Our final Location Scouting trip of the year was to the Grand Canyon. No wonder people have been calling this one of the Seven Wonders of the World. It’s really that awe inspiring. Absolutely stunning.
Our second location scouting adventure was at Red Rock! It’s always exciting to start envisioning where the story can be told! And when that involves caves and amazing landscapes, we’re even more excited!
Over the summer we had the amazing opportunity to pitch a PILOT for a series. It was a really exciting project to work on. During the course of the project we also did some location scouting and of course, it takes place in the desert just like our last two feature films!
Check out these shots of the Imperial Dunes! This is also the location of Tatooine in Return of the Jedi.
We’ve COMPLETED a years long mission to find locations for each of our upcoming film projects! When we produced The West and the Ruthless, the amount of production value that Old Tucson Studios brought to the film was priceless. Not only for it’s amazing backlot, buildings, and production design, but also for the people that worked there - which is one of the most important aspects of any project (that’s why we have more projects we’re hoping to bring back to Tucson!)
That said, some stories aren’t westerns or set in the desert. So you have to travel the world looking for Alien Planets, Victorian Backlots, 1950s Motels, Jungles, and Post-Apocalyptic wastelands.
Here’s a sneak peak at a recent scout. Is that a space ship? Yes. yes it is.
We’ve also had the chance to hang out at Disney, Paramount, Diamond V, Middleton Movie Ranch, Rancho Deluxe, and SO many more!
We’re SO excited to be almost finished with a BIG mission. Over the last few years we’ve been location scouting like crazy. We’ve been around the world and back and hung out at some of the coolest studios in the world, including a few right down the street. Every time it’s like visiting a different world.
Not every location works, but when it does, it’s amazing to find the place your story can come to life.
Here’s one of our most recent scouts!
The second location we toured was the Gaol (pronounced “jail”) in downtown Melbourne. It’s something straight out of Gotham City! These two truly remarkable locations not only look great, but are accessible to the public, so if you’re ever down under, you have to check them out!
We just returned from Australia where we were able to tour two AMAZING locations for a film we’re working on! The first location we toured was Montsalvat outside of Melbourne. It’s a fantastic mix of Tim Burton and Harry Potter! Check out some fo the pics below!
We’ve been beyond busy. Along with a full slate of commercials this Fall we’ve also been busy wrapping up lots and lots of film meetings. Tons of film meetings. Meetings, meetings, meetings. Phone Calls and emails. Lots of emails. But the coolest thing about pre-production on a film is the location scouting. That moment when you find the perfect place and it brings your entire vision together. The moment you can envision your cast there. This happened at Blue Cloud Movie Ranch, Disney’s Backlot, and Big Sky Ranch - which you can see below!
Next stop, New Zealand and then onto Australia!
Since we have a jungle project, we’ve been going to rainforests all around the world. From Costa Rica to the indoor jungles of St. Louis at the Climatron, to the gardens of Pasadena, and out to the island of Kauai. Here we climbed the edges of cliffs, beautiful rivers and beaches, and hopped in a helicopter!
One of the most exciting and adventurous location scouts so far has been to the wonders of Iceland. We wanted to see the ice in Iceland so we went in winter. One of the best parts was our plane flying through the northern lights. One of the worst parts was it was so cold Nick’s contacts started freezing inside his eyeballs.
Only a few hundred feet away from the humid jungles of The Climatron is a Victorian Mansion, Mausoleum, Brick Townhouses from the 1800s, and a Maze. This was the home of Henry Shaw, the namesake of Shaw’s Garden. Out of all of the mansions we’ve been scouting lately, this is one of our favorites.
One of the coolest places in the world we’ve visited for a location scout is definitely Shaw’s Garden (The Missouri Botanical Gardens) in St. Louis. Located in the middle of the gardens is the Climatron which houses a beautiful jungle. When we visited it was about 15 degrees outside, but inside it was a humid, 90 degrees, lush and tropical.
Our location scouting adventures have taken us to mansions throughout the United States, from the Biltmore in North Carolina, to the Tower Grove House in St. Louis, to the Governor’s Mansion and Fioli in Northern California, but one of our favorites is the Greystone Manor, tucked away in Beverly Hills.
One of our favorite parts of the mansion (seen below) is the old greenhouse. It’s amazing.
As we continue our location scouting adventures (with previous adventures taking place at Yosemite, Mescal, and the abandoned remains of something from the apocalypse) we have a few more wonderful photos, this time from Fort Tejon located in the Grapevine of Southern California.
We location scout. A lot. It’s where story and creative usually starts for us and in the past has taken us to Iceland, Kauai, Costa Rica, and other wonderfully exotic places. When we were preparing to shoot The West and the Ruthless, our debut feature, we found so many cool places and eventually led us to Arizona where we filmed in the desert of Tucson.
As we prepare for our next project, we’re once again exploring locations and revisiting some of our favorite locations. One we often return to is Yosemite.
The day after the Premiere of The West and the Ruthless (which was phenomenal :) we met up with Producer Rob Jensen and headed out to Mescal, which seems to be out in the middle of nowhere as your drive through the deserts of Arizona. Rob was one of the producers on The West and the Ruthless and heads up the production at Old Tucson Studios.
When we were shooting the film, he had also mentioned how amazing their other backlot was, Mescal. It’s the legendary site of the OK Corral shootout from Tombstone.
The location scout was like having a private tour of a ghost town. it was amazing. Here’s a few snapshots below.
