In 2013, a soap opera was filmed in IKEA without the store knowing about it

It must be hard being IKEA’s security team. They not only have to deal with teens who sleep over after store hours, but they also have to deal with production crews using the place as a secret filming location.

Many years ago, Los Angeles filmmakers Paul Bartunek and David Seger made a web series using an IKEA store in Burbank, California, as their main set. The catch? IKEA wasn’t aware of the producers’ plans!

So over the course of a year, their cast and crew covertly filmed their scenes in different parts of the store – and somehow got away with it. The result was a seven-episode soap opera series called IKEA Heights.

It’s complete with everything you’d expect from a melodramatic soap, including sex scenes, death, and mind-blowing plot twists. Best of all, it even featured then-unknowns Randall Park (The Interview, Trainwreck, and Fresh Off The Boat), Whitney Avalon (The Big Bang Theory), and Matt Peters (Orange Is The New Black).

As for the consequences of their actions? IKEA found it funny, but tightened up security nonetheless.

“Once the press tipped off IKEA to what we were doing, filming later episodes got mighty interesting!” said Avalon. “We were told they had our character’s photos up in the security room. So that was fun.”