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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56 • LMGI COMPASS | Spring 2021 When location manager Stephen Dirkes/LMGI (Ant-Man and Furious 7) approached Vickers to see about renting out the property as a staging area for equipment, crew parking, and craft service, little did Vickers suspect that this encounter would change his life. Vickers wound up hanging out with Dirkes and his team between shifts at the hotel—sharing his knowledge of the local area and helping them out on the property during their month-long stay. Dirkes was so impressed with how smoothly Vickers handled any logistical issue that came up, he suggested that he might want to consider a career change. "That was right before Georgia really exploded into a production hub. Until then, I had never thought of filmmaking as a career," he recalls A few months later, Dirkes followed through and introduced him to location manager Maida Morgan/LMGI (X-Men: First Class, Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle). She hired him as her assistant on American Reunion, the fourth installment in the American Pie film series. Vickers counts this as the official start of his journey into the movie business. Professional Guest Now a much sought-after location scout and manager himself, Vickers takes a holistic approach to his role in bringing a project from script to screen. He sees his job as going beyond the day-to-day logistics of finding locations and securing permits. Regardless of which big-name director or actors are in the film, his team is the face of the production to the local community. "Long after the production wraps and leaves the area, the locals like me will still be here. We are the names and the faces the neighbors have come to know," says Vickers. "To them, I'm 'the movie guy.' We may want to go back there for another shoot. So you have to make sure the neighbors have been part of the process and that it was a good experience for them. I try to be a good ambassador not only for my project, but also for other projects that may want to film in the same neighborhood." While consulting on a project, Vickers learned that the owner of a property production wanted to film was not at all on board with the idea. The previous owner had shared his bad experience while hosting a film crew, which explained his reluctance to sign on. Even though he wasn't officially on the show, Vickers called the new owner to apologize on behalf of the industry. By explaining how the filming should have gone and the steps that could have been taken to ensure a more positive relationship, he managed to turn him around—much to production's relief! "I should change the title on my business card to 'Professional Guest,'" he jokes. "Because that's what we are: we're guests in the communities we go into. It's just like when you're a house guest at a friend's place, you make your bed and clean up after yourself, and you want to be invited back." Think Outside the Box Vickers tries to avoid using the same locations over and over again, expanding his scouting beyond the places he already knows. "You don't want to wear them out, the neighbors get tired. I always ask, 'What else is there? Can we find something else?'" Georgia's generous film tax incentive program—which offers up to 30 percent credit without any cap on Georgia spending—has made Atlanta the "Hollywood of the South" in the last decade, attracting major productions such as Jumanji, Contagion, and Marvel Studio's Avengers: Infinity War and Black Panther. In 2016, The Peach State replaced California as the state with the most feature film productions. Another compelling reason to film in the state is the diverse environment it offers. "The only environment we're missing here is desert: We've got everything else from urban areas to small towns, mountains, lakes and of course, the ocean," says Vickers When he rolls into an area that he's never been to, Vickers often seeks out the hotel concierge staff to get the lay of the land, a reminder of his days in hotel management. Sometimes he'll talk to the fire department or the local police department to get some tips on off-the-beaten-path locations. "I'll show them a picture we're referencing to see if they know any location that fits what we're looking for. You'd be surprised how many times a firefighter has led us to exactly what the script called for. You just have to be curious and willing to explore!" Vickers' passion for architecture also informs his scouting. An office headquarters building for a TV show within Microsoft's sci- fi action third-person shooter game, Quantum Break, would be "I always tell my crew to pay aention to everything happening on the set so that you know what the next request will be even before they call on the radio asking for locations to come solve a problem." –Dodd Vickers/LMGI