What Do Location Managers Do

I’m an Assistant Location Manager. I’ve worked in the film industry for 15 years and just finished Sonic the Hedgehog 2.

I make sure the circus, work trucks, craft service, catering, and lunch tents are set up as well as getting our set ready for the crew to arrive. I’m also responsible for managing Production Assistants and acting as a liaison between our film crew and the public. We often move from location to location though, so our sets change on a daily basis and I get to interact with a lot of different people.

Responsibilities as an Assistant Location Manager

My responsibilities as an Assistant Location Manager are:

• Managing Production Assistants (PA’s) on set (hiring, determining call times, and making sure everyone is in their lockups on the day)
• Arranging parking for crew members’ vehicles, our catering truck, craft services, essential work trucks (the ones that have the equipment we need for filming), the circus (our base camp where all the actors get ready – those are the large trailers like hair, makeup, wardrobe, and the star trailers)
• Acting as a liaison between our film crew and the public – if there are complaints about noise, business disruptions, or any other inconvenience caused by filming, I’m the one who talks to those people in person*
• Regulating our set climate by setting up heating and air conditioning

*If they want to discuss it on the phone or over email, they’d get in touch with the Location Manager who usually isn’t on site

I travel with the set crew and camera.

I’m in charge of getting access for our department and the filming crew before filming and on the day.

So for instance, if we’re filming in an office on the 30th floor, we have to arrange an elevator for that day.

We’ll put a PA there with a FOB who helps people go up and down to and from our set.

Our (the locations department) responsibility is to find, secure, and give producers the ability to film at locations – we figure out all logistics related to those locations in order to get access to them.

And when we’re filming, what needs to happen to keep crew members safe and compliant with what the location owners or management require of us.

I’m also responsible for making sure there’s no property damage caused by filming to our locations.

Before filming starts, I may do some scouting – could be 2 weeks to 3 months.

Then, I’ll go into about 13 weeks of prep (for a feature film) which means starting to find parking for all of our vehicles and following up with scouting locations that interested our designers.

I get in touch with owners who seemed interested in filming and go back to visit them and find out more about the location – i.e. is it a strata, a co-op, etc. – peeling the onion to find out more about what you need to make happen in order to film there.

Then there are some buyouts (paying business owners or neighbors for the inconvenience caused by filming) – most deals happen before filming but some happen on the spot.

During prep, I’ll also scout nearby locations for where we could potentially store equipment.

My typical day as an ALM

The night before a filming day, I send call times to the Production Assistants based on the call sheet – some are staggered but most come at the same time, usually around the same time as the Generator Operator or when catering starts serving breakfast.

Me and my department, Locations, is usually first in – about 30 minutes before makeup, hair, and the assistant directors.

Every day is a little different – we could be working anywhere from a park to an office, or even a residential home.

So, I’ll have to meet a liaison or park ranger and make sure everyone is compliant with curfew and safety requirements.

Or if it’s a house, I have to make sure we have the keys to the house and that someone is there to open it for us.

Once we have access to the location, we figure out our shots from the first AD and start putting Production Assistants in lockups on set (locations to keep the camera clear of unwanted pedestrians, vehicles, etc.) and around our trucks for security and fire watch.

We set up a perimeter around our set and put Production Assistants in the appropriate spots.

Then, we start filming.

When the camera turns, we need to reposition everybody and our equipment.

We spend most of the day doing this as well as making sure our shots are free of unwanted passerby’s.

We film for about 6 hours and then go to lunch.

Then we film for another 6 to 7 hours.

As an ALM, I work about 15 to 20 hours a day.

We’re usually on location for a few days up to a couple of weeks.

But on TV shows, sometimes you’re moving two or three times a day – which means packing up all of our equipment and crew to go somewhere else.

Once we wrap, if we’re filming at the same location next day, I arrange security to watch the equipment and we tidy up the location before we do it all over again tomorrow.

If we’re moving, I have to make sure curfew is respected and go to the next location to wait for the trucks to land and make sure they’re parked where they’re supposed to be.

Pros of being an ALM

• It’s interesting work and seeing the finished product is really cool.
• You always know who works in film at the end of a movie because we stay until the end to read the credits!
• Most of the time, I don’t work in an office and I get to visit new locations almost every day. I also get to access locations that most people never get to experience. I’ve filmed in prisons, armories, hydroelectric generating stations, and water treatment plants.
• You don’t get stuck in a boring routine because every day is a little bit different.
• A lot of the time, you’re also working outside which is nice
• The job pays really well

Cons of being an ALM

• I work really long hours and don’t get to see my family a lot when we’re filming. I usually go to work on Monday before anyone is up and I don’t see them again until the weekend.
• Shift-working means that I can’t get into a routine – I might start at 6am on Monday but on Tuesday, I could start at 8am, and by Friday potentially 3pm. Some weeks we film all nights.
• Being an ALM can also be very stressful because I have a lot of responsibilities. There’s no real job description – you just have to take care of some things as they come up – for example, when filming in a residential neighborhood on garbage day, we take all of the garbage cans and move them into one long row on another block to avoid the truck disrupting filming. Then, once the garbage has been picked up, we have to return each can back to the house it belongs to.
• Production Assistants are an entry-level position so there’s a lot of changing faces – some are very good from the start but there are a lot of new people every show and we expect them to know how to do the job without a real job description or experience.
• The worst part is that when you finish a show, you don’t know when your next job will start.
• There’s no crystal ball, so it’s hard to plan a vacation because if you say no to a job, you might not get another offer for a long time.