but he keeps walking back-and-forth into camera view until the actor notices Columbo and they have to cut.

* The ''Series/HettyWainthroppInvestigates'' episode "Widdershins" has the title character intervene in what she thinks is a Satanic ritual and VirginSacrifice. The participants mock her and unmask to reveal that they are villagers she's met... and then the director shouts at them to cut and take it back to the start of the scene, and takes Hetty aside to explain that it's a community film and ask for an apology.

* Subverted in the ''Series/{{NCIS}}'' episode "Bloodbath". Team Gibbs arrive at a company in the business of cleaning up crime scenes, and sees people slumped in the foyer with bullet holes in them. They burst in with guns drawn, only to have their picture taken as the owner was staging the shot for an advertisement. He's annoyed at first, until he looks at the photo and realises that the addition of gun-toting feds actually improves the shot.

* ''Series/StarTrekVoyager''. In "Bride of Chaotica" [[EnergyBeings photonic aliens]] enter the holodeck program "The Adventures of Captain Proton!" and mistake it for reality, starting a war with meglomaniac MadScientist Dr Chaotica. Voyager's crew try to tell them it's not real, but as the aliens can only detect lifeforms similar to themselves they believe Voyager is some kind of illusion. In the end the crew have to enter the game and help the aliens defeat Dr Chaotica. HilarityEnsues.

* The Belgian ''Trigger Happy'' (a hidden camera show) did a subversion: a random passer-by turns down a corner and is confronted with a film crew, who starting acting like they're the actor.

* Discussed by Creator/JohnMulaney in his 2012 special ''New in Town''. During a debate with a friend on the death penalty, John was asked, "[[GodwinsLaw So you're telling me that if you saw Hitler walking down the street, you wouldn't kill him?]]" John says he wouldn't, because odds are he'd just be killing an actor dressed like Hitler.

* ''WesternAnimation/CaspersScareSchool'': in the episode "You Oughta Be in Pictures" Mantha accidently wanders onto the set for a zombie movie, and thinks the actors are real zombies. Seeing how they are 'hunted down' by the humans, she inspires them to fight back. She is naturally very embarrassed when Ra and Casper point out the truth, but in the end it all works out for the best since Mantha's actions inspired the director to make a new zombie movie with her in the lead role.

* The 1923 WesternAnimation/FelixTheCat short ''WesternAnimation/FelixInHollywood'' uses this trope, making it at least as old as UsefulNotes/TheSilentAgeOfAnimation. Though in a twist, the directer enjoys Felix's interruption and offers him a contract.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfTarzan'': In "Tarzan and the Silver Screen" Tarzan saves a woman from a rockslide, only to discover it was actually a shot for a jungle film and the actor who was supposed to save her reveals the "rocks" are just hollow props. Tarzan's incredible acrobatics do impress the director though and he's hired as the films stuntman, to the displeasure of ThePrimaDonna star.

* ''WesternAnimation/SeaPrincesses'': In "The Pirates", Caramello the Sea Snail Prince goes in search of adventure. He sees a group of children on a ship seemingly being endangered by pirates. He boards the ship and suspresses the pirates, only to discover it is actually a dress-up party.

** In the episode "It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad Marge", Marge suspects that a houseguest (Becky) is trying to usurp her as the mom in the family. Marge later comes home to find Homer tied up in what looks like an S & M tableau, Lisa's arm's and legs stuck to the wall, Maggie stuck in a cage, and Becky holding a knife in her hands. When she is about to "kill" Homer, Marge snatches the knife from her and strangles her. It turns out that Bart is filming a scene in his movie. The twist is that Becky really did want to kill Marge and steal her family, for reasons that are never explained, but decided not to.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheTransformers'': In "Hoist Goes Hollywood", Spike, Carly and Hoist follow two seemingly out-of-control cars only to find out it's a stunt being performed for a movie. Fortunately, Hoist is there to save the stuntmen when they get into ''real'' danger and is rewarded with a stunt car gig by the director when he sees the Autobot in action.

