The names of location managers and scouts don’t often appear in the end credits of a feature film or television show. It may not even be unusual that the casual filmgoer or television viewer knows what a location manager or scout even does. But once a project is cleared for production, one of the first people hired is the scout who goes out to see what is feasible in terms of appropriate and useable locations. “Before a director comes on to show him anything, you have to find these places,” said Pauline East, executive director of the Antelope Valley Film Office. To recognize the importance location managers and scouts play in the entertainment industry, the Film Liaisons of California Statewide (FLICS) started the California On Location Awards. The 12th annual awards event took place Oct. 15 at the Los Angeles Marriott Downtown. East co-chairs the event with Sheri Davis from the Inland Empire and Janice Arrington from Orange County. Winners are selected from categories for feature films, television shows, commercials and still photography. Hosting the event was Lorin Dreyfuss, who bares little resemblance to his brother Richard yet has a similar sounding voice. In between announcing the nominating groups, Dreyfuss drew laughter or groans from the audience with jokes starting with “A location manager walks into a bar ” or “Three retired location managers are in Palm Springs ” Nominations come from film offices and commissions throughout California and from colleagues in the industry. Members of FLICS whittle the number down to three (or four, in event of a tie) finalists. The winners are chosen by an independent panel of judges. Corie Hill placed among this year’s finalists in the Best City Employee of the Year category. Hill, an administrative analyst in the transit division for the City of Santa Clarita, works with the city’s film office with requests to film at transit facilities, on transit vehicles or to coordinate a street closure that affects a transit route. In announcing the finalists in the city employee category, Dreyfuss said Hill’s contribution was critical to the success of filming in Santa Clarita whether permitting and planning shoots, or keeping a film commission on its toes. “Corie sees the big picture,” Dreyfuss continued. “She meets city safety concerns yet keeps Santa Clarita film friendly.” Although Hill lost out to Joan Seward from Los Angeles World Airports, she said the nomination had come as a surprise. “It’s great to know our film division recognizes the work I help them out with and how hard it is,” Hill said. Veronique Vowell won individually for Location Professional of the Year in television and as part of the location team for “Cold Case” from Warner Bros. Television. Vowell and her team find locations around Southern California to double for Philadelphia in the CBS crime drama. “It’s a great show to work on,” Vowell said. “We’ve been there since show one of season one and we hope it keeps going.” Valencia-based location manager Deven Chierighino was a finalist for Location Professional of the Year in television for his work on “The Unit.” Dreyfuss described Chierighino as having an impeccable work ethic and always going the extra mile. During a five-month shoot in Santa Clarita, the production crew of “The Unit” adopted the neighborhood it filmed in. “The crew even chipped in to support a youngster’s lemonade stand,” Dreyfuss said. In the course of their jobs, location managers promise the “moon and the stars” not only to the production companies but the owners of the property used for the filming, East said. Maintaining good relations ensures that future productions will be welcomed back. “They are responsible for keeping a location film friendly for the next group to come in,” East said. Good Connections To Siamak Farah the Internet is like a river, with various streams collecting into larger arteries that make for faster connections with more information. A recent move by InfoStreet, Inc., the Tarzana-based company of which Farah is president, puts the firm in one of the main telecommunications arteries of the world. InfoStreet now keeps its servers at One Wilshire in Los Angeles, a fiber-optic equipped building serving as a nexus for telecommunications traffic. “We’re fortunate to have it in our neck of the woods,” Farah said. “Even if it wasn’t I would still have our equipment even if we were in Utah.” InfoStreet provides “software as a service,” productivity and business software accessed via the Internet. The service provides a cost-savings to clients because they do not need to have their own hardware and servers. All software updgrades and virus detection is done through the InfoStreet servers, Farah said. The benefit having the InfoStreet equipment at One Wilshire is that it can route traffic more efficiently and more reliably. The 34-story building houses over 300 telecom companies, including AT & T;, Time Warner, Qwest Communications, Sprint and Verizon. Diodes Makes List Forbes Magazine listed Diodes, Inc. as number 37 in its list of 200 best small companies released on Oct. 18. Westlake Village-based Diodes manufactures and supplies discrete and analog semiconductor products for the communications, computing, consumer electronics, and automobile markets. The criteria used by Forbes was public companies with sales between $5 million and $75 million, three-month average trading volume above 10,000 or more shares, and a share price above $5 per share. The companies also needed to show profit margins greater than 5 percent and positive average sales growth over both the last five years and the last 12 months. As calculated by Forbes, Diodes had an average sales growth of 110 percent over five years and a profit growth averaging 81 percent over five years. Staff Reporter Mark R. Madler can be reached at (818) 316-3126 or by e-mail at [email protected].
