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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ended up doing lots of scenes there," Moshansky says. A trust was soon built as he found more and more ideal, yet alternative locations, including outside the Vancouver 'zone,' in places like Maple Ridge and Langley, but still in Metro Vancouver (where you can get additional tax credits). Indeed, they were so impressed that he was brought onboard for Perkins' follow-up dark horror film, The Monkey. And this time, he was able to really go off script. The Monkey follows the travails of twin brothers Bill and Hal in the 1990s who find their father's old wind-up monkey toy in the attic and every time they turn the key somebody dies. The film then flashes forward to the present day where the twins aren't communicating, and Bill has become obsessed and crazy about the monkey and its repercussions. "Again, it's a period piece and I was given free rein by Brent, although this time with the help of fellow scout and friend, Mike Santos," says Moshansky. "One of the key locations was adult Bill's house, which was supposed to be an old, dilapidated Victorian home in Maine, what Perkins called 'the Victorian mega dump.'" Moshansky and Santos searched just about every Victorian house in and around Vancouver but just couldn't find what they were looking for. The difficulty was that Victorian homes in the area are treasured, not dilapidated old houses. So, Moshansky discussed it with Perkins, Canning, Santos and production designer Danny Vermette, and came up with an alternative suggestion. "The idea was that Bill had become obsessed with the monkey and so I thought of this old, early 20th-century hydro substation in Langley, which I'd scouted before and has this interesting gothic-style stone and lots of windows," explains Moshansky. "It's now a private art studio and I knew the owner. So, I went to the team and said, 'I know I haven't shown this to you guys before and it's not on the itinerary, but it's close by and I think you should take a look."' Fortunately, Perkins and the team loved its distractions and the team spent an hour looking at the site. The problem was the script had already been written, and funding secured, with the Victorian mansion idea. But they were so enamoured with the alternative site that they changed the script. "The town in the script was called Casco, Maine, so they called the substation site the Casco Telephone Company building," says Moshansky. "It ended up really standing out in the film, with striking artwork and blue light emanating from all the TVs Bill has for his monkey throne. It's pretty spooky. The site is like a main character and was even used in the climax scene." Moshansky insists it's better and easier to find these kinds of locations when he's involved in the creative process, told what they're looking for, and able/encouraged to come up with new ideas and suggestions, which was the case on both films. "Oz even called me during filming of Longlegs because he was struggling to find a suitable 1990's house, and so we looked around and ended up using a 1970's rancher, which worked out great. Having that dialogue really encouraged me to work harder and come up with creative suggestions," Moshansky enthuses. The relationship continues to blossom, with Moshansky working on Perkins' forthcoming film The Young People, which has also been filming in Vancouver. Bill's hideout in The Monkey. Photo courtesy of Neon