Who We Are
Mark Kitchell is a veteran location scout and manager with over twenty years of experience. He started scouting locations in 1970s Hollywood, working on movies (Malibu Beach, Grand Theft Auto, Never Cry Wolf); television miniseries and movies-of-the-week (The Word, Are You In The House Alone?); and television series (Eight Is Enough, The White Shadow, Wonderwoman). Then in the 1980s he became one of the top location scouts in the commercial business in Los Angeles, first call for directors like Leslie Dektor, Fred Petermann, Haskell Wexler, Conrad Hall and Tim Newman.
Next Mark Kitchell took time out to make a documentary film, Berkeley in the Sixties, which won all sorts of honors (Academy Award nomination, Sundance Audience Award, the duPont-Columbia Award and more) and is now acclaimed as one of the classic films about the Sixties. In 1991 he returned to location scouting, this time based in San Francisco but working all over California. Over the last fifteen years he has worked on a great variety of commercials, films and television, even games. But more and more of his work has been for photographers in print advertising. Photographers and clients include:
- Dan Escobar
- Michele Clement
- Stephanie Rausser
- Hunter Freeman
- Greg Lorenz
- David Maisel
- Mika Manninen
- Rolling Stone
- Rajtar Productions
- Peter Rodger
- Alan Kaplan
- Michael Kenna
- Steve Peixotto
- Pottery Barn
- Heimo Schmidt
- Todd Tankersley
- Ripsaw Productions
- DGM Studios
By now Mark Kitchell has well over five hundred jobs to his credit. He has become one of the top San Francisco location scouts, expert and up-to-the-minute on all kinds of locations in every corner of the Bay Area and California. He's known for having a great eye, especially for landscape. He's an expert on houses, with hundreds on file. Most of all he's a problem solver, able to take any concept and find it in the real world.
How We Work
We are a location scout and manager, not a location library or service representing locations. Usually we are hired by photographers, ad agencies, production companies and other clients to find locations for their particular projects. Often this begins with file pulls -- and we are glad to make our library and database available on whatever basis. It is best to contact us and discuss your needs. Then we can customize your location search, save you time and money.
If you simply want information and more pictures of a location you see in the library, ask.
If you want us to pull and post a few files of houses or offices or fields, that's fine too.
If you want fresh pictures or new scouting, we're only too happy to oblige. That's what we do best. We work fast and produce a lot of possibilities. Usually we scout and post to our website the same day. One or two days will do for most jobs, unless there are multiple locations. We're also glad to do whatever location managing you wish, including permits, agreements and other production services. You'll be impressed at the extent of our knowledge and skill. Give us a call!