The Locations Managers Guild International (LMGI) is a professional organization of

location manager The location manager is a member of the film crew responsible for finding and securing locations to be used, obtaining all fire, police and other governmental permits, and coordinating the logistics for the production to complete its work. They a ...

s, location scouts, assistant location managers, and affiliated business members, such as film commissions, location services, vendors, and filming venues. Founded in 2003 as the Location Managers Guild of America, the membership voted to rename the organization as the Location Managers Guild International in 2016 to recognize the global aspect of film-making and reflect the growing international presence of its membership. The LMGI is not a

labor union A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...

in that it does not represent location managers in wages or working conditions, leaving this responsibility to the respective local unions such as Teamsters Local 399 in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

, Teamsters Local 390 in

Miami Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...

, and the

Directors Guild of America The Directors Guild of America (DGA) is an entertainment guild that represents the interests of Film director, film and Television director, television directors in the United States motion picture industry and abroad. Founded as the Screen Dir ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

and

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

. The organization has both union and non-union member professionals.

Membership

While the majority of the membership of the LMGI are based in

where the guild was first established, many members began traveling to secondary production centers such as

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

, and

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

with the increasing dependence of production incentives, introduced their crews to the guild, and developed local location professional communities who in turn were invited to become members. Foreign membership followed the increasing recognition of international locations such as

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...

, and

Jordan Jordan, officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in the Southern Levant region of West Asia. Jordan is bordered by Syria to the north, Iraq to the east, Saudi Arabia to the south, and Israel and the occupied Palestinian ter ...

through films such as ''

The Lord of the Rings ''The Lord of the Rings'' is an Epic (genre), epic high fantasy novel written by English author and scholar J. R. R. Tolkien. Set in Middle-earth, the story began as a sequel to Tolkien's 1937 children's book ''The Hobbit'' but eventually d ...

'', ''

Zero Dark Thirty ''Zero Dark Thirty'' is a 2012 American political action thriller film directed by Kathryn Bigelow and written by Mark Boal. Produced by Boal, Bigelow, and Megan Ellison, and independently financed by Ellison's Annapurna Pictures, the film ...

'', '' Interstellar'', '' The Martian'', and '' Star Wars: The Force Awakens''. The merger of the former LMGA partner organization in the United Kingdom, Guild of Location Managers, into the Production Guild of Great Britain, also resulted in a number of British location managers seeking an organization that represented the craft exclusively. Active membership is limited to professional location scouts and managers. Business membership consists of affiliated businesses with professional references.

Projects

The LMGI regularly mounts large-scale, educational art projects in partnership with community groups. Last Looks: The Ambassador Hotel Over the weekend of March 20, 2005, just before demolition began on the Ambassador Hotel, the LMGA organized an outreach event wherein location scouts could photograph the historic location one last time, while mentoring students from Jefferson High School (located in the Central-Alameda neighborhood of Los Angeles) in the skills of script breakdown and location scouting. The student photographs were judged by a jury that included respected Hollywood luminaries

Shane Black Shane Black (born December 16, 1961) is an American screenwriter, film director, and actor, known for his distinctive style of Action film, action and action comedy films. He is the original creator of the ''Lethal Weapon (franchise), Lethal Wea ...

(writer, ''

Lethal Weapon ''Lethal Weapon'' is a 1987 American action film directed by Richard Donner and written by Shane Black. It stars Mel Gibson and Danny Glover alongside Gary Busey, Tom Atkins, Darlene Love, and Mitchell Ryan. In ''Lethal Weapon'', a pai ...

''), Alice West (co-executive producer, ''

Ugly Betty ''Ugly Betty'' is an American comedy-drama television series developed by Silvio Horta, which aired on American Broadcasting Company, ABC from September 28, 2006, to April 14, 2010. It is based on the Colombian telenovela ''Yo soy Betty, la fea' ...

''), and Missy Stewart (production designer, ''

Good Will Hunting ''Good Will Hunting'' is a 1997 American drama film directed by Gus Van Sant and written by Ben Affleck and Matt Damon. It stars Robin Williams, Damon, Affleck, Stellan Skarsgård and Minnie Driver. The film tells the story of janitor Will Hunt ...

