24
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LMGI COMPASS
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Fall 2020
IN MY CITY: AUSTIN
Stevie: WHAT TYPES OF PRODUCTIONS FILM IN
AUSTIN?
PK:
We have all types of productions here
from cable and network TV series like Fear
the Walking Dead, American Crime, The
Son and The Leftovers to streaming shows
on Netflix (Queer Eye, We Can Be Heroes),
Amazon (Panic) and Facebook (SKAM) and
all kinds of movies with big budgets like Alita:
Battle Angel to small indie films. There is also
a huge number of commercials that happen
all year whether they are escaping the harsh
winters and dormant foliage of other states
or, in a lot of cases, the agencies just wanting
to come to Austin because they heard it's
cool and somewhere different!
Stevie: WHAT CHALLENGES DO YOU FACE IN YOUR
JOB?
PK:
Besides the normal scramble with shifting
schedules and last-minute production
requests, climate control seems to be one of
the main challenges we deal with since we do
so much on-location filming in the state. The
long summer brings triple-digit temperatures
and the constant dance of keeping the crew
and actors cool with portable- and large
trailer-mounted AC units. During the shorter
winters, we trade fans and AC units with
shuffling heaters around set. And of course,
it's hard to keep everyone happy!
Another unique aspect of this is that in
Texas the Location Department (rather than
transportation) handles all the hauling of our
equipment like AC handlers, generators and
bathroom trailers to set up on location so in
addition to all the normal set operations, we
have to make sure we have the necessary
manpower to stagger calls to handle all the
hauling, set up and breakdown of gear.
Stevie: WHAT ARE SOME OF THE CHALLENGES
TO FILMING SPECIFICALLY IN AUSTIN OR IN YOUR
GENERAL FILMING TERRITORY?
PK:
It seems like we are always looking for
stage space as we have a lack of dedicated
soundstages in the area. Every big show that
comes along spends time and resources
locating and then outfitting the odd
warehouse space into a useable stage. These
spaces never run smoothly, from the sound
