Elections for the LMGI Board of Directors will be held online through the LMGI website from July 1 through July 15, 2016.  All current members will receive specific instructions for how to vote by email.

Listed below are the election statements from 2016 nominees. Please review these statements before voting. If you would like to learn more about our election process feel free to call us at 310-967-2007 or email elections@locationmanagers.org

LMGI Board Member Nominees 

NOMINEE: KOKAYI AMPAH

My name is Kokayi Ampah and I have been in the television and film industry for over 40 years. I have worked primarily as a Location Manager.  A year ago I was honored by the LMGA with the Lifetime Achievement Award.

 In 2011 I produced and directed a film entitled “Make It Happen” about the duties of a Location Manager. This came out of the average person’s lack of knowledge of what goes into the job. I have found over the years that within our industry our job is truly not appreciated.

The LMGA now the LMGI has brought our profession into the light and provides a forum of communication and appreciation of our art. I believe location management is an art or a combination of arts. The ability to communicate on multiple levels is a skill not all poses. That skill along with truly being a filmmaker is what our profession is all about.

I have worked in California, the United States and throughout the world. I believe I can add a different perspective to the organization based on experience.

 I ask that you consider me as a board member for the LMGI.

 Thank you,

 Kokayi Ampah,

 —

NOMINEE: J.J. LEVINE

We’ve come a long way from the beginning of my involvement with the Guild.   Beginning with the “Greening Hollywood” event in 2009, my personal mission with the Guild has always been oriented towards growing our membership and improving our brand messaging in everything we do; from marketing materials (brochures, website, flyers, event materials and correspondence) to our presence in the press. I have been a previous member of the Executive Committee as well as a member of the Board. With so many key leaders stepping down, I feel I can be an asset by providing continuity with the previous leadership, goals and directives of our recent years. As a member of the Board, I will also continue to Co-Chair the Marketing and Communication committee. I look forward to serving our mission, and all of you, as a member of the LMGI Board of Directors.

NOMINEE: MATT PALMER

I am Matt Palmer and I am a Location Manager based in Calgary, Alberta Canada. I started in the film industry in 1991 on the feature film “Unforgiven”. Since that time I have worked on films and television including “Cool Runnings”, “Legends of the Fall”, “Lonesome Dove TV Series”, “The Claim”, “Interstellar”, “Fargo Year 2” and “Wynonna Earp”. I also worked as Location Manager, Second Unit Director, and Directed two episodes of the Nickelodeon series “Caitlin’s Way”. Most recently, I just completed working as Location manager on the ABC miniseries “When We Rise” in Vancouver with Academy Award winner Dustin Lance Black. I am staying on in Vancouver to work on the Disney movie “The Lair”. I am a long time member of the Directors Guild of Canada, and previously served on the Board of the Alberta District Council. I was a founding member of the Alberta Location Caucus. I am also a documentary filmmaker including the feature documentary “Letters From Litein” and my current project in development on the future of the energy system “Unintended Consequences”.

 I was invited to join LMGI this past December, and wrote an article for the Spring issue of Compass. I see the opportunity of joining the LMGI board as a way to contribute to our community, and continue the great work that is being done by our organization. I am anxious to learn more about the scope of the LMGI and working to build on the existing membership within Canada. I believe part of my role on the Board will be continuing to expand upon the core principles of the organization with regards to professional standards of personal conduct and business standards. One area where I feel the LMGI could play a strong role is in helping to expand the understanding of our own film crews as to what Locations professionals do, and the importance of protecting the places we film.

I thank you for your support.

With Gratitude,

Matt Palmer

Location Manager

Bad Angels Productions Inc. “The Lair”

NOMINEE:  STEPHENSON CROSSLEY

I, Stephenson Crossley, would like to be considered for an Active Member seat on the LMGI Board of Directors.

I am a proud LMGI member and hope that my experiences in locations will make me a useful member of the board.

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0189357/resume

I am asking for consideration from the electorate so that I can help push the ball forward in our quest to unite all location professionals from around the world and to bring awareness to and appreciation for the many hats we wear.

Thank you for your consideration.

NOMINEE:  PHILL KANE

To:  My esteemed colleagues and fellow LMGI Members.

From: Phill Kane

Please accept this note as my statement of candidacy.

I want to start by saying that I have thought long and hard about throwing my hat in the ring.  Some of my misgivings surrounded whether I had the time and energy that I am sure a Board Member position would entail.

But when I looked closer, my actual doubts were really the feeling that I lack the pedigree to be considered alongside of many of the names I have seen spearheading the fight to gain the legitimacy we deserve. I mean, when I think of the work that these people have done, both professionally and a-vocationally, I am humbled and a bit overwhelmed. I was thinking, who am I in the scheme of things? I am a new Location Manager struggling to gain a foothold, and a long time Key Assistant working in Episodic Television.  I don’t travel the World or Country working on Academy Award winning or Block Buster films.  I do not work on Emmy Award winning Commercials shot in exotic locations.  Heck, I rarely leave the 30 Mile Zone and the most exotic place I have been in the last decade is Frazier Park CA.  However, when I think of Frazier Park, I know that myself along with a hard working Location team and crew, helped make 10s of millions of people around the World think Frazier Park was a small town in Alaska. More importantly, I was able to create an inviting environment for the film crew and met some great people up there who would have me back in a heartbeat.  The companies I have worked with have shot in hectic and sometimes over shot areas in Los Angeles and I can say with pride, I have never shot a neighborhood that would not invite me back!  I accomplish this by treating the merchants and neighbors with honesty and respect, hearing their concerns and addressing them as much as possible. I like to think I act as an Ambassador the film industry in general and pave the way for future shoots.