* Zee naturally falls for this in ''WesternAnimation/TheZetaProject''. It is actually returned to later in the episode, when he disguises himself and blends in among the actors.

* One of the winners of the annual ''American Girl'' magazine story contest featured this at the climax of the story--the heroine was chasing a dog on her bike, and accidentally rode onto a film set in the middle of shooting. Of course, the director wasn't upset, but pleased with the new addition to the story, and she was added into the final cut of the film.

* Supposedly this happened while filming the 1960's Australian TV series ''Homicide'' (not to be confused with the aforementioned ''Life on the Street''). As Australian TV was a rather low budget affair at the time, a police officer didn't see the small film crew across the street from the 'robber' and arrested him.

* This sort of situation may be why UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity requires that when a project shooting at an exterior location has a scene with prop firearms, weapons or actors in police uniforms, the producers must request that the [[UsefulNotes/NewYorkCityCops NYPD]] Movie and TV Unit be assigned to the location.

* Notably averted during the filming of ''Film/MidnightCowboy'' in the infamous "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c412hqucHKw I'm walking here]]" scene. Turns out that taxi driver wasn't part of the movie and just blasted past the roadblock and Dustin Hoffman, though ''clearly pissed off'', rolled with it and kept the film going. [[ThrowItIn It ended up being one of the most memorable parts of the movie.]]

* A woman finally convinces her husband to go to the opera with him. He's completely bored, but going along with it. At the beginning of the third act, he asks his wife where the restroom is. She half whispers and half mumbles directions to him, and he sets off. He gets hopelessly lost in the opera house. Finally he open up a door to find a lovely courtyard with a fountain in the middle. He decides when you gotta go, you gotta go, so he pees in the fountain and eventually finds his way back to his seat as the opera is ending. "Oh dear," he says with feigned sadness; "did I miss the rest of the Opera?" His wife replies "No, Harry, ''you were in it''."

* ''Series/DoctorWho'': In "The Daleks' Master Plan", the TARDIS lands on a Hollywood movie studio. Through the scanner, the crew see a man in a black cloak about to feed a girl into a circular saw via a ConveyorBeltODoom. Steven and Sara charge out to rescue her, only to find they have just disrupted the shooting of a melodrama.

* In a episode of WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfTarzan, Tarzan saves a woman from a rockslide only to discover it was actually a shot for a jungle film and the actor who was supposed to save her reveals the "rocks" are just hollow props. Tarzan's incredible acrobatics do impress the director though and he's hired the films stuntman.

** Averted in "Pygmoelion". After learning that he is to be killed off from the soap opera he is appearing in, he takes his revenge by having Homer walk onto the set [[AlwaysALiveTransmission live on air]] and deliver a year's worth of spoilers. When Homer first enters the shot, one of the crew members objects to his presence, but the director decides to just roll with it and see where it goes.

** In the episode "It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad Marge", Marge suspects that a houseguest (Becky) is trying to usurp her as the mom in the family. Marge later comes home to find Homer tied up in what looks like an S & M tableau, Lisa's arm's and legs stuck to the wall, Maggie stuck in a cage, and Becky holding a knife in her hands. When she is about to "kill" Homer, Marge snatches the knife from her and strangles her. It turns out that Bart is filming a scene in his movie. The twist is that Becky really did want to kill Marge and steal her family (for reasons that are never explained), but decided not to because she didn't have a shovel to bury the corpse; and when she went to buy the shovel, there were too many options.

* One episode of WesternAnimation/WanderOverYonder has Wander rescuing a woman from a fire, and then being told he ruined the shoot. Then the camera catches on fire, and he put it out....only to be told he ruined the shoot. Turns out they were filming a movie about filming a movie.

* Used in ''Film/LethalWeapon3'' when Riggs interrupts what he thinks is a hostage situation, with Murtagh's daughter Rianne as the hostage, only to find out it was part of the film she was in (the reason he and Murtagh were there in the first place.) When he takes action - tackling the guy to the ground and getting his (rubber) gun away from him -- it very nearly gets her fired, even when Riggs admits that it was his fault.

