Location, Location, Location Scouting – Rachael Dudley

Shaun Majumder: Do you find that you're kind of like a real estate agent for film companies?

Rachael Dudley: Kind of, yes. There is a lot of overlap. We're the keyholders.

Shaun: Okay, so we all know the real estate motto, location, location, location. But did you know that there was a fourth location, and that's film location? Yes. The booming film and TV industry is going bananas in Canada. Have you ever wondered how do they find those locations to shoot exactly where they're shooting? Today, we're going to be talking to Rachael Dudley. She is the owner of Location Fixer, which is an agency that helps productions find these perfect locations. There's so many great stories and so many things that I didn't even know and I work in the film industry, but just like a REALTOR® who helps homeowners find the perfect home, Rachael helps productions find the perfect location. Let's get it going today on REAL TIME with Rachael Dudley. Rachael Dudley of Location Fixer, thank you so much for joining us on REAL TIME.

Rachael: My pleasure. Thank you so much for having me on.

Shaun: Right now, you're in Vancouver, British Columbia. No, you're in, where exactly are you located right as we sit here and speak?

Rachael: I'm in Squamish, British Columbia, which is an hour north of Vancouver. It's basically the halfway point between Vancouver and Whistler, the ski resort.

Shaun: Yes. I am currently on the southern tip of Labrador. I think if you were maybe in Tofino somewhere, you would be the furthest west and I could be the furthest east, humanly possible, on the land that is known as North America. Here we are.

Rachael: We should have done that this morning. I could have gone over there.

Shaun: You could have popped over. It's nothing. It's easy to get here. I am so excited to talk to you. We're in such different locations and I love using the word location because that's what you do for a living. You're a location fixer. I love this and I want to know more. I think this is the first time that I've had a conversation with somebody on this podcast where I'm also of your industry. As an actor and as now a writer and creator, I'm so stoked, but I'm very young at it in many ways in terms of the being involved in production and trying to pick locations.

There's totally a hybridization. There's totally a cross-pollination between what you do and the real estate world. It crosses up in your world probably a lot. I'm excited to talk about that and talk about how your relationship with you having to work with REALTORS® and property managers and house owners and condo owners and all that. First of all, let's talk about what exactly is it that you do?

Rachael: Okay, great question. Because the term fixer actually isn't used that widely in North America. I think it's more of a European term. Both myself and my business partner are from the UK. Although we met here in Canada on a film set, we're both originally from England. That's why the name fixer made it into the title of our production company. Essentially, we provide location management services to a whole portfolio of locations, mostly in British Columbia. We have recently expanded to Calgary, Alberta, too. That's exciting.

We're like a conduit between the film production or the TV production and the location owner. We essentially, we take the stress out of the whole process of facilitating and organizing a film shoot on location. We're the people who are available 24-7 to contact. We're the people doing the scouts, the surveys. We're also the people that are there on the day when they're prepping the location, which can be days to months depending on the location. We're there during the shoot. We're overseeing the film shoot when you have 150 to 200 people essentially invading a location. It can feel a little bit like that. Then we see it through to the last day of wrap and ensure that they return everything how they found it, if not better, is our philosophy. Leave no trace. Try and make a positive impact on a location so that the location owner welcomes filming back in the future.

Then any follow-up that's required after a production is wrapped, like any minor damage that needs to be repaired, billing, invoicing, stuff like that. We really do facilitate the whole thing from start to finish, from the initial inquiry to the very, very end when we sign off the location and say, you guys are all good. We'll see you next time.

Shaun: You're working with a director, with the creative side, but you're also working with the people who are on those locations. Now, to be clear, these locations that you specifically deal with, it's not like you're looking for a dark forest for a production like The Revenant.

Rachael: Yes. Our portfolio has just grown and grown in the 15-plus years that we've been doing this. We find gaps that the people are looking for in certain areas. Our portfolio is organized into categories. We have a residential category, industrial, commercial, outdoor spaces. I would say our emphasis is on industrial, commercial spaces. Then we also, for example, represent the Vancouver Art Gallery. They've been one of our longstanding clients almost from the beginning, from day one. We represent cultural locations as well. It's kind of full spectrum, but I would say our niche is probably industrial, commercial spaces.

