Location Managers Guild International

60 • LMGI COMPASS | Winter 2020 FROM THE MASSACHUSETTS FILM OFFICE or so of the estate, which meant it had to be somewhere within the city. I'm pretty OCD when I'm scouting, so I never give up and I fi nally came across this 10-acre plot of land—a functioning Girl Scout camp. You'd never notice it driving up and down the street because it's well hidden. It turned out to be the perfect location and thankfully the theme behind Little Women aligned with the Girl Scouts' objective, so it came together seamlessly. "What was really amazing to me was that we got to fi lm this movie where our story actually took place and that it happened to also be the birthplace of many things such as the American Revolution, the "Shot Heard Around the World" and Paul Revere. My favorite story from the fi lm is when we were at Fruitlands, founded in 1843. Doug was trying to work out fi lming in one of the houses and someone on the crew says, 'Well, we'll need to move this chair,' and the park ranger says, 'No, you can't move that chair. That chair stays there. That chair is literally the chair that George Washington sat in. 'Well, I guess we're not going to be moving that chair.' That's how much history is in that state. "I want to do movies where two people sit on a park bench for the whole fi lm. I always joke that somehow I end up on incredibly hard, challenging projects. With Little Women I thought, 'Hey, it's just four girls talking. How hard can it be?' Then you get into Bos- ton and have to overcome all these historic challenges—things money can't resolve. Even though they are excited to be a part of a fi lm, everyone is a lot stricter and a lot more serious about what they will allow you to do. HORSES "Think about this," Oliver says. "Just to support the horses for extras in the background of a scene, you need to fi nd and secure these things: the holding area when they are not on camera, a storage lot for the period buggies and carriages they tow, land and store the modern trucks and trailers that bring them in from all across the country and the scores of people who own and op- "Filming Little Women was a real team effort," says Lisa Strout, Direc- tor of the Massachusetts Film Offi ce. "I've never seen anything quite like this before. There have been many small—and large—screen ver- sions of this story, and a number of those were fi lmed in Canada. We are very grateful to have had our story fi lmed in our towns, in our state. People here grew up with Little Women and are very emotionally attached to it." Numerous times, Strout smoothed the way for the location team to get access to properties not accustomed to opening their doors. "I was happy to reassure locations that the location folks were profes- sionals and that they knew what they were doing," she says. "Being local and being a government agency helps. We were involved early on in the scouting, mostly dealing with logistics. I had many calls with Doug Dresser, who did a fantastic job. He's very knowledgeable, and he put together a great team. "Massachusetts is a prime state for preservation, and we are so fortunate that so much of our period architecture is still in pristine condition. It comes down to trust, and we knew these properties would be well-protected." She gives an example: Boston's William Hickling Prescott House is a thoroughly untouched property, where they fi lmed the Moffat Ball. "A few years back, we created an online course for our munici- palities to become fi lm liaisons. Its purpose is to familiarize our cities and towns with what to expect and how they can benefi t from fi lm activity," she says. "It's important that locations know that it's going to be like a crazy wedding that goes on for days at a time, and then, miraculously, when it's all over, everything will go back to normal.'"

• Cover
• 42-49 MAYANS
• 64-69 Jason Wisch
• 74-75 Martini Shot