LMGI COMPASS
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Spring 2025
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During the bidding process, Freid was consulted by Amanda
Clarkin, staff bidder/producer at Imperial Woodpecker to come up
with some location options, based on a few visuals. "When I got the
call, I started getting waves of excitement and anxiety at the same
time. I broke down what and where they could film and how much
it would cost with a steer toward Washington State," he explains.
Fortunately, Gunning, Freid and Washington State were given
the green light. But they still had to find the right places and
meticulously plan the shooting schedule.
"Once I received the original creative storyboard/animatic, Lisa
and I had a chat and tossed around different ideas. She had been
to Seattle and knew the area, so she had some good suggestions,"
says Freid.
Proper Prep
Prep time on this kind of shoot can "sometimes be like 'super
scouting,'" adds Freid. "I don't eat, I don't pee, I just get in my car,
drive 300 miles, take 40 pictures, get back in the car, drive another
few hundred miles, and take more pics. Then get on my computer
in the car, upload pics to Lisa so she can approve them and get the
permits started, also while in the car," says Freid. "It's thrilling but
really nail-biting, white-knuckle stuff."
Fortunately, Mark and Lisa soon developed a shorthand "after
the first few weeks of prep because we were working so closely
together on specific shots," enthuses Freid.
But inevitably, not everything goes to plan, especially when
you've got clients and agents putting in requests.
One of the hardest locations was the grandma's house. "I took
pictures of about 20 different houses for the exterior shot before
we settled on a bitchin' house in the Queen Anne neighbourhood
of Seattle," says Freid. "But then things were complicated when
the agency wanted us to shoot the interior of the college girl's
apartment there too, and they scheduled it for the same day. We
had originally planned to use two separate houses."
The challenge was dealing with the homeowners who'd been told
it would be exterior only. "It was a difficult negotiation, requiring us
to throw a few extra dollars in, because we now had to empty their
entire living room and kitchen and replace it with our furniture,
swap out lights, move china cabinets and more. We had to handle
them and everything with kid gloves," adds Freid.
Creating a winter wonderland.
Photo by Paul Riordan/LMGI