Shaun: That would be factories, warehouses, office buildings, that kind of thing?

Rachael: Yes, exactly. Lobbies are really popular in commercial buildings, outside, inside. Coming out of elevators, walking through revolving doors, walking out onto the street, those kind of scenes, walk and talk scenes. Then, yes, like you mentioned, empty warehouse spaces. Super popular, super in demand because they can have full reign in a space like that. They're not restricted by availability or other groups using the spaces. It's a space that they can just use to themselves. Often, they'll build sets in spaces like that, and then they'll come back and film it time and time again.

Shaun: That's awesome. I guess there are similarities here in that with a real estate agent, with a client, there's lots of conversation about, what are you looking for? Here's what we have. Let's go have a look at the place. Do you find that you're kind of like a real estate agent for film companies?

Rachael: Kind of, yes. There is a lot of overlap. We're the key holders. We're the first point of contact. We're the people giving them access to the building to tour it initially. Then we have to really get to know the location inside and out as though we're the location owner, really, because we're the eyes and ears of the location owner. For example, YVR Airport, Vancouver Airport, is one of our clients. We've really had to get to know the airport from a completely different perspective to somebody just going to the airport and taking a flight. Now, whenever I do go to the airport and take a flight, I see it through a completely different lens.

I think that's what keeps this job really exciting and interesting to us, and why we've been doing it as long as we've been doing it, because each location in our portfolio is so different. We have an art gallery, an airport, a warehouse, an office building, and each one has its own quirks and different things to know about.

Shaun: Yes, like I would imagine at YVR, there's the airport, but an airport is massive. If you've walked through YVR, by the way, my favorite airport in North America, no question, hands down, the most beautiful one. You have, but you've got little pockets within the airport, because if you're talking about film production, there's a lens that's like this, it's framing only this, and it's specific to a scene, like you were hit it on the head. when you're saying like someone who exits the building walking through a revolving door, if someone is chasing somebody down the sidewalk and they have to run into a door or inside of a building, like that frame within that door, that door has to be very specific, right?

Within the YVR world, like I'm just seeing you walk through the airport as a traveler, you're like, "Oh my God, that's that new storefront," or "Oh my God, I didn't really notice the way that screening baggage handling area is." Are you seeing things through frames now versus broad strokes? Or just like, "Oh, it is an airport."

Rachael: Yes, I think so, for sure. Like, "Oh, look, this area has really great natural lighting," or "Oh, look, there's a really convenient electrical outlet." Yes, you do see things differently. I know it's funny because people that work in film, you often hear them say that they can't watch a film without just enjoying it anymore. Because they're constantly thinking, "Oh, look at--" they're thinking through the mind of somebody that works in film. I have to say, I don't have that issue. I can sit down and watch a TV show or a feature film and enjoy it as a regular person.

Sure, I'm spotting locations. I guess that's my lens. I'm like, "I recognize that place. I recognize that place. Oh, I wonder where that is." When I watched the latest Dune film, I was so curious about where they shot that film. Yes, it was just incredible. I think they shot it in four or five different countries. I guess I take a real interest in the location side of things when I'm watching a film, but it doesn't ruin my viewing experience at all.

Shaun: You are a specialist. I bet your brain is able to separate the two. It might be a micro moment where you see a background, and yes, they're having the most intense conversation that is pivotal to the story. You're like, "That is, I think, the back of Salt Creek. That's Salt Creek." Then you're back into it. You still know it. You're still loving it, but it's like another chamber in the brain.

Rachael: Yes. As soon as the credits start rolling, you're googling where things were filmed.

Shaun: Absolutely. I remember Severance, for example. I'm from Newfoundland. Everybody said, "Oh, Ben Stiller, they went up there to shoot in Newfoundland." I cannot tell you, when I watched that film, there was maybe one drone shot that I remember thinking like, "That's definitely Newfoundland." It was so oddly apocalyptic looking that they were able to shoot it in a way where it obviously didn't scream Newfoundland, but they were there.

Rachael: It often doesn't. This is the crazy, crazy thing about Vancouver, is it hardly ever plays as Vancouver in shows. It's New York. It's Seattle. It's San Francisco. It's LA. It's even been Tokyo and Moscow. I think it's like this chameleon architecture that can play as so many different places. I think that's partly why Vancouver is considered the Hollywood North because it just has so many different looks.

