Whiskey brand Jim Beam, feature Moneyball and TV show House MD won some of the big prizes last weekend at the California On-Location Awards (COLAs). Gongs went both to individual location professionals and specific teams, with the team categories often involving a dozen or so people.
We’ve been talking to several Location Managers this week to get their expert views on filming in Hawaii, Cape Town and Buenos Aires. The success of Dolphin Tale in the US has lifted Florida’s filmmaking profile and India has hosted the latest commercial from VW. There’s more Bond news too, with the production heading to Scotland in 2012.
The California On-Location Awards (COLA) take place this Sunday (October 16th) and are set to honour location filming professionals working in the Golden State. Gongs will include Location Professional of the Year, Location Team of the Year and Public Employee of the Year.
It’s been a busy week for pre-production news in the features industry, with both the James Bond and Iron Man franchises altering their location filming plans. GM-owned vehicle manufacturer Opel has come out with an ambitious shoot in Spain, and we profiled Hamish Walker in Glasgow and Chiana Coronis on the Greek island of Mykonos.
Last week was a good one for the Los Angeles film industry. Citing figures from Film LA, the Los Angeles Times reports that feature film production days reached nearly 180, an increase of almost 50% on the same time last year.
A special iPhone app has been launched to track the charity riders taking part in the Fireflies West cycle ride, which starts today, and to encourage donations. Advertising industry professionals are among those taking part in the ride to raise money for leukaemia research and treatment.
Friday sees the start of the 4th annual Fireflies West cycling tour in California to raise money for leukaemia research. Advertising industry professionals will be taking part in the 550-mile, six-day ride from San Francisco to Los Angeles.
One of our popular stories this week has been news that the second series of Game of Thrones will be filmed partly in Croatia, which is great for the eastern European country. In other news production has started at Fox Studios Australia on Baz Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsby and the Mojave Desert has again proved its popularity as a convenient dramatic wilderness.