Location Managers Guild International

Spring 2018

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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RINO PACE (RIGHT) WITH LAETA KALOGRIDIS Writer/producer Laeta Kalogridis (Shutter Island, Terminator Genisys, Altered Carbon) presented the LMGI Lifetime Achievement Award to Canadian location manager Rino Pace, LMGI. "Speaking as a writer, I always feel locations are as much a character in a script as are the speaking parts. As such, the location manager is a vital part of any production I work on and a relationship that I treasure." Location pro Rino Pace (Unforgiven, Legends of the Fall, Inception, Godzilla, Deadpool) reflected on his award: "Since joining the LMGI, I realize that it has become the voice of location managers around the world, understanding the complexities of a location manager's role. They ensure that our endeavors are recognized, placing us at the creative epicenter of projects. They champion our determined efforts to represent the visual concept of directors, producers and designers. "When I heard that I was receiving this award, I thought of all the cool locations I've scouted and filmed at. I thought people would want to hear all the wacky war stories. Once I seriously thought about potential spiels, I realized that it's not about the stories. It's about privilege. The privilege the average person doesn't have: access. Access to military facilities, homes of the wealthiest, glacial ice caps and marginalized neighborhoods. We have no entry barriers. "People often ask what the coolest places I've visited are. I have to say, my favorites are definitely the big, wide-open landscapes of the prairies, Rockies and the tundra of the north. Visiting primordial landscapes that few humans have tread upon has had a profound effect on me and I suppose on my spirituality. In these settings, we recognize our place within the planet. On the opposite end of the spectrum, when scouting and filming within the disenfranchised communities, we recognize our place within humanity. "As location managers, our eyes connect us to the stunningly beautiful, as well as unfortunately, sad and troubled places. These perspectives and observations manifest in our photographs, stimulating the creative call of the director which in turn, generates a success production. "We have a difficult job that is a big component in the complex circle of making moving pictures, and I'm proud of the role that I've been able to play in the projects I've been involved with over the past 30 years." LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD: RINO PACE, LMGI "I am being honored for helping to bring justice, dignity and organization to location scouts and managers. "My parents bequeathed my life's orientation. My father was a progressive labor organizer on the Brooklyn docks, trying to better the corrupt longshoremen's union (think On the Waterfront), whose goons threw organizers off the docks. Later, he organized the exploited workers at Bethlehem Steel, men working 24/7 stripped to the waist, facing 130-degree furnaces. My mother taught Arlo Guthrie in nursery school. She accompanied Woody on piano when he brought his banjo into her classroom to play his songs for the kids. Labor history is in my blood. "I made a resounding $25 per day on my first PA job, entitling me to work unlimited hours, loading trucks at 4 a.m. When I made the leap to location scout, my rate tripled to $75, still with open-ended hours … the formation of ALSAM, a collective effort, changed all that. "…We are contending with massive changes: work standards for pay and hours that we struggled for are under attack. Corporate advertisers rarely provide ample production budgets. Low-budget jobs proliferate. Digital advertising, green screen, etc., has reduced the volume of commercial production. Half the experienced NY commercial scouts lack employer-provided health insurance because they don't work enough union days to qualify … I am proud to have helped give cohesion to location professionals so that we can address matters like this collectively, and hope that the next Trailblazer continue his legacy to help make the LMGI an advocate for such in addition to it being the prominent marketing force that it has become." TRAILBLAZER AWARD: JOSH KARAN JOSH KARAN (LEFT) WITH JIMMY AYOUB

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