Shaun: So many. Yes.

Rachael: Yes.

Shaun: What's the process? I'm a potential home buyer. I sit with my agent and we go over what it is we're looking for. We look at our price points. We talk about what is the schools in the area. What happens in that process where, how does a production, do you go to the production? Does the production go to you? Take me through the process of the initiation and then how you come to the conclusion.

Rachael: Yes. Okay. It's a little bit of both because we have obviously our contacts in the film industry and we send updates when we get new locations in our portfolio. When things change with our portfolio, we're letting people know. We're like, "Hey, we've got this great new location." We're definitely planting seeds just as general broad strokes like, "Hey, this is our portfolio right now." They can search our website as a database for locations. When it comes to a specific project, typically the location scout will be the first person to reach out to us. In many ways, we're an extension of them. We're a continuation of the locations department. We work so closely with them. We're just not technically on their crew, but we work so closely with them.

The first person to reach out to us will be the scout. They'll usually say something along the lines of, "Hey, we need to shoot in a medical facility, but it has to be on a weekday. We cannot shoot on a weekend or an evening. Do you guys have something that will work for us?" Right off the bat, that's kind of tricky because how do you find a medical facility that you can film in during the day? That's where our work begins. We're like, "Okay, let's try and find them a location that fits this brief." We have over 50 locations in our portfolio. Nine times out of 10, we do have something that will work for them.

For example, we have a medical training facility. It's not an active hospital. That would be what we would put forward for that brief. It's like, "Hey, you can get in here during the week as long as there's not training going on. These are the pictures. Let us know if you want to come and scout." Then the next--

Shaun: Sorry, Rachael. You say brief. Tell me what a brief is.

Rachael: The location scout has talked through the treatment, the director treatment. The director has the vision, the creative vision for a project. They pass that information on to the locations team. Then the location scout goes out and finds these places. Depending on the experience of the scout, if they've been doing it a really long time, they'll probably have a whole back catalog of locations that they're sifting through. They already have pictures. They already have contact information.

Then they also use websites like ours to look for possibilities. They'll reach out to Creative BC, which is the BC Film Commission, and they have a library that location scouts can look through also. The director will have the creative vision. Then it is similar to real estate scouting, I think, because it makes me think of a couple that's going to look at a house. You've usually got one that has the creative, almost romanticized idea of what they want their location to be. Then you have the other partner in the couple that's like, "That's out of our budget. We can't afford it."

Shaun: Practical.

Rachael: "This is too far. This is not going to work for X, Y, and Z."

Shaun: "No, but it'll be great. We can put a pool in this movie. We can add a hot tub to the movie." "No, honey, slow down."

Rachael: Yes. It's exactly the same in film because you have two halves of the production. You have the creative side, the director, the location manager, potentially the scout. Then you have the logistical side, the producer, the production manager, the location manager, who are all very conscious of the budget and the practicalities of the film shoot. You hope that they align, but sometimes there's some push and pull with that process, for sure.

Shaun: I bet. Then you basically take the brief, you break down the brief, they go through their catalog, whether it's on your website or their-- are they looking at potentially other people like you guys? Are there multiple organizations and location-focused agencies or property manager-type people?

Rachael: Yes. Essentially, we are an agency. There's about five other companies in BC that do what we do. We don't really deal with each other all that often. We do when there's social networking nights and things, but we generally have a different niche. Like I was referring to earlier, we do a lot of commercial and industrial spaces and cultural spaces. There's another company that does a lot of outdoor spaces and parks. There's another company that does lots of residential, like high-end luxury residential. There's a little bit of crossover, and that's fine.

Shaun: It's probably a Venn diagram there.

Rachael: Competition is fine. We all coexist out there in the world, and we're all dealing with the same location scouts and location teams.

Shaun: What is probably, I know it's a broad question, but what is the first thing you look for in a location to really determine if it fits the vibe you're trying to achieve?

Rachael: I think the number one thing is aesthetic. Does it match the general aesthetic of the production? That's the most important thing. Then secondary is when you get into the logistics. Is it well located geographically? Is it within close enough proximity to the studio where the production's doing a lot of studio shooting? Because they'll often have this central studio hub, and then they go out to the locations to get what they need on location, and it supplements the studio work. Not always. Sometimes productions are really location-heavy, and they barely have any studio staff. It just depends on the show.

