Go For Locations

We just added several new features to the Go For Locations website accounts!

First, you now have Green Folders too. Analogous to the hanging green folders in your office filing cabinets, they will better help to show your gallery viewers that there are additional khaki yellow subfolders beneath that initial directory.

Also, each folder will now automatically select the alphabetically-first JPG in each directory as the folder’s cover image. You can still manually select a different one, of course, but this new default should save you time in organizing most folders. We also improved the cache deletion process.

At least two more features will be coming very soon too!

To our current and future website customers,

We’ve just added the new ability to include artistic slideshows on the main pages of your website. This is a great way to show off a portfolio of some of your favorite photographs.

For an example, check out what Jeff Crandell did on his Scoutakes website. Your own slideshow can be completely customized with any number of pictures, types of fades, speed settings, etc.

There is no additional cost for this new feature. If you want to add the slideshows to your website, just give me a call at any time!

We are currently hiring part-time positions.
Check here for more details.

Days like last Sunday are days when I truly love my job! In order to film movies and television series at real-life locations, we go through staggering amounts of red tape for the contracts, permits, and other logistics. After it all comes together, though, we can not only breathe a long sigh of relief, but we sometimes get rewarded with the unique experiences that also come with the job.

We were filming a new TV show at the construction site for L.A. Live (see the artist’s rendering above), the new multi-billion dollar entertainment district in Downtown Los Angeles. During breaks between scenes, I got to take photos from within the site. The highlight, though, was being able to climb up the 265-foot crane (that’s from the the basement, and it rises over 230 feet above street-level) for a vantage point few have seen and I will almost certainly never get to see again. Go here for a set of the day’s photographs.

Earlier today, Manny and I decided to discuss Go For Locations business at this unlikely location. Of course, some location scouting came first, so check out all the many photographs. This lighthouse was built in 1913 and stands at the end of the mile-and-a-half San Pedro Jetty in Los Angeles Harbor. When disembarking on a cruise, this is the last place you past before hitting open water.

Effective today for both existing and new customers, the disk quotas just went up! We did this last year at this time, and now it’s time to do the same thing yet again.

For example, at the first level, people who previously had 1 gigabyte of space now have 1½ gigabytes instead. And those who were getting 5 gigabytes have now been bumped up to 6 gigabytes.

Business has been good, so this is part of Go For Locations’ continuing commitment to pass that back to our customers. You can read more details and sign up for yourself in the Go For Websites section.

Last weekend, a group of fifteen urban explorers, led by Shannon Simonds and Eric Lynxwiler, met at Union Station to walk seven miles across six bridges over the L.A. River in Downtown Los Angeles, finally finishing up for lunch at Royal Clayton’s in the Arts District.

My friend Melanie and I went on this walking trip and had a great time (by the way, we had actually met because of our respective Wilshire Walks last fall). Click here for my collection of photos and some links to other people’s photos.

Welcome to our new blog!

This newest addition to the website will be a place where we’ll post items of interest to other Location Managers, including pictures and anecdotes from our own scouting travels. Of course, you’ll also be able to find out what’s going on at the company itself.

The blog is going live today, 1 May 2007, but, just to get the ball rolling, I imported a small handful of old scouting topics from my own personal blog website. Thus, everything below this post is old, while everything else above this post will be brand new items.

Manny and I will be the two principal writers here, but that could expand later to include other company employees, as well as guest posts from others in our industry. Also, please note that the current colors, graphics, and layout are mostly temporary; we’ll be fixing things up as we go.

Anyway, please keep checking in, leave some comments, and definitely spread the word!

I learned something new yesterday while scouting in Downtown L.A. There is no such person as Paul Hastings.

You know the building that I’m talking about, right? It’s the former Arco Tower at 5th & Flower Streets, the one that that proudly emblazons across the top: Paul Hastings. It was prominently visible in every other L.A. establishing shot in just about any episode of Alias.

For some reason, I always imagined a rich guy in a suit who would go to bars, meet a pretty lady, introduce himself as Paul Hastings, and then she’d reply, “Ooh, not the same Paul Hastings with that big building?”

Well, I know now that this could never happen. Because, the full name of this law firm is actually Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker LLP. Two of the three guys who started the company back in 1951 are Lee Paul and Robert Hastings. They’re actually two separate people! And, well, considering how long ago the company started, I doubt these guys, if they’re even still alive, are getting out to the clubs all that often anymore.

Anyway, the building owners are indeed film-friendly. Contact Skyline Locations if you might be interested in shooting there.

We are currently filming scenes for an upcoming Anthony Hopkins movie at a beautiful estate in Encino, Los Angeles. The interesting thing here, though, is the huge orange grove next-door (at which we’re parking our basecamp of trucks and trailers). The San Fernando Valley used to be covered in orange groves, but, with all the construction of new homes after World War II, they’ve almost entirely disappeared. This has to be one of the very last of them. Sadly, the tract has been recently purchased and the plan is to subdivide and develop it, of course. I’m curious if anybody knows anything more about the history of this site….