The Location Managers Guild International (LMGI) is the largest organization of Location Managers and Location Scouts in the motion picture, television, commercial and print production industries. Their membership plays a vital role in the creativ
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40 • LMGI COMPASS | Spring 2020 40 • LMGI COMPASS | Spring 2020 ing back to talk to them every year. When we signed the deal for the fi rst season, we told everybody, 'This is going to be an ongoing se- ries. We want your commitment for each year, so we've structured in an increase for everyone—the amount you'd get paid on a daily basis.' That helped, I think. We talked to everybody. A few people didn't want us there, but most people we saw and dealt with were not disappointed to see us each year. There are not a lot of busi- nesses there except for Annina's Bakeshop, a kids' daycare center, a gas station and a Subway shop in the gas station and the Goodwood branch of Toronto knitting shop Romni Wools, which we used as the general store/Rose Apothecary. "Annina's was my biggest concern when I went in to chat with the owner. I said, 'Look. We're going to be intermittently closing down the intersection every Sunday for the month of June and we should talk and work out some sort of compensation so it won't affect your business.' He said, 'Don't worry about it. My customers will fi nd their way here. I have a thousand people a day coming here on weekends. Let's talk about you hiring us as caterers while you're in town. If you do that, we'll call it even.' We hired them, and they never asked us for anything else." Schitt's Creek fi lmed for about 11 weeks each spring—the fi rst seven weeks in a studio and then four weeks on location. "Studio work included the motel rooms and offi ce, the diner, Mayor Schitt's house and Ted's apartment," Smith says. "We shot the town hall on location until Season 4, when we replicated it in the studio. And I do remember building a set for a hotel dining room at the last minute!" Smither's most diffi cult negotiations involved the two major roads coming through Goodwood. "One is a regional road and one is a municipal road," he says. "In order to stop traffi c on those two roads, we had to get permits from the municipality and the region. Each jurisdiction wanted $500 a day just for the permit. I talked to them both initially and got a response from the municipality. "I said, 'We don't mind if you want to recover your costs for issu- ing permits, but I'm applying for a permit for multiple days. I don't feel you should be charging me on a per-day basis. You're issuing one permit, whether it's for one day or 10 days.' The municipality people discussed it and said, 'We'll cut the permit fee in half for you.' I accepted that. "The region didn't respond, so we ended up paying $500 per day for the regional permit for the fi rst few seasons. It's something that we pursued and had a big meeting with the economic development peo- ple and the CEO of the region. They actually reviewed it and came back with a zero-dollar fee. It took a couple of months to do it, but they reviewed it and changed their whole policy, and now the region doesn't charge anything for a permit. The Ontario Film Offi ce worked with us on this. They collect data on how much revenue fi lming brings into a community, and they were able to pass that onto the regions and municipalities." ROCOCO VS. MOTEL STYLE A location that was surprisingly easy to fi nd was the house the family got thrown out of in the very fi rst episode. "It was very over- the-top," Smither says. "It was a new build in the beaux-arts style with some rococo elements, trompe l'oeil ceilings and gilt, and it was super ornate. I knew about it because I'd driven by it at the urg- ing of another homeowner in the same area who found it, ummm, remarkable. Other shows had fi lmed there prior to my knocking on the door so the owner knew about fi lming. We went back there in a subsequent season for a fl ashback party that included (actor) Paul Shaffer in the cast." Less easy to fi nd was the wedding venue in the last season. "We looked at country estates and barn wedding venues, but they were too rustic," Smither says. We ended up shooting it in Toronto. Dan