Number one, aesthetic. Number two probably is geographical location. Number three is can we make this work logistically? That's when the location manager and the production manager get talking, and it's a reality check. You might find this fabulous location that ticks all the boxes aesthetically, but they might say, "Oh, you can only film on Sundays," and they're planning to do three weeks of work there. Then it's like, "Okay, well, that's not going to work."

Shaun: Not practical.

Rachael: "We got to move on." The practical side of it is really important. Essentially, if they can't get what they want aesthetically, then they would consider building it from scratch. They would build a set.

Shaun: Do you help them find land, like a plot of land at all, or no? You don't have lots for future building. That's interesting.

Rachael: There's some go-to back lots that are used a lot. We actually have one fairly close to here in Britannia Bay that's like The Last of Us built the town or village set there. They were there every day for months filming there. It was probably like 80% of the production was filmed there. Then they would go out and do some location stuff elsewhere. There's definitely the go-to back lots that the production use over and over again. Sometimes they get developed into buildings, and they're no longer available again for productions to use, and they have to go find another one.

We don't represent any back lots. We have some similar bigger outdoor spaces that could potentially be used as back lots, or parking, or storage. A big part of our business is also parking and storage bookings, not just filming.

Shaun: Yes. Because you've got to set up what they call base camps and stuff like that, where people are going to be putting all the trailers and all the fancy things, the food and all that, for people who are off-site.

Rachael: They call it the circus, which I think is very accurate. Yes.

Shaun: Aptly named. It's aptly named.

Rachael: …come into town. Yes.

Shaun: Do you keep a list of locations that maybe don't work for this production? How do you build up your quiver, if you will? How do you build up that list? It may not have been perfect for this, but all of a sudden, because you entertained it, maybe you didn't entertain it before, and now it's like, definitely for a smaller production, could work, or a bigger production, could work.

Rachael: Yes. For us, as an agent, we have our front-facing portfolio, but we also have locations in our back pocket that maybe don't make it to the website, but we're like, "That might be good for someone. We should keep their information." Then for the scouts that have been doing it for years, their portfolio is probably even bigger than ours, and they have all the relevant photos, contact information, and then they might have some other ones that they don't have as much information for, but they have scouted it previously and thought, "That's going to be good for something one day. This has a lot of potential. I'm going to keep that on file."

Shaun: 15 years you guys have been at it, but I wonder, because you want to build this reputation, and I'm hearing back pocket, and I'm hearing, "You guys, seriously, you got to talk to Rach. Rach is-- I know-- you look on her website. Don't let the website do the talking. Talk to Rach because she's got some stuff that will blow your mind." You know what I mean? You got to build up that kind of demand because they got their fingers in some stuff. If I'm in production, I'm like, "Oh, yes, I want that." You know what I mean? Do you have that kind of vibe, or are you trying to build up that--

Rachael: We do. Yes, we do. Because some of our location clients are developers and real estate companies. They may have only reached out to us about one or two locations in their portfolio that they think would be attractive to the film industry. When we dig a little bit deeper, we can see that they have this whole portfolio of other locations. Maybe a production will approach us, and it's not something we currently represent, but we know that one of our clients has something in that wheelhouse that could be of interest. In that scenario, we would reach out to the location client and say, "Hey, would you consider bringing this location online for filming? We think there's demand for it. We've been contacted by a big show. This is what they want to do. What's the scope to bring this one online?" Then they'll either say yes or no or something in between, and we'll discuss it, and then we'll go and photograph it, hopefully, and list it. Yes.

Shaun: What has been the strangest request for a location you've ever had?

Rachael: God, that's a good question. The strangest request.

Shaun: Strangest or one where you pause just like you did now, where you're like, "Hmm. I don't know if we have a monkey cage, laser-filled monkey cage. That's a tough one to find. Let me ask around." You must have gotten some.

Rachael: I do remember a production contacting us. I forget which production it was, but they needed a space big enough to basically put in a giant fish tank for the scene. I was like, "What is this scene going to be?" I think what it was is because they needed to get the perspective of the people underwater. In a regular swimming pool, it's a little tricky to get. Maybe the scene was that they were in a tank. I actually can't remember fully. Yes. Every request is weird and wonderful in its own way.

