Location Managers Guild International

LMGI COMPASS | Winter 2021 • 51 L to R: Brian Kinney/LMGI, Jonathan Jansen/LMGI, Alexander Georges/LMGI, Chelsea Lawrence/LMGI, Morgan Patterson, Alex Moreno/LMGI. Photo courtesy of HBO THE PERRY MASON LOCATION TEAM JONATHAN JANSEN/LMGI Supervising Location Manager ALEX GEORGES/LMGI Location Manager BRIAN KINNEY/LMGI Key Assistant Location Manager/Scout ALEX MORENO/LMGI Key Assistant Location Manager/Scout MICHAEL MASUMOTO Key Assistant Location Manager/Scout HELEN CHO Scout CHELSEA LAWRENCE/LMGI Key Assistant Location Manager JENNIFER KENNEDY Key Assistant Location Manager PAQUITA "PQ" HUGHES/LMGI Key Assistant Location Manager NICK BELL Key Assistant Location Manger MORGAN PATTERSON Key Assistant Location Manager ALFONSO RUIZ Key Assistant Location Manger WILLIS TURNER Assistant Location Manager AMIR FIROZKAR Assistant Location Manager extras and populated the empty seats through visual effects." Iconic Spanish Home Known as McKeegan Mansion: Where Sister Alice lives with her mother. "The McKeegan Mansion was a tough one to nail down," Jansen says. "When John Goldsmith and I discussed homes for the characters, we wanted to pick styles that represented them and helped identify the personalities of the characters in the show, at the same time trying to show the wide array of architecture the city has to offer. We started looking at the classic Victorian homes throughout the city and then moved to Neoclassical homes in Windsor Square and Hancock Park. We then decided to explore the elements of old Hollywood with the classic Spanish mansion. We found the perfect one in Pasadena. "When finally I got hold of the owner on the phone, he said, 'Yeah, I got your messages. Let's talk.' It was pretty amazing that it came through. It was a lot of work to get that guy to say, 'Yeah! OK.' Every location has its sensitivities and special requirements. In all, there is not ever one way to approach a location and receive an 'OKAY TO FILM.'" "When you're identifying a character, you want to be sure that person has a visual language," Georges adds. "We wanted to be period-correct but also show how they lived. Their homes reflect their interior lives. We scouted over 50 mansions. Every time we showed them something, it wasn't exactly right. The flavor and flow of the house was wrong. Or there was worry about whether we would be able to accommodate cars in front of it." Lucky Lagoon Casino: Where George Gannon (Aaron Stanford) spent time as a mob accountant. "My favorite location was Mason and Lupe (Veronica Falcón) flying in an airplane on their way to the Lucky Lagoon Casino," Kinney says. "Alexander and I had felt that the historic Rancho Camulos (1800s) would work as the Lucky Lagoon, so I scouted it and Alex Moreno handled the on- set management. "It really gave the audience a chance to have fun. It had an almost Indiana Jones quality to it. However, to find the right look for the airplane in flight, Jonathan and I scouted by helicopter over the desert-like areas in Los Angeles and Kern Counties. It was my first helicopter job, where I had a GoPro on my head, a gimbal for my camera, plus my iPhone. To sit strapped in the back with the large headphones on and open the helicopter side door to get some clear footage was pretty exhilarating!" San Pedro: A stand-in for DTLA street life. Not all the Perry Mason street scenes were shot in DTLA. Key scenes took place in San Pedro, about 25 miles south. "We decorated two city blocks for our introduction of Perry and officer Drake (a police officer)," Jansen says. "Also, Perry and Drake met outside near a new restaurant that was just opening. Then we find them again at the homeless encampment that we built out in an empty dirt lot. "We had everyone onboard but had a little resistance from the new restaurant owner, who complained, 'I'm just opening and trying to get my sea legs.' He was concerned about his patrons and impact to his fledgling business, which I can completely understand. Alexander Georges was able to get in there to address his concerns, and we were able to compensate him for any loss of business. You don't even think about it. You just do it. You push through challenges you're confronted with and try to make people as happy as possible." Madam Jin's: "I had scouted a 1920s building in the Koreatown/ Westlake area, which has pockets of history mixed amongst dense modernization," Kinney says. "This location gave us the ground-floor brothel (which the art department built inside an empty storefront). This is also where George Gannon drags himself to the roof with detective Ennis (Andrew Howard) on his tail, with the fireworks going off. Alex Moreno, who managed the roof work, had a blast seeing all those screaming colorful fireworks in person after all the prep working the neighborhood!" Hyperion Bridge: "Another of my favorite locations was Hyperion Bridge in Silverlake, between L.A. and Atwater Village," Georges adds. "It was completed in 1928 and 1929. It was an all-night shoot, with stunt drivers and we had 30 period cars. It was one of my favorites because of what we filmed there and how we filmed it as opposed to what it is. I like the bridge but because we filmed it at night and because we were able to watch the action from a great vantage point at night, one could imagine we were transported back to 1932 Los Angeles. You were there without having to look only in one direction or squint your eyes."

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• 20-27 In My City Chicago
• 40-51 Cover-Story_Perry Mason
• 62-63 Martini shot