* In ''Anime/{{Planetes}}'', Hachimaki burst into a compartment on a spaceship and punched out a guy who was attacking a woman, only to discover they were both actors making a horror movie. The director conscripted Hachimaki to replace the now-unconscious actor. The exact same thing promptly happened ''again'' when Tanabe found them. Notably, they were making an amateur flick and filming illegally, since they couldn't afford proper licenses. Hachimaki's mistake was understandable, considering that the camera was hidden.
* Played straight in ''Anime/DragonBallZ'' when Gohan in his Saiyaman guise interrupts a movie chase and is promptly cast as Saiyaman in the movie, as [[YourCostumeNeedsWork no one believes he's the real thing]].
* This happens in the ''VideoGame/VirtuaFighter'' anime. Pai interrupts a movie by "saving" the actress. The actress gets upset and leaves, and the director then hires Pai.
* Subverted in ''Manga/InuYasha'': The titular half-demon time traveler followed his love interest, Kagome, to her high school festival in the modern age trying to find demons that had accidentally slipped through. When he overhears an emotional exchange between Kagome and a boy in her class, he interrupts and challenges the boy to a duel out of jealousy, completely oblivious to the fact that they were acting out a (terrible) play on stage [[{{Muggles}} in front of a packed auditorium]]. Kagome immediately panics, but [[AllPartOfTheShow when she realizes the audience doesn't see anything unusual about the dog-eared half-human hybrid jumping on stage with a huge sword, she convinces the male lead to play along]], but instead of running away, he agrees to the duel. Then the watermelon demon shows up...

* Franchise/{{Tintin}} does this in ''Cigars of the Pharaoh''. Not as foolish as general examples, since it happened in the middle of the desert and it was easy for Tintin to misunderstand the situation. Oddly, the boss of the film company, Roberto Rastopopoulos, turns out to be the BigBad, though at the time Tintin doesn't know it and his [[BitchInSheepsClothing very polite and affable attitude]] leads Tintin to form a good opinion of him.

* ''ComicBook/ShadeTheChangingMan'' introduces AuthorAvatar Miles Laimling bellowing death threats behind a closed door. When Shade bursts in, he's yelling at an empty chair, testing out lines for a scene in the novel he's writing.
* The ''Series/DoctorWho Adventures'' comic strip "Creature Feature" has the Doctor rescue a woman from an alien, only to learn it's just a movie. In a bit of a subversion, though, he then discovers the alien is ''real'', and imprisoned by the director, so he and the actress work together to save ''it''.
* An early episode of the Polish comic ''ComicBook/OrientMen'' involved the main character stopping a giant rampaging gorilla, only to find out it was a movie prop.
* This happens to the hero of ''Lars Of Mars'' when he first arrives on Earth. Lars "saves" a woman from two robots only to realize they are actors in suits and she is a television producer. On the plus side, he ends up getting a job as an actor due to the misunderstanding.
* This happened to Impulse in an issue of ''ComicBook/YoungJustice''.
* In the new ''Franchise/GreenLantern #1'' (circa Sept. 2011) had Hal jump from his apartment into the building next door in an attempt to stop what he believed to be a case of domestic abuse. Only after he starts pounding the snot out of the guy does he (and the reader) see the film crew.
* In [[http://occupyrichierich.tumblr.com/post/69214763211/the-servants-rush-to-interfere-only-because-they one]] ''ComicBook/RichieRich'' story, Richie's friend Jackie Jokers attempts a serious role for a change, but his scenes kept being ruined by the Rich family servants attempting to cater to his percieved needs (specifically Chef Pierre, Cadbury the butler, and Bascomb the chauffeur). The director gives up on the movie, but it was eventually released as a comedy instead.

