Lecture Hall

Some locations set such a high bar for filming, you might as well give up on on hoping to scout anything else as good. Case in point: this lecture hall at Columbia University, which has been in so many movies and TV shows, you’d assume all college lecture halls are like this.

Everything about it is exquisitely archetypal, from the dark wood, to the sliding chalkboard panels, to the little swinging door dividing the speaker’s desk…

And of course, the multi-tiered seating complete with gold numbers:

It’s not that you can’t find alternatives. They exist! But this is the gold standard, and once a director has seen this one, it’s extremely rare they’re going to consider anything else.