Whose houses get used in the movies?

By: Lynda, Wood-Ridge, New Jersey

A.B. Replies: No.

These days, it's more reliable to boot up Google Earth, punch in Reese Witherspoon and see what her more enterprising, uh, "fans" have managed to find out about where she lives. With any luck, some drooling Legally Blonde addict has uploaded a nice high-res overlay, and you'll be able to see whether each of Reese's kids gets its own infinity pool.

Those home interiors you see on TV and in movies are either soundstages (most commonly used in sitcoms like Friends) or private homes that have been rented out by the owners. In fact, between commercials, photo shoots, industrial videos, TV shows and films, the art of location scouting, aka "location managing," is a full-time job. There are people out there who do nothing but tool around the globe, looking for places to baptize by film. (Those mesmerizingly tacky exteriors you see on My Name Is Earl? Those were scouted in and around California's San Fernando Valley.)

A visit by a location scout is often greeted with hosannas by private homeowners, especially West Coasters hungry for ways to pay their impossible mortgages. How do you think we can afford the bills, after we've filled our '20s-era bungalows with crumbling Nepalese ceiling panels that say "ohm," 3,000-year-old sandalwood doors from Morocco and the very first wingback chair that Charlie Chaplin ever owned? How do you think less fortunate Californians can afford their million-dollar double-wides overlooking the Silver Lake reservoir?

In general, photo shoots bring in the least amount of money, while feature-film shoots offer the biggest jackpot. Homes in Southern California routinely draw $1,000 to $5,000 a day for TV shoots.

"Nice houses can make $100,000 a year," one TV location scout tells this B!tch.

Location scouts are woven so tightly into the Biz that they have their own annual awards ceremony, celebrating the professionals who really know how to eyeball a site. (Last year's winners of the "California on Location Awards" included location manager Janice Polley for Collateral and a pair of guys who worked on 24.)

So, pity not the actors, for, in filming a movie, they doth not sacrifice overmuch. When the Desperate Housewives shot that 7-Up commercial, with all that backbiting among the supermarket shelves, they did not have use their own neighborhood Whole Foods. Nor did the actresses have to scrub those bouncing lemons and strawberries until their nail veneers dissolved and their mascara ran like the Mississippi. They just showed up, got into makeup, hissed at each other and called it a day.

If you, too, want a piece of a production company's location budget, register your house with your local filming commission, or with a location services company. You'll pay off that 400-year-old Buddha statue in no time.