* The ''Action Figure Theatre''’s Series/DoctorWho story “If Only” has the Doctor seeing a woman being menaced by a monster and runs in to knock it down… but the gets shown off the set by an irate director. Subverted, in that the ruined take gave them more footage to work with than any of the other ones (where the actress kept missing her mark).

* This is essentially the basis for the entire plot of ''Film/GalaxyQuest''. Aliens see a ''Franchise/StarTrek''-like television series and abduct the actors, believing them to be space-faring heroes and wanting their help.
* Likewise ''Film/ThreeAmigos'', only with a Mexican village instead of aliens.
* ''Film/{{Vabank}}'' has a rather confusing scene which turns out to be a melodrama rehearsal when one of the actors complains about the prop gun.
* In ''Film/TheAmazingSpiderMan'', Spidey foils a car theft, only to learn later (as Peter, arguing with Captain Stacy about the merits of Spidey's vigilantism) that he'd ruined a sting operation to track down the people behind the car theft ring.

* In ''Film/CurseOfTheCrimsonAltar'', Robert arrives at Craxted Lodge and sees an almost naked woman screaming and being chased by a pair of cars. He intervenes, only to discover this is a consensual game being played by a group of partygoers from the Lodge.
* In the Soviet film ''Film/TheCigaretteGirlFromMosselprom'', Mityushin sees Zina jump off a bridge, and he rushes into the river to save her. It turns out it was a scene in the movie she's filming.

* One ''Literature/ChooseYourOwnAdventure'' book has a lot of fun with this, placing the reader in a position where they can either blow up a spaceship or infiltrate it like an action hero. The former results in the destruction of a massively expensive prop, while the latter impresses the director so much you wind up a film star.
* In ''Literature/WyrdSisters'', Granny Weatherwax's initial inability to understand the concept of theatre leads to this trope. "He did it! We all seen him! He'd done it with a dagger!"
** The witches all do this later on. There was a mix-up where the real witches went to confront the troupe and were mistaken for the actors, while the actors had been mistaken for the real witches and arrested. So Granny, Nanny and Magrat spend the time they're on stage picking apart the fake flame, questioning why nobody cleaned the cauldron out, and generally making everyone laugh when they shouldn't be. That wasn't the only thing that made the performance [[TheShowMustGoWrong an utter disaster]], but it didn't help.

* A romance novel where a couple took a ride on the famous Maid of the Mist tour. The man ends up saving the life of a kid who nearly fell off the boat into the churning waters, only to be screamed at by the family, who were filming the scene to enter it into ''America's Funniest Home Videos'' and were now upset that the man had cost them the chance to win a prize.
* ''Literature/AliceGirlFromTheFuture'' series:
** Subverted in ''A Hundred Years Ahead'' where an ambitious though incompetent young man sees two guys carrying an unconscious child, thinks that there is a detective movie being filmed, and decides to invoke the trope and heroically stop the kidnappers in order to impress the director and get into movies himself. But the kidnapping turns out to be pretty real, and the young man isn't ready to be so heroic in real life.
** In one book Alice meets a few strangely dressed and talking old men, and believes them to be time travelers. They are actually robotic actors.
* ''Literature/AgatonSax'': In ''Agaton Sax And the Scotland Yard Mystery'' the titular Agaton Sax is on board an old-fashioned ship, which apart from Agaton Sax and the captain is crewed by disguised criminals. But out of nowhere, a pirate ship appears and fires (a blank from) the cannon, and its crew boards the first ship. Very soon, it turns out that the "pirate ship" is actually part of a movie, and the "crew" is a bunch of actors who mistook Agaton Sax's ship for another ship that they were supposed to fight as part of the movie.

