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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LMGI COMPASS | Fall 2017 • 23 Stevie: HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN WORKING IN LOCATIONS? HOW DID YOU START & WHAT DO YOU PRIMARILY WORK ON? John Rakich: I'm a Toronto native and I've been doing this for 18 years. A career in film was never something I had thought about—I went to school for a degree in history. I was working in a record store when I got my first job offer, out of the blue, as an office PA on a TV series. I originally thought I would end up being an assistant director. I started chatting with location manager Richard Hughes about getting him to sign a letter to get me into the Directors Guild of Canada (which covers ADs and locations here). The next thing I know, he called with an offer to be his on-set location production assistant (LPA) on a small feature called The Caveman's Valentine. I had no idea of what I was getting myself into! I guess I figured it out and kept doing a good job since I've been steadily working since. Moving from on-set LPA to an assistant location manager and scout and then eventually, as a location manager in my own right. I've had the luck to work on every type of production from big-budget feature films, small-budget independent films, cable features and nowadays, mostly television series. Stevie: WHAT DO YOU THINK IS THE PRIMARY DRAW FOR FILMING IN & AROUND TORONTO? WHAT KIND OF "LOOKS" ARE THERE? JR: Aside from financial reasons, Toronto can double for most big East Coast American cities, as well as international cities such as Paris, London, Morocco, Saigon and even Tehran. We are one of those cities where you can travel 15 minutes in a direction and the look and even the architecture changes, not to mention quite a lot of parks, green spaces and conservation lands, and Toronto Islands. Within a short distance from Toronto, we have the gritty industrial former steel manufacturing city of Hamilton, as well as rural locations and the limestone rock face of the Niagara Escarpment. We cover a lot of looks. Stevie: WHAT TYPES OF PRODUCTIONS FILM IN TORONTO? JR: When I started, production was typically in seasonal cycles and it was a mixture of long-format features, short- format MOWs and the odd TV series. Over the years with the increased content demand, those seasonal cycles have disappeared and we're pretty much working all year round. Everyone keeps saying this is the Golden Age of Television and we're a prime example of that. Currently between pre- production and in-production, we have up to 35 television shows (from network to cable to streaming services) which are keeping us busy. Stevie: WHAT CHALLENGES DO YOU FACE IN YOUR JOB? JR: Over the years, there has been a huge increase in the mountain of paperwork required to do the job. Locations also tends to be the catchall department these days, especially with anything new such as the latest fixation with drones, adding more paperwork. Stevie: WHAT ARE SOME OF THE CHALLENGES TO FILMING IN TORONTO? JR: We are an ever-changing, growing city experiencing a massive housing boom in the last five years, especially in our downtown areas with a massive increase in condo towers. We've seen most of the surface parking lots we used to use for unit parking disappear but we've learned to adapt and move on, especially in light of how busy it's become. Another challenge is the weather between winters with below-freezing temperatures and short days and near- tropical humid heat with short nights in the summers. Luckily, most of the year, the weather is temperate. Stevie: WHAT ARE A LOCATION MANAGER'S FAVORITE "LOOKS" OR LOCATIONS IN & AROUND TORONTO? WHAT ARE YOUR PERSONAL FAVORITES & WHY? JR: As always, it depends on the needs of the production and Toronto is an accommodating city for many looks. Here are a couple of favorites among location managers in town. First would be the Fairmont Royal York Hotel, one of Toronto's most iconic historic hotels dating back to 1929. To this day, All photos by John Rakich/LMGI, except as marked. Co-editor Stevie Nelson gets a tour of Toronto from member John Rakich Photo courtesy of John Rakich/LMGI