I began scouting locations in Hollywood during the 1970s. On a teen flick called Malibu Beach I saved the day when a location fell through. Realizing I had a natural talent, and that it was a way into the film business, I pursued location scouting and management from indie films like Grand Theft Auto to television miniseries like The Word and series like The White Shadow and Eight Is Enough.

 

In 1979 I moved into commercials so I’d have more time to write and develop my own films. I became one of the top location scouts in commercials, first call for legendary directors like Leslie Dektor and Fred Petermann, Haskell Wexler and Conrad Hall, Hil Covington and Tim Newman, Jeff Gorman and Gary Johns, Marc Chiat and Michael Grasso, Carroll Ballard and Jeff Zwart, Michael Karbelnikoff and Mikael Salomon, and many more.

 

From 1984-91, I took time out to make a documentary film called Berkeley in the Sixties. It was nominated for an Academy Award, won the prestigious Audience Award at Sundance as well as other top honors, and has become a well-loved classic, one of the defining films about the protest movements that shook America during the 1960s. I was producer, director, writer, chief archival researcher, even the distributor of the film. It was a great experience, but a long haul – and I was glad to get back to location scouting.

 

For twenty-three years I’ve been based in San Francisco, scouting locations all over the Bay Area, Northern California and across the West. I am a landscape specialist, can find the perfect vista or tree or green valley, even out of season. I have an extensive collection of houses in every style -- from Victorian to super-modern, Pottery Barn to grandma’s. I work hard at keeping current on houses and offices, since they change so often. As you can see from the samples in the galleries, I do a very wide range of location scouting. What I’m best at is developing clients’ needs -- I make a point of delivering a lot of possibilities. I also work with a wide range of clients. In the past year that included a Brazilian telenovela, a Swiss catalog, the Tomb Raider game and television show for Spike, the cover of San Francisco magazine, a few product introductions, an in-house corporate video -- and lots of print ads.

Meanwhile I’ve continued to make my own movies. A Fierce Green Fire, which is the first big-picture history of the environmental movement from conservation to climate change, premiered at Sundance in 2012 and was broadcast on PBS’s American Masters on Earth Day 2014. It has been a great success, and promises to become another defining film. Now I’m at work on a follow-on called California Green Fire, which tells three epics of environmentalism: saving the redwoods; the rise of organic agriculture; and twin tales of air pollution and clean renewable energy, converging around climate solutions. Location scouting work is what makes it all possible.

 

So hire me and support the arts. Thanks!