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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they want to make sure that they don't get overlooked. So, we had a sort of payment menu depending on what we were asking them to do: using their property for multiple days, being a featured location as opposed to just being in the background, being closed or open or just opening early for us. "Robin was meeting extensively with the film office and with all these different jurisdictions and entities. She had so much to do and all these people to deal with, so she relied on me to make sure that what she wanted to happen was going to happen." Citrin's team had to also secure precious real estate for parking, extras, crew and equipment. "We had 300-plus extras, we were shooting right in the heart of it all, and we were there in the busiest time of the year with all the crowds," Thomas says. "We were a massive footprint and the logistics are really difficult, because it's a lot of narrow alleyways and streets and there's quite a bit of a challenge getting everything situated." BARBIE IN VENICE BEACH Of all the beautiful beaches that dot the Southern California coast, Barbie landed in Venice. With its bustling boardwalk and eccentric vibe, Citrin feels that "it was perfect for the film to be in Venice and not any other place—it was calling to be Venice. Greta just felt that's where they would land, so that was the only place to go." The biggest production challenge was organizing the Venice shoot just before the Fourth of July holiday. "The UK crew were coming for two days in the middle of the summer to film at the beach, which was a huge undertaking," Citrin recalls. "Also added to the challenge is not having the accessibility of the director and the designer all the time, but we had good direction of what they needed and we sent lots of pictures in advance." "I had many, many late calls just to make sure that everything's going on track," Sharp says. "I could trust Robin, and she was happy with the feedback." Greenwood returned to work with the Los Angeles team in fleshing out design elements before filming, like a graffiti art wall on Venice Beach flanked by paint-splashed palms rising from the sand-like tikis—access to which was facilitated by a donation to the nonprofit that controls the wall. "Greta didn't get to see everything until she got back here to shoot, but she had Sarah to rely on and trusted in whatever she had chosen," says Citrin. KALM Dorion Thomas/LMGI, who had previously worked with Citrin on The Gray Man, employed his experience and prior contacts from working in the area over seven seasons with NCIS: Los Angeles. Thomas began initial scouting in January, spending months with his team mapping pedestrian traffic, weather and production space, while negotiating fiercely with dozens of Venice Beach vendors in a tourist hub notorious for its hustle culture. "It takes weeks and weeks to get people to trust you, and you have to keep developing that rapport until you get down to paperwork, so just knowing that process was really important." A tangle of municipal authorities govern Venice's beachfront and harbors, parks, ocean waters, streets and properties, and the web of red tape was made even stickier by evolving COVID protocols and shortened government office hours. "There are a myriad of jurisdictions to coordinate with: L.A. City, L.A. County, beaches and harbors, rec and parks, to name a few," Citrin says. "But Dorion was really on top of it and had the experience to plow through the hurdles." "It was a good symbiotic relationship," Thomas says. "Without Robin's work overall, we couldn't have done what we did." KALM Leslie Thorson/LMGI operated as Citrin's logistical arm and helped Thomas by completing vendor contracts, finessing permits, relaying information, researching locations and handling vendor payments. "The Venice people are small businesses and Photo: Miranda Carnessale/LMGI L-R: Leslie Thorson/LMGI & Robin Citrin/LMGI