Will be visiting Los Angeles in mid June. My son is a film student in Florida, and plans to move to LA when he graduates. We will visit UCLA to check out their masters program. What would be some cool film related things to do? No movie stars houses, but maybe a behind the scenes studio tour, or something similar?

Well, both Universal and Warner Bros. studios have tours of their lots. For Universal, entry to their park grants you entry to their lot tour, while for Warner their is a special 2 hour tour with departures outside of their lot. Here is their website: www2.warnerbros.com/vipstudiotour. Both tours are good. Univeral is less personal but a better offer since you can then enjoy the rest of the park, Warner is more personal (you even get to get off of the tour wagon!.

Of course, you can always walk on Hollywood Blvd. - where it all began more than 80 years ago. The Hollywood and Highland complex is modeled after D.W. Griffith’s film, Intolerance. The Chinese theater has an abundance of hand and foot prints from many of the greater known stars of today and yesteryear.

Also, although you may not recognize any of the buildings, a large % of all commercials are actually filmed in Downtown LA - even the ones that make it "seem" like it's NYC. That could be a possibility.

If you have any other questions, feel free to ask them. Enjoy LA.

Perhaps not what you're looking for, but there are many historic theatres in downtown LA which you can tour with the LA Conservancy.

It's called the Broadway Historic Theatre District walk.
http://www.laconservancy.org/tours/tours_docent.php4

Description of the tour:
The Broadway Historic Theatre District between Third Street and Olympic Blvd. is home to an astonishing twelve movie palaces built between 1910 and 1931. Erected during Broadway’s heyday as the entertainment epicenter of Los Angeles, most of these elaborate theatres could handle crowds of 2,000 people or more. The exteriors as well as the interiors of these grand structures reflect the flamboyance and imagination of the entertainment industry.

Redline tours also has some interesting Hollywood walking tours: http://www.redlinetours.com/redline/hol.php

Also, tickets to TV show tapings can be found at: www.tvtickets.com or www.tvtix.com. You can also check www.beinamovie.com to see if any productions are looking for extras.

Thank you for all your ideas!

Many films were made in Griffith Park, at the observatory (Rebel Without a Cause), at Bronson Caves (Invasion of the Body Snatchers) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f0jPfS49UCs.

D.W. Griffith's battle scenes from Birth of a Nation in 1915 were filmed there as well. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Griffith_Park

The restaurant at Chateau Marmont is open to the public, and is a lovely place to have lunch outdoors while eavesdropping on production deals. http://www.chateaumarmont.com/

Yamashiro Restaurant is an important location in film history, and has a amazing view of L.A. http://www.yamashirorestaurant.com/history/index.html

Farmer's Market and the La Brea Tar Pits are great places to soak up the LA atmosphere.