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.
Town House Books, the site drawing all this attention, describes itself as an independent bookstore for all ages with a friendly, knowledgeable staff, operating in historic downtown St. Charles since 1974, according to townhousebooks.com. The shop also houses the Town House Café, which the store's website says serves fresh-from-scratch soups and creative sandwiches alongside the stacks.
A Familiar Story Brought to Screen
Better Than the Movies has built a devoted readership as a popular young adult novel, and its arrival as a Netflix rom-com adaptation gives St. Charles a moment in the spotlight not typically afforded to a small-town bookstore. For a day, at least, the shelves that have served generations of local readers since the 1970s will double as a movie set.
