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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46 • LMGI COMPASS | Spring 2026 Bea Beliczai/LMGI, Hungary Bea Beliczai is an experienced Budapest-based location manager and location scout supervisor, whose credits include Atomic Blonde (for which she received an LMGI Award nomination), All the Light We Cannot See, Lee, Strike Back and Dune: Prophecy. She is known for her ability to transform Budapest and Hungary into a wide range of international locations. In recent years, and since becoming a mother, Bea has increasingly focused on the preproduction phase of filmmaking, stepping away from the logistical, on-set supervising of full productions. She collaborates closely with directors, cinematographers and production designers to explore the city, develop visual concepts and think "outside the box" when approaching locations. Her deep knowledge of Budapest—shaped not only by years of location work but also by her passion for city history—feeds directly into this process. Strike Back Series The production team of the popular British spy thriller series, Strike Back, often turned to the city of Budapest in Hungary for filming, using it as a double for several different European cities. One of the location managers to find the ideal locations was Bea Beliczai. A set that sticks in her mind was for a scene involving the British military intelligence unit Section 20 tracking a terrorist network to Budapest, featuring a plot with an IRA- inspired mortar bomb attack and a shootout involving the British Embassy, largely situated within the city. "Usually, we search for specific locations based on the script, but in this case, I had complete freedom—I could suggest anything I wanted. It was an exciting experience: driving through the city, thinking about which area would make the most visually dramatic place for one of the bombing scenes. I was free to come up with even the craziest ideas. I felt like I was in a playground where anything was possible," says Beliczai. Her favourite suggestion, and the one chosen for the series, was an iconic location in Budapest in front of the impressive-looking Hungarian Academy of Sciences building—an open urban space featuring a large, paved plaza and ornamental trees—overlooking the Danube River and the Chain Bridge. This was to be the backdrop to a complex sequence involving real fire effects. "Using these prominent city landmarks made everything feel even more intense, dramatic and real," she explains. Fortunately, getting permission to shoot there was relatively straightforward even though it's a busy and traffic-heavy area with many tourists, so it was exciting to control it and especially thrilling to surprise everyone who happened to be there at the time. "I like to drive around and capture locations in different lights and that's what we managed with that sequence," Beliczai enthuses. "Fortunately, the production team agreed and were really happy with the results." Lions Courtyard, Buda Castle. Photo by Imre Legman/LMGI