So as I reflect, I realized that it’s the passion and pride in what we do that helps separate the past and present LMGI Board members from the rank and file as it were.  In those areas, I know I am an equal.  I have always been excited to be a part of the creative aspects of filmmaking.  I realize that TV is a small screen and the scenes are pretty quick and often shots are edited down to nothing but talking heads. However, I do not scout for talking heads.  I scout to the Writers vision. I scout for the easel on which the Production Designer is able to apply his Art. I scout camera angles for the DP and Director.  And to this day, 18 years in, I still get a sense of excitement when something I have scouted gets chosen.

 As a Key Assistant in TV, we do not get screen credit and I think that is a travesty, but once every season on my last show, I would get a “production staff” credit, and once every season, I would pause that moment on my DVR and take a photo of that credit.  It sounds a bit childish I know, but I do it because I am proud of what I do!

Bottom Line – Not only do I qualify, I can bring some energy and enthusiasm to the table and represent the work that gets done in episodic TV week after week here in Southern California.

Sincerely and Respectfully,

Phill Kane

Location Manager and Scout

LMGI Member

Teamsters Local 399 Member

COLA Award winner

 —

NOMINEE: MAIDA MORGAN

I would like to submit my name to the LMGI for consideration as a new board member in the upcoming elections.

I have worked in Locations for over 25 years and am very proud of the credibility and respect that the LMGA, and now LMGI,  has brought to a profession that I love.

While I got to know many of you when I lived in Los Angeles, I have lived and worked most of my career in Atlanta and the Southeast.  I am very excited about to the prospect of promoting the ideals and professional standards of the LMGI with my counterparts here in Georgia.   I believe that we all can benefit by joining the LMGI and creating a community that supports one another with the standards the organization has set forth.

My desire to run is motivated by me wanting to represent the Location professionals who make their home in Atlanta and Georgia. I hope to help our membership grow and foster positive relationships among all our members who find themselves working in here – both local and non-local.

 Thank you for your consideration.

 Maida Morgan

 —

NOMINEE:  ROBERT STERRETT III

Dear Members of the Board,

Thank you for my recent acceptance in to the LMGI. This year’s 3rd LMGI Annual Awards show along with the change in IMDB status for Location Managers inspired me so much more than to just be a member of the Guild, but to be a member who would like to actively serve the board and truly make a difference.

I would like to announce my candidacy to be considered for the LMGI Board of Directors.

I have a unique perspective. An example: I live in Florida, am planning to move to Atlanta and working right now on a great show in Culver City. I am a local 399 Teamster, been in the industry since 1992, and have a passion for our industry and our job.

My quick bio: From Atlanta, moved to LA after college, 12 years later living in West LA, now a 399 Teamster and a proud new papa with two beautiful girls, we moved to Florida. I continued to work in LA on and off for a couple more years with a long commute¿ Florida has been a wonderful 10-year journey from making movies to the politics of film incentives, and one of my proudest accomplishments, starting a film festival.

Recently I concluded 10 years serving as the founding member, Board of Directors, Advisory Board (on which I remain), and the Director of the Industry Panels of the Gasparilla International Film Festival. My main focus each year was to provide industry panels and workshops during our five-day festival. This year we had 20,000 attending the festival and hundreds of people attend the panels and workshops. I’ve learned a lot in those ten years about non-profits, events, marketing, education, and politics¿

Now an LMGI member and a candidate for the BOD, I would like offer my relationships outside of Los Angeles to promote, bring in new members, utilize film festivals, and recruit film commissioners and sponsors for LMGI and its mission.

 It is an honor to be a member of LMGI. Thank you for your consideration.

 Best,

Robert Sterrett III, LMGI

NOMINEE:  KAI THORUP

This document is to serve as my statement of candidacy for a position on the Board for the Location Managers Guild International.

I am a second generation location manager from South Florida. My mother entered the industry as a location manager for film and television when I was nine years old. I spent a portion of my childhood on sets, learning how movies are made, specifically through the lens of the locations department. My first full project was as a location scout and location assistant on the Martin Scorsese directed film, “Cape Fear.” The bizarre plantation house featured in the film was my find. By the end of the film, I was hooked.

I have nearly twenty years of production experience, with fourteen years in the locations department. I am currently managing my seventeenth project and have worked in the locations department of more than forty others. I have worked locations for seven years in South Florida; another seven years in Atlanta and have completed five feature films in New Orleans. Through these projects, I believe I have gained unique insight into the Southeastern markets, enabling me to offer a regional perspective to the board.

I look forward to any opportunity to contribute to LMGI and its mission. Thank you for your consideration.

 All the best,

 Kai Thorup

Location Manager