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 | Summer 2019 • 29 Stevie: ARE YOU A HAWAIIAN NATIVE? HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN WORKING IN LOCATIONS? HOW DID YOU START & WHAT DO YOU PRIMARILY WORK ON? RANDY SPANGLER: I was born in Coronado, California, but came to Hawaii with my Navy family around 1955 and have been here ever since. My father was the landlord for the original Hawaii Five-O TV series—the original stage was a leaky old Navy warehouse that he found for the series, 50 minutes from the Waikiki production office—before freeways! He was pressed into occasionally scouting, along with his job of real estate management. In 1969, I returned from naval military service in Vietnam and my dad suggested I work with the production. Hawaii Five-O was probably the first TV series to make a home in a location outside of Hollywood. The studio at the time was extremely nervous about the loss of control but couldn't argue with the production value. I started out as the location liaison on the original Five- O. There wasn't an official location manager designation … originally the producer and the transportation captain scouted and the producer's secretary, or production co- ordinator handled whatever paperwork was needed. I brought my sister, Stephanie Spangler, into the business. We both work all the islands for still shoots, commercials, TV series and features. During the Five-O years, I location managed and was the unofficial film office for the state and made a statewide production guide and drafted the film permits that still use my basic form to this day. I went from managing Five-O to Magnum P.I. (the Tom Selleck origi- nal) to Jake and the Fatman, which essentially covered the first consistent 20 years of TV series in Hawaii. From there, I went on to Baywatch and some of the recent features, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, Godzilla, Triple Frontier and Midway. I am still working and I love it! Having a great love for the Big Island, I focused my energy on promoting that island, and wound up being the unof- ficial film commissioner. When the state started getting film offices in place, I helped get them set up and provided information and scouting photos. Oahu and all the other county-run islands now have county film offices. The state also has a film office in Honolulu to assist with permitting state properties, statewide and tax credit processing. Stevie: WHAT DO YOU THINK IS THE PRIMARY DRAW FOR FILMING IN & AROUND HONOLULU & THE SURROUNDING AREAS OR IS- LANDS IN GENERAL? WHAT KIND OF "LOOKS" ARE THERE? WHAT ARE YOUR PERSONAL FAVORITES & WHY? RS: Oahu (home of Honolulu, Waikiki Beach and the gov- ernmental center for the state) is the 'big city' with rural and urban looks for filming. It boasts great beaches, ex- otic homes and temples. The surfing capital of the world, it's also skilled at doubling other cities/countries from the American west to London to Hong Kong. Oahu also has the infrastructure: equipment, vendors, hotels, res- taurants and union crews. The outer islands have some crew, but in general because you need to fly and house your crew and equipment from Oahu to the outer islands, almost everything shoots on Oahu. Oahu also has the only film studio in Hawaii owned by the state. The re- booted Five-O and Magnum P.I. work out of this studio. Other past Oahu productions include The Descendants, Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, the Jurassic Park series, Kong: Skull Island, Soul Surfer, Point Break and the TV series Lost. One of my favorite locations is Kualoa Ranch on Oahu, with 4,000 acres of mountains, hills, pastures, some left- over sets, ponds, palm-lined beaches, the largest ancient fish pond on the island and extremely supportive owners. It's played Vietnam for Kong and Magnum P.I., a west- ern cowboy ranch for Magnum, a foreign village on Off the Map, a South American cocaine village and Maui's volcano on Triple Frontier, a village paradise for The Last Resort, a bone yard for Kong vs Godzilla and an alien fortress on Battleship. Kauai, the oldest island, has sweeping beaches, jungles, large canyons, towering mountains with waterfalls, and quaint towns, homes, large estates with acreage and navigable rivers. The Jurassic Park films, Pirates of the Clockwise from top left: Photo of the crew on the beach as filming @ Kualoa Ranch by Glenn Beadles/LMGI; photo by Laura Sode-Matteson/LMGI; photo courtesy of Meriel Mitsakos; photo courtesy of Walea Constantinau/Honolulu Film Office; photo by Laura Sode-Matteson/LMGI Photo courtesy of Randy Spangler/LMGI Randy Spangler shares his aloha spirit with co-editor Stevie Nelson.