Nick Rafferty is a Chicago-based location manager working in tv and film. His most recent collaboration was with Adam Stockhausen on Steve McQueen’s upcoming "Widows" feature film.
My job always begins with a phone call, which often comes out of nowhere, but never fails to send you someplace new and unexpected. Even if you are covering the same ground, scouting the same city, you are seeing it again for the first time, through new eyes. You are wearing the eyes of the production designer and seeing the landscape through the lens of the script.
When you start on a project, the possibilities are infinite, and the first step is to develop a common language with the designer, to understand what they are going for. That often begins with a conversation, but it's not until you start communicating through images that you begin to understand each other. Sometimes the designer will provide reference photos or concept art. Sometimes you start by photographing the actual scripted places for research. And sometimes the designer just wants to jump in the car and begin to see the place as you do. But the moment you land on something that speaks to their vision, it's a beautiful connection.
The best part of my job is to have a seat, front and center, to the creative process. Every director works differently, and every project is unique. But the one thing that remains the same is that you begin with an idea and translate it from page to place. It's always a journey, and the designer is your captain.
A great location manager has the charisma to tame a lion and skin as thick as a rhinoceros. Every project will have its victories and defeats. Being able to bounce back with a solution is the key to survival. On any given day a location manager must be able to cut a deal with a pawnshop, forge a connection with a cemetery gravedigger, or talk your way onto the rooftop of a skyscraper. Often all in the same day. In the end, a mercurial director or a demanding designer is really no contest compared to what we have to overcome out there in the real world. Levity and a good scout lunch work wonders with the lions.
