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LMGI COMPASS
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Fall 2023
As location managers, assistants and scouts working in Los Angeles in the '70s, '80s
and '90s in the belly of the Hollywood beast, we were a relatively new group. As TV
and movie production stepped out of the studio and exploded into the real world, our
responsibilities expanded—but not our status. Working creatively with directors and
production designers, but also answering to the producer and UPM for logistics and
budget, we played many roles and wore many hats.
We felt misunderstood by the industry and even the crew.
Then, in the mid-1990s, an exciting series of developments activated a shift in how we
were seen, and how we began to see ourselves.
We See You…
1995
The Film Liaisons in
California, Statewide (FLICS)
sees scouts and managers in action
before, during and after the company
films and decides we deserve an award
for it. The California On Location
Awards (COLAs) are born…
Sheri Davis,
FLICS Inland Empire:
You deserved to be recognized.
You were my stars. All the scenes
you see, from desert to the
mountain peaks, someone had to
find it. You had to translate what
the creative people saw in their
minds and make it real.
We Know You…
1997
Scout Marino Pascal
unites us as a community by creating
Locolist, an online forum to share
location information, support each
other, and help unionize commercial
scouts.
We Are You…
1999
The Hollywood Teamsters
Local 399
is energized with new leadership
when LM Steve Dayan becomes
the union Business Agent for
location managers.
Steve Dayan:
Helping people get what they
are entitled to is a great feeling.
I knew when I started my job
that I had to turn the union
around and be more responsive
to what the members wanted.
The first thing I did was get the
commercial scouts in!
The stars had thus aligned, inspiring a sense of possibility in our creative yet still
restless group. We were being recognized as never before and taking control of
aspects of our working conditions with new leadership and connections with each
other. The union was there to negotiate our wages and working conditions, educate
the membership, and engage with local and state politics. We needed to work
alongside the union and find ways to promote ourselves and our role in the creative
process of film, TV and commercial production.
