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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8 • LMGI COMPASS | Fall 2025 IN THE NEWS Comic-Con Panel What do basketball hoops, dinners with the mayor and portable palm trees all have in common? Of course, it's location managers and their tricks of the trade. A full room of movie and TV fans were on hand for the annual LMGI panel at San Diego Comic-Con in July 2025, where location managers Danny Finn, Peter Gluck, Tyler Hohmann, Danielle Robarge Rusk and Lia Towers shared their favorite moments, biggest lessons learned and advice for folks hoping to break into the industry. Moderated by Locationland host and producer Harry Medved, the panel—which is available to watch on YouTube—highlights the work of location managers in Los Angeles and Southern California, as well as those building relationships with communities in Georgia, Louisiana and other areas of the country. One of the biggest themes of the conversation was the work that location managers do with the communities where movies are shot, which can range from meetings at the diner with local influencers to helping schools in the area long after the movie is over. Towers, who works on The Vampire Diaries spinoff Legacies, shared a story from Georgia, where the school they shot at had broken basketball hoops. After filming wrapped, they not only paid the county but donated to the school directly and replaced the hoops. "The principal said it was the most money they'd ever had in that fund, and she started crying when we gave her that donation," she recalled. Gluck, who has worked on major films internationally like Star Trek Beyond and Black Panther, echoed Towers' sentiments. "We try to leave places better than we found them so we can come back," he said. Location managers can also have unexpected but vital roles in the community, like the position Finn found himself in following the L.A. fires, when he helped connect homeowners in the Palisades and Altadena with location scouts who may have photographed their homes before they were destroyed through the website scoutphotos.org. Hohmann said that cracking the code of a location and figuring out the best way to "get the creative vision of the director through" is the most fun part of the job—and the panel agreed. From finding ways to avoid showing the cars and boulevards in Los Angeles in order to adhere to Spike Jonz's vision for the 2013 film Her (Finn) to "carrying palm trees to every scene" while filming in the South to make it look like L.A. (Rusk), the challenges are often the most rewarding part. "You have to anticipate the needs of everyone," Gluck said. Medved and Finn wrapped up the event with suggestions of two places that Comic-Con attendees could check out in San Diego to get their fix of film location spotting. The "Great Balls of Fire" scene in Top Gun was filmed at San Diego's Kansas City BBQ (the piano is still there) and the Lafayette Hotel in North Park's bar stood in for the Officers Club where Maverick (Tom Cruise) serenades Kelly Photo courtesy of Scott Trimble/LMGI L-R: Harry Medved and LMGI members Danny Finn, Tyler Hohmann, Lia Towers, Peter Gluck & Danielle Robarge Rusk. Photo courtesy of Scott Trimble/LMGI by Laura Hertzfeld Overtime with Harry Medved After the official panel, our moderator had one more question for the panelists. What's your favorite part of the job? LIA TOWERS (The Peacemaker S2, Captain America: Brave New World, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Legacies) Most folks outside the industry would say moviemaking is magic, and it's true. But the magic happens long before the actors show up and cameras roll. There are many things I love about this job, but one of my favorite things is seeing a location transformed into a completely new 'personality' McGillis's character Charlie to "You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling."