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/924095
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…