''). The awards ceremony was held in June 2005 at the

Beverly Hilton Hotel The Beverly Hilton is a hotel located on an property at the intersection of Wilshire Boulevard, Wilshire and Santa Monica Boulevard, Santa Monica boulevards in Beverly Hills, California, United States. The Beverly Hilton has hosted many awards ...

. In 2006, the LMGA produced a photographic exhibit of images from the Ambassador Project at the

Los Angeles City Hall Los Angeles City Hall, completed in 1928, is the center of the government of the city of Los Angeles, California, and houses the Mayor of Los Angeles, mayor's office and the meeting chambers and offices of the Los Angeles City Council. It is loca ...

, in the Office of the City Attorney. Student photographs were hung side by side with those of the professionals. The exhibit was featured on the front page of the ''Los Angeles Times'' calendar as an article accompanied by four full-color images. Concentric Circles: Metro L.A. Revealed In 2008, the LMGA, in conjunction with the

Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (LACMTA), branded as Metro, is the county agency that plans, operates, and coordinates funding for most of the Transportation in Los Angeles, public transportation system in Los Ang ...

, produced a photo essay entitled "Concentric Circles: Metro L.A. Revealed," exhibited at Beady Minces Art Gallery in

Venice Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...

, California. Accompanied by Metro personnel, dozens of scouts rode bus and train lines across the city during the course of several weeks capturing unique images of Metro properties. The resulting images provide a "scout's eye" view of various aspects of the Los Angeles Metro in the early 21st century. A book-bound catalog of film-friendly locations was created from this project as a marketing piece for the industry.

LMGI Awards

The LMGA held their inaugural awards show in March 2014 with honors going to location managers Robert Boake for ''

Game of Thrones ''Game of Thrones'' is an American Fantasy television, fantasy Drama (film and television), drama television series created by David Benioff and for HBO. It is an adaptation of ''A Song of Ice and Fire'', a series of high fantasy novels by ...

'' and Ilt Jones for ''

Iron Man 3 ''Iron Man 3'' is a 2013 American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics character Iron Man, produced by Marvel Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. It is the sequel to ''Iron Man (2008 film), Iron Man'' (2008) an ...

'', the Albuquerque Film Commission for ''

Breaking Bad ''Breaking Bad'' is an American crime drama television series created and produced by Vince Gilligan for AMC (TV channel), AMC. Set and filmed in Albuquerque, New Mexico, the series follows Walter White (Breaking Bad), Walter White (Bryan Cran ...

'' and '' Lone Survivor'', and honorary awards to

Haskell Wexler Haskell Wexler (February 6, 1922 – December 27, 2015) was an American filmmaker, cinematographer, and documentarian. He won the Academy Award for Best Cinematography twice, in 1966 for ''Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?'' and 1976 for ''Bou ...

for his efforts in creating a safer working environment for below the line filmmakers, and the Eva Monley award to

Alexander Payne Constantine Alexander Payne (born February 10, 1961) is an American film director, screenwriter and producer. He is noted for his satire, satirical depictions of contemporary American society. Payne has received List of awards and nominations rec ...

for his masterful use of location as another character is films such as ''

Sideways ''Sideways'' is a 2004 American comedy-drama directed by Alexander Payne and written by Jim Taylor and Payne. A film adaptation of Rex Pickett's 2004 novel, ''Sideways'' follows two men in their forties, Miles Raymond ( Paul Giamatti), a de ...

'', ''

The Descendants ''The Descendants'' is a 2011 American tragicomedy film directed by Alexander Payne. The screenplay by Payne, Nat Faxon, and Jim Rash is based on the 2007 novel by Kaui Hart Hemmings. The film stars George Clooney in the main role, Shail ...

'', and ''

Nebraska Nebraska ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Ka ...

''.Caracas, Pete
"Walter Mitty finally gets love"
''Variety'' Retrieved 2014-12-11

References

External links

Location Managers Guild International
{{DEFAULTSORT:Location Managers Guild Of America Entertainment industry unions Entertainment industry societies Film organizations in the United States Film location shooting Organizations established in 2003 Organizations based in Los Angeles