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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12 • LMGI COMPASS | Fall 2025 Sometimes it feels like every corner of Los Angeles has been documented on film, from the Venice Beach bike path ( Barbie) to the Sixth Street Bridge (Terminator 2) to Malibu State Park (M*A*S*H). But to location managers, there's always a new angle, a new hidden corner, a new way of seeing a space in Southern California that can help a film, TV show or commercial take shape and maybe—just maybe—hit that pop culture icon status that will endure for generations. A new series is taking the places that make films shine—and the people who find them—and putting them center stage, giving the creativity and surveying genius of the location manager its due. The show Locationland on PBS SoCal Digital is the brainchild of Harry Medved and Harry Pallenberg, two major movie buffs, Los Angeles aficionados and industry vets. Medved is a seasoned public relations professional, author, historian and champion of independent film in Los Angeles; Pallenberg is an accomplished documentary producer and worked for years with an L.A. icon, the late California's Gold host, Huell Howser, at KCET. Together, the two aim to honor the magic of filming in Southern California and bring to life some of the places that have become most connected with Los Angeles on the silver screen. Medved's passion for L.A. comes through in everything he does. The author of books that trace L.A. history through films, like Location Filming in Los Angeles and Hollywood Escapes, and a passionate hiker and explorer of the area, he knows this city almost as well as the location scouts he's interviewed for the show. "We've got every possible location you could want [in L.A.] except maybe a tundra," Medved said. "What I love about it is people still find new locations all the time. But most of all, it's the talent and the location professionals who keep the cameras rolling in Southern California." Pallenberg, who has produced several documentaries and explored L.A. extensively while working on California's Gold, agrees. With tax credits outside of L.A. more frequently drawing production away from the Southland, a downward trend in production and then January's destructive wildfires posing new challenges, the Locationland team is more passionate than ever about telling the stories of location managers and the work they do. "It makes me want to redouble my efforts; I feel like our show is a love letter to L.A.," Pallenberg said. "When we do [an upcoming episode on] Freakier Friday, it's going to be sad talking about Palisades High and the places that were lost and the Freakier Friday house that did burn down. But we're going to find the good parts of it and promote those, because that's what we're trying to do. And I think L.A. needs it more Harry Medved and Harry Pallenberg's series brings industry stories and location scouts to a wider audience Harry Medved and director Joe Dante by Laura Hertzfeld Harry Medved and Shrinking location manager David Flannery/LMGI All photos courtesy of Locationland