* Happens to ''Series/{{Columbo}}'' on several occasions.
** In "Fade in to Murder", Columbo ruins the take of the VillainOfTheWeek, an actor who's the lead in his own DetectiveDrama. The backstage crew try to quietly shoo Columbo away, but he keeps walking back-and-forth into camera view until the actor notices Columbo and they have to cut.
** In "Butterfly in Shades of Grey", Columbo visits the set of a soap opera, which has a scene involving homeless bums. Thanks to his shabby overcoat he's assumed to be one of them and is dragged onto the set.
** Columbo can even manage to do this with an audio recording, as a crinkly paper bag he's carrying ruins the take of a film score being recorded in "Murder with Too Many Notes".
* ''Series/TheMyth'': Inverted. Xiao Chuan arrives in the past just before an execution, assumes he's ended up on a film set, and thinks the guys being executed are actors. He gets a very rude awakening when the executioner beheads the man beside him.

* An episode of ''Series/QuantumLeap'' begins with Sam starting surgery, only to learn that he leapt into an actor doing a medical scene on a TV show.
* Subverted in the ''Series/{{NCIS}}'' episode "Bloodbath". Team Gibbs arrive at a company in the business of cleaning up crime scenes, and sees people slumped in the foyer with bullet holes in them. They burst in with guns drawn, only to have their picture taken as the owner was staging the shot for an advertisement. He's annoyed at first, until he looks at the photo and realises that the addition of gun-toting feds actually improves the shot.

* In a ''CodeRed'' episode, the young firefighters, having come to an old movie studio for a fire code inspection, see an explosion in the lot and charge in to help. When they arrive to see a burning man flailing about, they don't do anything as the TitleSequence starts. Afterward, the reason for that inaction is revealed in a reverse shot: the firefighters saw the camera crew and realized to their chagrin that they unnecessarily interrupted a scene because they didn't ask if a crew was filming there.
* An episode of ''Series/SanfordAndSon'' has Fred mistake a rehearsal of Desdemona's death in Othello for a murder. HilarityEnsues. (That happened in RealLife too. See below.)
* ''Series/StarTrekVoyager''. In "Bride of Chaotica" [[EnergyBeings photonic aliens]] enter the holodeck program "The Adventures of Captain Proton!" and mistake it for reality, starting a war with meglomaniac MadScientist Dr Chaotica. Voyager's crew try to tell them it's not real, but as the aliens can only detect lifeforms similar to themselves they believe Voyager is some kind of illusion. In the end the crew have to enter the game and help the aliens defeat Dr Chaotica. HilarityEnsues.
** Considering many of their people had actually died in the war, you can understand their reluctance to believe it's an illusion.
** It is specifically stated in the episode that the aliens exist in a photonic state and can only detect other photonic lifeforms/environments (they have no way of perceiving the physical world, they come from a parallel universe). It is also stated that even with the safeties on, holodeck weaponry is lethal to the aliens. From their perspective, it is quite real, and quite a number of them die.
* ''Series/StrangerThings'': Suzie's father comes across two of her siblings filming a death scene and thinks his daughter's throat has been slit. His son, behind the camera, thanks him for making the shot with his believable panic.

* The 1997 British satire ''Underworld'' had a gangster interrupting a crime show by complaining that the reaction of the hostage wasn't realistic enough. When the director started shouting at him, he sticks a very real gun in his face and asks the makeup people to note the way the blood is draining from the director's face.
* An episode of ''Series/{{Castle}}'' has Castle mistakenly come to the conclusion that one of his mother's acting partners from when they were young, with whom who she had recently reconnected, was the murderer of the week. Rushing back, he discovers him holding a knife to his mother's neck; Beckett pulls out a gun and tells him to drop the weapon... it was a prop knife. They were rehearsing a scene, by way of reminiscing of old times.
* On ''Series/Batman1966'', the Caped Crusader interrupts the Penguin filming a bank robbery scene for his movie. It's all part of the Penguin's plan, forcing Batman to star in the Penguin's movie to avoid a lawsuit. Subverted as Batman reveals to Robin that he did see the cameras but decided to play along in order to find out what the Penquin's scheme was.
* The Belgian ''Trigger Happy'' (a hidden camera show) did a subversion: a random passer-by turns down a corner and is confronted with a film crew, who starting acting like they're the actor.
* ''Series/DoctorWho'': In "The Daleks' Master Plan", the TARDIS lands on a Hollywood movie studio. Through the scanner, the crew see a man in a black cloak about to feed a girl into a circular saw via a ConveyorBeltODoom. Steven and Sara charge out to rescue her, only to find they have just disrupted the shooting of a melodrama.
* The ''Series/HettyWainthroppInvestigates'' episode "Widdershins" has the title character intervene in what she thinks is a Satanic ritual and VirginSacrifice. The participants mock her and unmask to reveal that they are villagers she's met... and then the director shouts at them to cut and take it back to the start of the scene, and takes Hetty aside to explain that it's a community film and ask for an apology.

* Done in a ''Just for Laughs'' gag, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ElnOiI30Hpw "Purse Snatching Movie".]]
* On ''Series/LivAndMaddie'', this happens when Maddie first meets Josh. She sees him being thrown against the lockers and helps him get up before he explains it was part of the scene and that they're now shooting Liv's new series ''Voltage'' at the school.

* The Acapulco episode of ''Series/ElChapulinColorado'' starts with a crew filming a movie about the title character, specifically a scene where a woman gets her purse stolen at the beach. Then a guy who thinks is Series/TheSixMillionDollarMan ruins it by catching the "thief". This prompts the lead actor to quit in rage, leading the film's director to summon the real Chapulin to act AsHimself.

* ''VideoGame/MegaTagmensionBlancPlusNeptuneVsZombies'' opens with Blanc saving her sisters from some zombies. Unfortunately for her, it was all part of a film shoot and the zombies were actually other students in costume.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'':
** In the episode "It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad Marge", Marge suspects that a houseguest (Becky) is trying to usurp her as the mom in the family. Marge later comes home to find Homer tied up in what looks like an S & M tableau, Lisa's arm's and legs stuck to the wall, Maggie stuck in a cage, and Becky holding a knife in her hands. When she is about to "kill" Homer, Marge snatches the knife from her and strangles her. It turns out that Bart is filming a scene in his movie. The twist is that Becky really did want to kill Marge and steal her family (for reasons that are never explained), but decided not to because she didn't have a shovel to bury the corpse; and when she went to buy the shovel, there were too many options.
** In another episode, Krusty's act involves him jumping into a tub of water, with hundreds of worms floating in the water. Bart gets the idea that the worms were a prank that Krusty didn't know about, and that Krusty would be really disgusted and his act disrupted if he dived into the worms. So Bart tries to interrupt Krusty and keep him from making his dive.
* In ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'', it was actually a magic trick, and everyone ''knew'' it in advance, but the "Oh noes, I can't control it!" part got [[IdiotBall a little too realistic]] for Aang.

* Happened in ''WesternAnimation/JackieChanAdventures'', where Jackie mistook an actor in costume for a new demonic monster. The stuntman thought it was still part of the script though and started to use wire-fu, with actual wires, before getting tangled in them and the director yelled "CUT!"
* ''WesternAnimation/TheTransformers'': In "Hoist Goes Hollywood", Spike, Carly and Hoist follow two seemingly out-of-control cars only to find out it's a stunt being performed for a movie. Fortunately, Hoist is there to save the stuntmen when they get into ''real'' danger and is rewarded with a stunt car gig by the director when he sees the Autobot in action.
* In one episode of ''WesternAnimation/SushiPack'', Ikura accidentally invades a scene being filmed for a primetime cable superhero show, believing it to be a real emergency. The actors adlib around him, and the director even hires him on for a few more episodes.
* Zee naturally falls for this in ''WesternAnimation/TheZetaProject''. It is actually returned to later in the episode, when he disguises himself and blends in among the actors.
* Played with in an episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheReplacements''. Agent K disturbs the shot a few times on a visit to Hollywood. Ironically, she tries not to "fall for it again" when someone actually is in danger.
* One episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{Captain Planet|And The Planeteers}}'' involving bats had a scene where a horror movie with bats as the antagonist was apparently being filmed. The first time Captain Planet saw it, he swooped in and saved the girl that was doing all the screaming, and then got chewed out by the director.
* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheRealGhostbusters'' where the guys are invited to Hollywood to help them film a movie of them, Peter and the others accidentally zap a giant robotic Godzilla-type monster mistaking it for a rampaging ghost. The director filming the movie was NOT happy and wound up pounding Peter for it.
* One episode of ''WesternAnimation/AlvinAndTheChipmunks'' had Alvin hit his head, changing his personality so that he went around doing good deeds. He sees a black knight holding a princess captive, then snatches his sword and snaps it over his knee, causing the director to FacePalm.

