Rino Pace
His career spans three decades of location management in film and television. At the vanguard of taming Canada’s Wild West, Rino Pace was instrumental in establishing the Western North as an opportune production environment. His work drew legendary directors like Clint Eastwood (Unforgiven) and Andrew Dominik (The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford) to the Albertan prairies.
From finding the Fortress Mountain in the Rockies for Christopher Nolan’s Inception to the production of studio blockbusters like Deadpool and Godzilla, Pace is a linchpin in Vancouver production. As the new era of long-form television becomes an industry staple with ever-present Netflix and Amazon producing high-concept content, Rino brought the producers of Altered Carbon to the dystopia that is possible in Vancouver.
Inception
With production becoming increasingly important to Western Canada, Pace marked a path for location professionalism, institutionalizing the craft for today’s assistants. In an economy where political support for the motion picture industry is not often a priority, Rino Pace became the face of what is now an established economic and cultural mainstay in this region. He has mentored dozens of careers, as well as establishing industry practices and standards. Not bad for a small-town first-generation Italian boy from Fernie, British Columbia.
Deadpool
After college, Pace began his career in the theatre in Calgary, Alberta. Friendships forged here led him into production as Calgary’s spectacular landscapes began attracting Hollywood. Eventually, he moved to Vancouver, working on the TV series Airwolf, one of the first shows to establish Vancouver as a TV production hub. As producers saw the value of filming in Western Canada, Pace travelled between BC and Alberta. He worked with Ed Zwick (Legends of the Fall) and Gillian Armstrong (Little Women). Along with new location discoveries, Pace established processes that set the pattern for the throngs of production that would follow. After MacGyver and the Cannell TV explosion, the handshakes of location management were replaced with standards and protocols that are the models for sustainability and resource management for LMs across the country.
With the advent of visual effects tax incentives, large studio feature films arrived in Vancouver and Rino was at the forefront. With films like X-Men 2 and I, Robot starting the trend, it’s rare now to not have two or three blockbusters working in Vancouver. Shepherded by Rino Pace’s familiar location managing style, Canada’s Wild West blossomed from no rules or standards, into an efficient, thriving production community. His reputation of respect and compromise fulfills the key creatives and sustains filming in the provinces.
A father of two, his children worked on many films as PAs, receiving an education in the complex enormity of moviemaking. His son Jett’s music accompanies hit shows like Suits, Sons of Anarchy and Shameless. His daughter Pallas is enrolled at the prestigious Emily Carr University of Art + Design.
Pace’s credits include Betrayal, Unforgiven, The Edge, Along Came a Spider, X-Men 2, I, Robot, The Assassination of Jesse James, Shooter, Inception, Man of Steel, Godzilla, Deadpool, Altered Carbon, Sliders, and The Outer Limits.