Episode 12: Movie Location Management…For Dummies

A behind the scenes look at the latest video work at Looney Jones House. See upcoming blog post for more details.

Do any of our devoted fans know where we can purchase the aforementioned book? The new owners of the Looney Jones House have been on a Matterhorn-like learning curve since the purchase of our dream home in December of 2017. We have been blessed to be able to purchase our dream home to renovate over the next phase of our lives. A little over a year from now we will have our wonder twins, our last fledglings, in college. And our current abode will be sold. Then we will once again be single home owners. That is the plan. But in the mean time…

A behind the scenes look at the remote wireless monitor used for focus and playback.

The Looney Jones House continues to earn her keep as a rental property. First as a conventional rental property with the small apartment in back, and second as movie/video/photoshoot location property. Our friend, award winning filmmaker Elvis Wilson, listed the Looney Jones House on the Nashville Filmmakers Facebook page. Day one we had interest.

After a pep talk from Elvis, and some wisdom from his years of being on the other side of the location fence, we were ready. Well, we thought we were ready. Now we are several months in and have learned so much more.

After all, we owners have visited more historic properties that you can shake a moss-covered-three-handled-family-gradunza at. Angie has visited movie sets in Scotland AND England. OUTLANDER and PRIDE AND PREJUDICE sets were honestly her only reason to cross the big pond. She has done the Mr. Darcy pilgrimage trail. And the Fraser clan highland castle fling. She has been in the center of the stones, but thankfully the stones were not there for her to go through. She has seen multiple towns, castles, streets, and homes that have adorned the big and small screen.

Angie on location at Pemberly from PRIDE AND PREJUDICE, 1995

The OUTLANDER fanatics taking a selfie at Lallybroch.

The very hard to find Craigh na Dun, minus the stones, of course.

Carl has been on the set of the ABC series NASHVILLE multiple times. Both Angie and Carl have art directed countless photo shoots on location. We have even spent a long weekend at one of the sets of DIRTY DANCING, for Baby’s sake! NOBODY PUTS CARL IN A CORNER! Other family vacations have included following in the footsteps of The Dude in California, complete with reenactments of key scenes from THE BIG LEBOWSKI and PULP FICTION. However, the Dude’s apartment was a “private residence, man!” Carl has run up the steps in Silver Lake where Larry, Moe, and Curly carried ice up in a Three Stooges episode. The gag was they started with a full block of ice and finished with a cube at the top. You had to be there…and we were. On Location.

Carl on the ABC drama NASHVILLE with Eric Close as Mayor Teddy Conrad.

Carl on the ABC drama NASHVILLE with Eric Close as Mayor Teddy Conrad.

The Dude’s Private Residence, Man.

Sam in front of Little Larry Sellers house.

Ben at the exact location ready to re-enact the scene from PULP FICTION where Butch hits Marcellus Wallace in the crosswalk.

Carl re-enacting the Stooges’ famous run up the steps to deliver ice.

Carl re-enacting the Stooges’ famous run up the steps to deliver ice. Yes, he really ran up them.

But now we ARE the location. It is a totally different world. Yes, it was always so cool to touch the spot of movie magic from the past. But we are in the unique position of owning a piece of history that we are using to make other’s movie magic come true. Therein lies the rub. Looney Jones House already has history, important history. A history and home that needs preserving. So we are trying to preserve, protect, guard the story of OUR house, OUR future home…a home that is eligible for the National Register of Historic Places.

First lesson to learn…the devil is in the details. We had to learn how to price the location. Elvis gave us some guidelines, but we quickly learned to ask lots of questions about each project before giving out any prices. How big is your crew? How big is your client? How much potential damage could occur? How many hours constitute a day in our day rate? Do you have an insurance policy? And so many more questions.

Things we have learned:

• Do not allow the chance to make some money make you so nervous that it becomes a chore versus being a blessing.
• Have a signed contract. Everyone that has used our house, has signed a location agreement contract. We have updated it after almost every shoot. We see things that need to be added like no parking in driveway, or no smoking inside the house. Clients have been very good about signing our contract without any fuss.
• Be able to feel good that your clients will treat your historic home like a museum, not just another set.
• Be sure clients are aware that there is an expectation that the property will be left in the same shape as when they arrive. An insurance policy clause in the contract helps here.
• A Looney Jones House rep needs to be on-site during all phases of shooting.
• If clients pay with PayPal, be sure to charge them the PayPal fees.

The famous Hollywood sign with Myers Lake in the background where they filmed lake scenes in THE ANDY GRIFFETH SHOW and many other shows and movies. The real lake is called the Franklin Canyon Reservoir. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franklin_Canyon_Park

As you can see, it’s pretty stressful being a LOCATION. But it is also very nice to make the extra money to renovate the property. You just have to weigh the options of risk versus reward. We have a new appreciation for both the stewards of the historic sites and the location scouts, art directors, and producers of our favorite movies and TV shows. It amazes us how they can transform a location into the amazing places we see on the screen, and then return them to their previous state.

For us, it is pretty exciting to see how the Looney Jones House is regaining her popularity. I just hope it doesn’t go to her head. And remember…location…location…location.