The Community United Methodist Church in Half Moon Bay on Feb. 18, 2026.

Everyone in Half Moon Bay seemed to know that something was going on. Some saw the casting call for extras circulating on Nextdoor: locals only, appearing to be ages 20 to 50. Others noticed the street closures on Tuesday, as heavy rains pummeled the small city. And a few, biking on the bluffs overlooking Wavecrest Beach on Wednesday, stumbled across a film crew clustered under a row of canopies, complete with a camera crane and several generators.

This week, a major feature film produced by Apple Studios, the in-house production company for Apple TV, shot around the coastal community, which has a population smaller than 12,000. According to a permit application reviewed by SFGATE, the crew worked over the course of three days in Half Moon Bay, from Tuesday through Thursday. The permit application — and the yellow signs posted near its filming locations — list the film’s title as “Drumettes.” Upon closer inspection, though, “Drumettes” appears to be the working title for “Sponsor,” a psychological thriller starring Jason Segel (“Forgetting Sarah Marshall”), Amy Madigan (“Weapons”) and John C. Reilly (“Step Brothers”). 

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On the bluffs overlooking Wavecrest Beach, a yellow sign points toward a shooting location for “Drumettes,” the working title of a feature film.

In “Sponsor,” a man named Peter (Segel) ends up in a recovery program after a drunken driving crash, according to Apple TV news release. At his first meeting, he finds a charismatic sponsor, Jerry (Reilly).

In an email exchange with SFGATE, Apple TV did not confirm whether the film in question was “Sponsor,” but the details line up. “Sponsor” is one of a small list of Apple Studios feature films in production. A June 2025 news release from the California Film Commission mentioned that “Sponsor” had plans to film in Half Moon Bay.

SFGATE also spoke to one local who met John C. Reilly during filming. Camille del Fierro told SFGATE that the actor used the office of It’s Italia, one of the two local restaurants she manages, as a changing room on Tuesday evening. The actor was in and out of the restaurant, but she described a brief interaction with him as pleasant.

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“It was really cool,” she said. “Like ‘Oh my gosh, celebrity in our little office.’”

FILE: John C. Reilly attends the closing ceremony red carpet at the 78th annual Cannes Film Festival. Reilly is one of the leads of “Sponsor.”

Del Fierro said that the film crew reached out about two weeks ago for permission to shoot outside of her other restaurant, Johnny’s. When she drove by on Tuesday night, filming was just wrapping up. “There was a big spotlight and a big light reflector and a lot of extras walking around,” she recalled.

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On Tuesday, the film also shot a brief scene at Community United Methodist Church, one block away from Johnny’s. Rev. Lisa Warner-Carey told SFGATE she thought it was a shot of someone walking into the church for a 12-step meeting. No interiors were filmed at the church, Warner-Carey said.

“The church gets requests periodically for films and movies, because it’s so quaint and historical looking,” she said. 

To accommodate, Warner-Carey moved a Tuesday night Bible study to a nearby church. She spent the duration of the shoot hanging out inside the church with the extras. She only recognized one actor on the set, she said, but she forgot his name. Occasionally, a production assistant would walk in and yell, “Rolling,” to alert them that filming was taking place outside.  

The crew shot exteriors near Johnny’s, the restaurant’s manager said.

Warner-Carey said she was fascinated by the scope of the production: “We probably had 30 or 40 people wandering around this building in order to get what’s probably a two or three second shot. If it even makes it into the movie.”

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According to the filming permit application, “Drumettes” also shot at the I.D.E.S. Portuguese Hall on Main Street.

On Wednesday, filming moved to the bluffs overlooking Wavecrest Beach. The crew took over the parking lot of Smith Field Park as a staging area, replete with white trailers, Star Waggons, two California Highway Patrol cruisers and a catering truck. Utility vehicles drove back and forth down footpaths, shuttling equipment to and from the filming location, a spot near the end of the Wavecrest cypress tree tunnel.

Trailers packed the parking lot of Smith Field Park on Feb. 18, 2026.

Half Moon Bay residents Nicole and John Skerry were walking their dogs on the trails when they stumbled into the film shoot. Upon stopping to examine an information board overlooking a bluff, a production assistant dressed in black approached them and informed them they were standing in the frame of the shoot. 

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“I think it’s exciting that they can use our city and our local, beautiful areas like beaches and bluffs for movie shoots, because it’s gorgeous here,” Nicole told SFGATE.

“It’s sort of a compliment to the area,” John added.

The last major film to shoot in Half Moon Bay was the movie “Chasing Mavericks,” which came out in 2012. Several young Half Moon Bay residents were enlisted as extras, Rev. Warner-Carey recalled. Watching the film in the theater packed with locals was “a blast,” she said: “They were all screaming every time they saw their friends.”

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A film crew set up near Wavecrest Beach on Feb. 18, 2026.

In a statement shared with SFGATE, Eddie Behle, recreation supervisor for the city of Half Moon Bay, said that the city had been coordinating with the production team for “a few months”:

“From location scouts to production staff, everyone we have worked with has been respectful of our beautiful City, eager to capture that beauty on film and helpful with staff as we gain a better understanding of this process,” Behle wrote. “There is clearly a benefit for our local businesses in having large groups like this visit our City, and the opportunity for our City to be represented on the big screen will help bring more people to our amazing coastside.”

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