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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LMGI COMPASS | Winter 2018 • 23 Stevie: HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN WORKING IN LOCATIONS? HOW DID YOU START & WHAT DO YOU PRIMARILY WORK ON? Jof Hanwright: I was born in Venice, CA, making me a rare California native. I had family in the business and started working on commercials when I was 15 years old. I did a couple jobs in the art department at first, and then became friends with a location scout working with Kira Films and Dektor Film. I wound up working as his assistant for sev- eral years. That was my entry into location scouting and management. I started full time in locations in 1993, after graduating from UC Santa Cruz. As a kid, there was a period when I wanted to be a photographer, and a period when I ac- tually wanted to be a truck driver, so I suppose being a scout turned out to be a perfect combination of the two interests; you get to drive around and take photos! I have always worked on advertising projects—primarily commercials, but still photography campaigns as well. I love the people part of the job, meeting and interacting with a huge cross section of humans, but my main passion has al- ways been the photography. This year, I embarked on a new facet of the industry—aerial cinematography. It's been quite an experience so far. Having the ability to be able to place my camera anywhere I want it to be, to find angles and per- spectives never before available to me, has lit a new fire for image creation. For the past 17 years, I have lived in Sebastopol in Sonoma County. I moved to Northern California in 2000, but com- muted back-and-forth to Los Angeles for several years. I left LA because I really needed a change of scene. I had developed a deep love of backpacking and mountain biking and I wanted to live somewhere that was more in line with my interest in outdoor recreation and I wanted to live in a less urban environment. I loved Venice (and still do), but the grind of driving back-and-forth to Hollywood and Pasadena in LA traffic was taking a toll. While Sebastopol itself is not a prime filming destination, I've shot all around the area. My scouting territory is best described as Northern California—from Big Sur to Mendoci- no and Humboldt Counties, up to Lake Tahoe and the east- ern Sierra. The "West County" of western Marin and western Sonoma (as well as Lake Tahoe and the Sierra) is what I think of as "my town." Stevie: WHAT DO YOU THINK IS THE PRIMARY DRAW FOR FILMING IN & AROUND SONOMA, MENDOCINO AND MARIN COUNTIES IN GENERAL? WHAT KIND OF "LOOKS" ARE THERE? JH: Filmmakers are drawn to Northern California for its natu- ral beauty—from old-growth redwood forests, to breathtak- ing coastline and beaches, to bucolic farmland and quaint small towns. Combine those qualities with the close proxim- ity to a classic American city like San Francisco, which offers architecture that can play as NY, Chicago or London, and you have a very compelling collection of visual options for many projects. Stevie: WHAT TYPES OF PRODUCTIONS FILM IN SONOMA, MENDOCINO OR MARIN COUNTY? JH: I work predominantly on commercials and automotive still shoots, but there are a few episodic shows now filming here and countless films like American Graffiti, A Walk in the Clouds, Basic Instinct, The Candidate, Flatliners, Ste- phen King's Cujo, Die Hard 2, Explorers, The Goonies, Dirty Harry, Blue Jasmine, Inventing the Abbotts, Peggy Sue Got Married, John Carpenter's The Fog, Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, Scream and Tucker: The Man and His Dream have shot portions of the production in this part of the state. Stevie: WHAT CHALLENGES DO YOU FACE IN YOUR JOB? JH: The wide breadth of locations available in this area also means managing travel time for the crew wisely—maximiz- ing the number of looks you can achieve while minimizing drive time between locations. While it's possible to have Nor- Cal play for the Colorado Rockies, the Kansas prairielands and the rugged north coast, it does mean driving between geographic areas, and that always means being smart about how to build the shooting days. Being able to work with the All photos by Jof Hanwright/LMGI Co-editor Stevie Nelson gets a tour of Northern California—Sonoma, Mendocino and Marin Counties— from member Jof Hanwright