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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20 • LMGI COMPASS | Fall 2024 IN MY CITY: SEOUL Many artists who needed a cheap place in Seoul started to gather in this village. Immigrants from overseas also came in. And then the new generation started interpreting the town culturally. The hilly terrain was packed with people from all different backgrounds. Various kinds of rooftop bars, cafés, restaurants, bookstores and music shops have opened, diverse cultures bloomed, and that's how Haebangchon got the image of a 'Hip town.' Stevie: WHAT TYPES OF PRODUCTIONS FILM IN SEOUL? BC: Seoul must be one of the most active filming locations in the world. There are all kinds of productions going on: TV series, feature films, commercials, music videos, short-form videos. With most of the film-related things being based in Seoul, I guess we can say almost every Korean content is being made in Metropolitan Seoul. Stevie: WHAT CHALLENGES DO YOU FACE IN YOUR JOB? BC: Location managers must balance between the production they belong to and the local location owners or stakeholders. For example, when filming at an airport, the airport has its own rules, and the production that the location manager is part of has its own objectives and protocols. These two often conflict, and it is the location manager's job to find the common ground between them. This alone is quite a tiring job, but the most challenging aspect related to my work is that there is another entity I need to coordinate with, making it a total of three: overseas production, local production and the locations. In Korea, when planning a shooting schedule, the actors' and the locations' schedules are given priority. Union crew regulations such as turnaround time, mealtime, etc., is further down the priority list. However, in North America, union regulations are not considered separate but rather mandatory and fundamental, something that is naturally assumed. Local productions mostly align with the location schedule, but when it comes to the work I do, which involves international productions, our overall production schedule factoring in union rules is more important. That means we may become unwelcome guests to the location owners because we are asking the location availability to conform to our schedule. Consequently, it goes without saying that the location team must put in additional emotional labor, and North American studios often end up paying more to the location owners compared to domestic production companies. This becomes a difficult issue that I want to ignore but can't. Once my team pays a relatively large amount money to shoot at a certain location, then other domestic productions coming afterward will have to pay a significantly higher amount, compared to what they used to pay. Sometimes, my colleagues criticize me, saying, "You've raised the market price." We face many challenges when shooting in public places like the streets of Seoul. In general, as long as we do not bother the citizens while we shoot, almost anything is possible. For example, using a Ukrainian Arm on a public street doesn't require special permits as long as it doesn't cause major disruptions to traffic flow. However, if it involves controlling and causing inconvenience to the citizens, such control is Cheonggyecheon