Location Managers Guild International

Winter 2018

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 | Winter 2018 • 45 Jill: HOW DID ALL THIS GET STARTED? Mike: I grew up in Buffalo, New York, and I went to Buffalo State University. I took courses in communication media, radio, TV & film. Originally, I wanted to be a game-show director or a videotape cameraman, yeah, that was my aspiration. OK, Camera 3 zoom in! I worked in the campus TV studio, in the control room, where I ran the cameras. I applied everywhere in New York, where I was told "thank you but, no thank you." Just like climbing Mount Everest. You can leave the mountain now, so I did. It was 1976. I knew I liked the Beach Boys, Hawaiian shirts and girls in bikinis, so I thought I'd go to California—that was my thought process. I hopped in my 1967 Opel Kadett, so rusted out, you could see the road as you were driving, the fenders would flap like wings in the wind. I kinda flew into town … all I knew was the sister of a friend, of a friend from my Catholic grade school, and they put me up on a couch in Long Beach. I walked around the neighborhood, saw the first "for rent" sign, "All we have left is a single," she said. "What's that?" And down came the Murphy bed. Had the phone connected, then came the job hunt. So, of course, I marched straight down to Dis- neyland, "Hey, I want to get a job on the Jungle Cruise." And they said, "You can leave now, we have hired everyone for the season … But try the Disneyland Hotel." So I became a room service waiter, with my red vest and Disney name tag, deliver- ing food by traveling underground in a golf cart. I arrived in Southern California on Friday, and by Tuesday, I had an apart- ment, a car, a phone, a job and two friends. And I thought that was normal—it's amazing how lucky I was. Jill: TELL ME HOW THE DAILY TRAVEL THROUGH DISNEY'S UNDER- GROUND TUNNEL TURNED YOU INTO A FAMED LOCATION MASTER. Mike: Well, my buddy and two girls in a bar. Jill: COME AGAIN, WHAT NOW? Mike: A buddy of mine met two girls in a bar and that's how my location career started. Jill: "HOW I OWE MY CAREER TO PICKING UP WOMEN IN BARS," BY MICHAEL J. BURMEISTER. Mike: Yes. Actually, I owe my career to my buddy's pickup skills. Much like a Sherpa, I was there to assist as he did the heavy lifting, so it's more like "My Life as a Sherpa," by Michael J. Burmeister. I worked at the Disneyland Hotel and every day I would drive to Hollywood and look for jobs, then drive back to the hotel and work until midnight. That was my routine. I was getting nowhere fast. No one wanted a "Game Show Direc- tor." One of my former college professors mentioned being a tour guide at Universal Studios, and I said, "I'll never be- come a tour guide, that's not me." But I was out of ideas, so begrudgingly, I went to Universal and by some miracle, I got hired on the spot. I trained for a week and even though I was a shy person, I became a tour guide, and it really changed me. When you are on stage and have 250 people laughing at your jokes—that's a feeling that I had never felt before. Now I understand why people want to become entertainers … I learned about timing, and how within the basic framework, you can interject your personality. I slowly found my voice. When you get this huge response from a crowd, it's fantastic! I loved it. So I did that for a year. Jill: I THINK THAT'S STILL BUILT INTO YOUR PERSONALITY. Mike: Yeah. Jill: I TRAINED WITH YOU, AND LOVED WORKING WITH YOU, KNOWING THAT YOUR DELIVERY STYLE IN COMMUNICATION AND MITIGATION … AHH, HOW CAN I SAY THIS IN THE RIGHT WAY…

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