LMGI COMPASS
|
Summer 2018
•
31
B
ack in 2015, when no one had ever heard of a Netflix
series called Stranger Things, location manager Tony
Holley, LMGI and his team could work wherever they
wanted without hassle. With the exception of Winona Ryder
and David Harbour, the actors involved in this fantasy/
horror/drama series were totally unknown. Stranger Things
was just another blip on the thriving Atlanta shooting scene.
Flash-forward to today. Virtually, the whole cast has risen to
superstar status. For Season 3, that means a huge increase
in security, including innovative ways to avoid paparazzi,
tourists and locals bent on uncovering Season 3's upcoming
twists.
"We had no idea what we were getting into," Holley admits
about those long-gone early days. "Initially, it was all good
because the scripts were so good, and the atmosphere on the
set during the first season was always very pleasant. Then
the bingeing occurred, and the wildfire started!"
No one could have predicted that twin brothers, Matt and
Ross Duffer, whose limited credits include writing a few epi-
sodes of Wayward Pines, would hit on an irresistible premise.
And yet, like all surprise successes, the success of Stranger
Things really isn't so strange after all. It simply touched an
unidentified nerve: nostalgia for the 1980s.
All the buzz brought instant attention to Holley and KALM Kyle
Carey, LMGI, who were nominated two years running for an
LMGI Award for Outstanding Locations in Period TV. Last year,
they lost out to The Crown and this year, to Game of Thrones.
Trying to explain the series' remarkable popularity, Holley
says, "Its viewing population is basically 18 to 44. (The Duffer
brothers are 34.) A big chunk of those people grew up in the
'80s. The show is a love letter to a generation. The fashions,
music and even the way it's shot are in that mode of nostalgia."
Executive producer Iain Paterson credits Holley with some of
the success. "As a native Georgian, Tony brings an insider's
knowledge of the Atlanta area that is unparalleled."
All
photos
by
Jackson
Lee
Davis/Netflix,
except
as
noted.
by Nancy Mills
tt
ON LOCATION
STRANGER
THINGS
