In The News

When September rolls around, it means one thing for many of the top filmmakers in the world – time to hit the road. Venice, Telluride and Toronto come in rapid succession, to the point of overlapping. But for documentary filmmakers eager to showcase their work, there’s another important stop to make in September: the Camden International Film Festival in mid-coast Maine.

When Jerry Hamza first brought his best friend George Carlin to Maine in the mid-1980s, he said the iconic comedian couldn’t care less about the fishing that Hamza was passionate about.

Hamza, who was his manager from 1980 until Carlin’s death in 2008, said his friend was more intrigued by the bird life he saw while the pair went fishing on the Penobscot River.

The first half of the job as a location manager is very creative, said Alison Taylor, veteran location manager and vice president of the Location Managers Guild International. This is the scouting part, where you’re working with the production designer and director to find the right locations, she said. Once the locations have been found, the second half is logistics. Taylor and other top location managers share their advice on how to get into location management.

Talks between the Motion Picture Association and the Hollywood labor unions have failed to produce an agreement on a new law that would address firearm safety on movie sets. The two sides backed competing proposals earlier this year in response to the fatal shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of “Rust” in New Mexico last October. Both bills would have established a training standard for film armorers — a job that is currently almost entirely unregulated. The union proposal would have been more sweeping, however, establishing the role of a “set safety supervisor” who would have the power to shut down productions.

The Materials Oasis in Los Angeles is a warehouse that looks like a sorting area for the world’s biggest charity shop, but its motley collection of items isn’t for sale. All the goods have been discarded from the film and TV industry and are being offered free of charge to other filming productions, non-profits, schools, or others who can make use of them. EcoSet, the company that runs the Materials Oasis, also provides set services to help productions reach the zero waste standard of 90% of waste diverted from landfill or combustion.