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LMGI COMPASS
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Spring 2021
Raising Awareness with the
Locations on Two Podcast
Vickers wanted a way to raise awareness to the artistic side
of the craft. Growing up, his grandmother—who was legally
blind—always kept the radio on to listen to sports and talk
radio. This taught him about the power of audio storytelling
at a very young age. In the early days of podcasting, he
became fascinated with a medium that offered niche talk
shows on topics that probably would never be covered on
the radio. As a longtime magic enthusiast, he was thrilled
to geek out on all-things magic when he launched the Magic
Newswire podcast around 2008. Some of his interview
subjects have included the late actor Tony Curtis, who
talked about his iconic role playing Harry Houdini in the
1953 biopic Houdini, and actor Neil Patrick Harris when he
was the President of Magic Castle, the famed magicians'
clubhouse mansion in Los Angeles.
It seems only natural that Vickers would draw on this
experience to think of creating a podcast devoted solely to
all aspects of location scouting and management. This was
something he knew how to do, and it would certainly raise
awareness of the craft. After discussing his idea with LMGI
Board member Alison Taylor/LMGI (Straight Outta Compton,
A Wrinkle in Time), Locations on Two was born.
In June 2020, he started producing and hosting the podcast
in earnest. He already had a few episodes in the can before
the pandemic wreaked havoc across the globe in March, but
the shutdown actually gave him more time to produce each
episode throughout the rest of the year. Season 1 concluded
last December with 22 episodes.
"One of the fun things about the podcast is I get to learn how
many of my colleagues came to be in the business," says
Vickers. "Jones was in banking and finance before becoming
a location manager and LMGI President Mike Fantasia (Top
Gun: Maverick, Spider-Man: Homecoming, 3:10 to Yuma) was
in the U.S. Forest Service for 13 years prior to joining the
film business."
Serendipitous Career Change
Vickers' own career also began in the most unlikely way.
After a stint in the Army, he initially attended Georgia Tech
as an architecture major before pursuing a career in hotel
management and landing a job at the prestigious Ritz-Carlton
in downtown Atlanta.
He was helping out with the dogs and horses on his mom's
farm when a tour bus rolled up the driveway and several
people jumped out and started looking around and taking
pictures. It turned out to be a location scout for Wanderlust,
the rom-com with Paul Rudd and Jennifer Aniston that
would soon be filming nearby.
