Shatner and a crew of producers, writers and actors spent more than a year planning the hoax, which involved a fake sci-fi time-travel feature titled "Invasion Iowa" that Shatner purportedly wrote, directed, produced and starred in.



The cast and crew spent 10 days shooting on location in the small town of Riverside, Iowa, where several local residents were hired to be cast and crew members but unwittingly became the stars of the new reality series. During the shoot, Shatner played the role of an increasingly over-the-top version of himself.