* WesternAnimation/BugsBunny does this to Elmer Fudd a couple of times; once in "Stage Door Cartoon" he tricks Elmer into doing a high-dive act on-stage, and in "Rabbit of Seville" he pushes Elmer onto the stage, forcing him to become part of the opera.
* ''WesternAnimation/CaspersScareSchool'': in the episode "You Oughta Be in Pictures" Mantha accidently wanders onto the set for a zombie movie, and thinks the actors are real zombies. Seeing how they are 'hunted down' by the humans, she inspires them to fight back. She is naturally very embarrassed when Ra and Casper point out the truth, but in the end it all works out for the best since Mantha's actions inspired the director to make a new zombie movie with her in the lead role.
* One episode of WesternAnimation/WanderOverYonder has Wander rescuing a woman from a fire, and then being told he ruined the shoot. Then the camera catches on fire, and he put it out....only to be told he ruined the shoot. Turns out they were filming a movie about filming a movie.
* WesternAnimation/HeckleAndJeckle lease their hotel to a TV studio so they can film a TV show there ("Messed Up Movie Makers," the last H&J cartoon Terrytoons would make). They intervene when the action sequence causes collateral damage to the property.
-->'''Director:''' You idiots are ruining our fight sequence!\\
'''Heckle:''' And ''you'' are ruining our furniture!\\
'''Director:''' Don't worry! [[ComicallyMissingThePoint There's plenty left]] [[{{Jerkass}} to finish the scene!]]
* WesternAnimation/DaffyDuck deliberately does this to Von Hamburger's movie during the romance scene in "Daffy Duck In Hollywood."

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibleHulk1996'', the episode "Hollywood Rocks" has She-Hulk stop a bus from crashing into a woman pushing a baby carriage only for it to turn out that she had interfered with the shooting of a movie and that the woman was a male actor in drag.
* The ''WesternAnimation/{{Chalkzone}}'' episode "Draw and Let Draw" has Rudy editing other kids' chalk drawings so that they can enter Chalkzone safely, one of which is a moose standing atop a tall building that Rudy draws a rubber ball around his body so that the moose won't get hurt when he falls. When Rudy enters Chalkzone to see his progress, it turns out the drawing was actually a movie set in which the moose is supposed to fly off the building and the director is not too happy about Rudy ruining the shot.

** In "Butterfly in Shades of Grey" he wanders onto the set of a television show with several actors playing homeless bums. Columbo in his baggy trenchcoat is assumed to be one of them until he shows his badge.

** In "Fade in to Murder", Columbo ruins the take of the VillainOfTheWeek, an actor who's the lead in his own DetectiveDrama. The backstage crew try to quietly shoo him away, but he keeps walking back and forth into camera view until the actor notices Columbo and they have to cut.

-> '''Frank Drebin:''' Yes, well. When I see five weirdos dressed in togas stabbing a guy in the middle of the park in plain view of a hundred people, I shoot the bastards! That's ''my'' policy.\\

* ''Series/PersonOfInterest'' has the AI almost doing this. The Machine predicts that the murder would happen in the theater. Reese and Finch eventually conclude that the predicted murder was the one in the play, and that the virus-affected Machine couldn't see the difference.

** Columbo can even manage to do this with an audio recording, as a crinkly paper bag he's carrying ruins a take of a film score being recorded in "Murder with Too Many Notes".