The cast and crew of gritty police drama The Shield were chased off a set in Los Angeles' gang district after failing to clear their filming plans with local street bosses.

Show star Michael Chiklis admits he was terrified when gun wielding gang leaders approached him and his castmates and urged them to halt filming.

The star recalls, "We're in the seediest neighborhoods... On one of the first days of the pilot we had 30 members of the gang show up, heavily armed. They were, 'Hey man, what are you doing here?' We're like, 'We're shooting... We have a permit.' They were like, 'No man, you have to pay.' So we looked at the retired cops who watch for us and they said, 'Pay the man.'"

(This news article provided by World Entertainment News Network)