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
Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1545239
4 • LMGI COMPASS | Spring 2026 L E T T E R FROM THE PRESIDENT Dear Members, You might not know me. I'm new in this position. But I'm a huge fan of your work. I spend most of my time thinking about your work. How impressive it is. How difficult it is. How much of filmmaking quietly rests on the backs of people who are rarely considered outside the production office. I think about how fundamental your work is to every story told on camera and how to better publicize your work. Every day, you're out in the world doing that work. Finding new landscapes. Reframing familiar ones. Creating opportunities for productions to move through communities in a way that leaves something behind. Jobs. Revenue. Relationships. Pride. A sense that this industry can show up, do things the right way and leave a place better than it found it. That is our collective value. We're now entering a time where "gray stages" and generative AI are being positioned as alternatives to your work. I am convinced that idea is still entirely theoretical. But it's being promoted during project development, in budgets, and in the way productions are being imagined. I find the notion of that "alternative" contemptuous. Not because technology doesn't have a place in filmmaking, but because it fundamentally misunderstands what you actually do. That only sharpens the focus of what we do as a Guild. The Location Managers Guild International exists to champion the work that can't be replicated by a prompt or a volume stage. You don't just scout or present backdrop options like you're a search engine. You interpret scripts alongside the real world. You navigate communities, negotiate access, solve problems and build the conditions for a story to exist beyond the page. Your work is creative. Your work is logistical. Your work is essential. Technology has always been part of filmmaking. But AI operates inside a closed loop of what has already been created, recycled, referenced and echoed back. It can't discover what hasn't been found. It can't stand on a street corner at sunrise and instinctively understand why a place suddenly feels cinematic with perfect lighting moments every morning. It can't build trust with a neighborhood and leave behind a community. And it can't replace the human judgment at the epicenter of your craft. As we look ahead, our responsibility is not just to defend that work. We need to elevate it, as this Guild always has. That means expanding our global presence and strengthening partnerships to create opportunities for our members. It means investing in education, so the next generation of location professionals understands both the craft and the stakes. And it means being unapologetic about what we contribute to the industry. Pat each other on the back and do it loudly. The LMGI has never been more visible. Our members are shaping conversations at international film festivals, markets and productions on every scale. Visibility matters, but only if it translates into opportunity, recognition and a stronger position for the people actually doing the work. Everything we do as a Guild should point back to that. To you. The more clearly we define our value, the harder it becomes to overlook it. Thank you for the work you do, and for the standard you uphold every time you go on a scout or onto a set or into a community. When the sun comes up tomorrow, it will do so in a real place. And hopefully, one of you will be there, on location, making it work before anyone else. In your service, Danny Finn President Editor in Chief Stevie NelSoN Editors DiaNe FrieDmaN Paul meSSaNa eDwarD mazurek DoDD vickerS JJ leviNe LMGI Officers DaNNy FiNN, President robiN macDoNalD, 1st Vice President ryaN Schaetzle, 2nd Vice President eDwarD mazurek, Treasurer aNDrea keeNer, Secretary LMGI Board of Directors keN brooker mike FaNtaSia michael GlaSer haNNah JameS-JohNSoN eric kleiN aNGuS leDGerwooD Stevie NelSoN mo Qazzaz Scott trimble kay PoiNtiNG wilSoN LMGI Chairman Emeritus oriN keNNeDy Communications and Operations Director erika howarD The LMGI Compass is published quarterly by the Location Managers Guild International. LocationManagers.org Comments, editorial and photo submissions can be sent to: Compass@LocationManagers.org Publisher iNGleDoDD meDia Advertising iNGleDoDD meDia 310.207.4410 LMGI@IngleDodd.com www.IngleDoddMedia.com Official Magazine of Location Professionals Promoting Excellence on Location Worldwide C MPA SS