Downtown St. Charles is about to get a Hollywood makeover for a day. Netflix is bringing a full film crew to Town House Books, the independent bookstore that has anchored the historic downtown since 1974, for a shoot scheduled Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2026, with set decorators arriving as early as 7 a.m. and the broader filming crew rolling in around 2 p.m.
According to Shaw Local, the production is a romantic-comedy adaptation of Lynn Painter’s young adult novel Better Than the Movies, filming under the codename Big Red. Filming at the bookstore is expected to wrap around 8 p.m., with production crews clearing out of the area entirely by midnight.
Street and Parking Closures Planned Downtown
Police will assist drivers around detours tied to the shoot. Second Avenue will be closed up to Main Street, and that closure could stretch as far east as Fifth or Sixth avenues depending on the production’s needs.
Parking downtown will also be affected. The former police station parking area is likely to be closed for the entire filming day, and the top floor of the downtown parking lot may be shut down too if the crew requires additional space, the outlet reports. The planned closures will coincide with film crews in the area.
Roughly 80 Vehicles Expected on Set
The scale of the shoot is considerable for a single-day production in downtown St. Charles. The report notes the production includes around 80 crew vehicles that will need to be accommodated alongside the street closures…