So you wanna be a location manager?

What’s the job?
A location manager’s job sounds easy: read a script, decide where to film, then jump in the car and go find the ideal place to start shooting. Unfortunately, there’s a bit more to it than that:

The reality
The location manager is responsible for finding locations and all the associated details such as liaising with the owners, negotiating fees, arranging parking and technical facilities, checking health and safety, liaising with the police, arranging directions for cast and crew and re-scheduling location times if the shoot is running over or under schedule.

Run that past me again
Ok, let’s say that you’re the location manager for a production of Jane Austen’s ‘Pride & Prejudice’. One scene requires that the lead characters go to a ball, so they are shown approaching a Georgian town house in a horse and carriage, the carriage stops outside the house, and the characters enter through the front door. Easy – find a Georgian town house, get props to hire a horse and carriage, and Bob’s your uncle: job’s a good ‘un. Hold on a minute.

One thing at a time
Let’s say you and the director decide that the ideal place is ‘The Crescent’, the famous Georgian terrace in the city of Bath. The director decides that they like the knocker on number 29’s door. The owners are happy for you to film the outside of their house. You offer them a fee for the privilege, plus a further fee for allowing the house to be used as the base for the costume and make-up department. And now the fun begins.

Would you mind removing that, please?
Because this film is set during the Georgian period, you’ve now got to make it historically accurate. You might have to contact the council and ask them if you can paint over the double-yellow lines, remove the street signs, and disguise the lamp posts. You’ll then need to speak to the neighbours and ask whether they would mind you taking down their TV aerials (see C is for Continuity) and those Boyzone posters in the window; oh, and on the evening we shoot, would you mind awfully staying indoors, and removing your cars from the street and parking elsewhere. All of this takes time, money, lots of cajoling, and lots of patience. But you’ve not finished yet.

‘Ello, ‘ello, ‘ello
The road will need to be closed off to all traffic. So now you’ll need to go back to the council, get their permission and liaise with the local police for a couple of bobbies to be around on the day.

Security
A number of crew vehicles will need to be hidden away somewhere on or near the street. You’ll also need to find room for the portable toilets. And during filming, when the whole crew is preoccupied, you’ll need to hire some burly security people to make sure that no-one makes off with any of the equipment and that no unwitting member of the public accidentally strays into the middle of a scene.

Done it!
Barring the odd hitch, you’ve done it. BUT…If the shoot is running over schedule, you might need to rearrange the date, and go through the whole palaver yet again. Also, there are another 265 scenes in the shooting schedule, and you’ve got to do the same thing, at a different time and in a different place, again and again and again …

What kind of crazy mamma would wanna do such a thing?
Well, it’s a good question. On the face of it, the work of a location manager looks like an endless line of hassle for little discernible return. In reality, there are plenty of rewards. It’s actually a very creative job. You’re also largely your own boss, reporting back to the director and production team once you’ve found somewhere suitable. Finally, if you’re the kind of person who likes going to new places and meeting and working with new faces, this could be the job for you.

Glamour rating
Not very high. Most of the time you’re out on your own and away from the set working on future schedules. However, location managers working on international films do get to travel the world, seeking out exotic and unusual places.

How do I get to be a location manager?
There’s no set route and prescribed list of qualifications required. A lot of location managers have started off on the bottom rung of TV and film as Runners (See Juicer & Key Grip), working their way up by being an assistant location manager. In the case of Brian Moses - featured in ‘It’s A Wrap! - he was actually a fireman before he moved into being a location manager, via a spell as an actor. In terms of qualifications, aptitude and commitment are more important to this job than A levels and degrees. There are no specific courses offered for prospective location managers.

Future prospects
Despite the hassles the job can bring, it is financially and personally rewarding. All big films and television dramas require location managers, and once you’ve established a reputation for having a good eye for the job, you’ll pick up work fairly easily. One thing to be aware of is that, like nearly all things related to the industry, you’ll only be employed on a short-term, project by project basis.