Or we'll get a request for creepy tunnels. They want really, really creepy basement tunnel vibes. Then we dig deep into our portfolio because we might not necessarily have those front and center on the website. Again, we have it in the elusive back pocket.

Shaun: Do you read the scripts? Do you read all the scripts or do you just work with the scouts?

Rachael: Sometimes. Generally not, but it depends on the location because some of the locations have script restrictions. For example, we represent a couple of churches and there's certain things within scripts that they do not want to be filmed in the church, understandably. In that scenario, we are required by the location to read the script and vet it and let them know what the scene involves. The production is also forthcoming with that information when we ask them for it. Some locations are more sensitive that way with the script content.

From a production side of things, we're not really reading the scripts. We're looking at storyboards. They'll often provide storyboards and visual mood boards so that we can get a sense of what they're looking for.

Shaun: That's cool.

Rachael: It's really helpful.

Shaun: Yes. In real estate, you don't really have that as much. The agent doesn't really, unless they-- you probably do that with AI now, I could say to AI, "Create a script of me and my partner's lives over the last four years, and I'll tell you a quick story. Make a script, and then give it to my agents so they know everything that we hate and like about each other." You know what I mean? AI could do that in two seconds, and then boom, you have a script. Then your house hunt is going to go much better because you're going to know, this location won't work for him. I just know it, it will not. I guess that's all about building-- the way it is with REALTORS® and their clients and also the community is so much of it is about building relationships. You're probably always doing that.

Rachael: Just to go back to your previous comment, with the way technology is evolving, I think the way that production scout is potentially changing. Not necessarily with AI, although I'm sure that that will play a part. For example, I worked with a commercial production recently here in Squamish where I live. I said to the location manager, "How did you find this place?" I'm always interested. Because it wasn't a location that was in our portfolio. He said, "Well, this was a bit of a weird one. The director went on Google Maps and essentially just put it on satellite view and just zoomed in on this particular street" because there's a very famous mountain backdrop there, the Chief in Squamish, the Stawamus Chief.

He knew that he wanted a house that was right in front of the wall of the mountain. And so they literally picked it through Google Maps. I hadn't heard of anyone finding a location that way before. Usually, they're door- knocking. Essentially, they honed it down to that one house and that was the house they ended up filming at.

Shaun: No way. You had to bridge-- was this a house-- the owners, did they ever work in this film industry before? How did they receive it?

Rachael: They'd never had filming before. They were super up for it, very friendly. I'm sure that now that they've had one shoot-- this is also what happens a lot, is that once you have one shoot through the doors, then the word gets out to other people and other location managers. Then they end up becoming a more popular film location. Not always, but that often is the way it goes.

Shaun: Right. Oh, I love that. I love that. Have you ever had any favorites? Do you have favorite kinds of locations? How much of your own personal taste comes into it? How much creativity are you allowed to bring, or do you choose to bring with you and your team? Because they may not know they're coming from Morocco somewhere, or England, or another country, they want to shoot in Canada. How do they make that decision, and how much creative input do you have?

Rachael: Yes, that's a great question. I think for the out-of-town productions that don't know this area, I think we have a lot more creative input because they're literally starting from zero. Then on the other end of the spectrum, you have the productions that shoot here time and time again, or the production crew that come here time and time again. They just hop from production to production. They're so familiar with the locations market that they literally come to us and they know exactly what they don't want to do, exactly where they want to shoot.

So it really does depend on the type of production and the size of the production. Some of these productions have 10 people on their locations team. They have multiple scouts, they have two location managers, and then each location manager has their own team working under them. What they often do is they alternate episodes. There's an even episode location team and an odd episode locations team, and then they just alternate.

Shaun: That's a big production, yes.

Rachael: Because it's just too much for one locations team to cover with all the permits and the logistics and the contracts and the payments and the insurance. There's a lot of paperwork that goes into each location booking. We're only dealing with one production at our location. Then you think, "Okay, well, they're also simultaneously dealing with probably at least 10 other locations and going through the same process with them." So we're happy to be involved more creatively, and I think the location managers that know us the best are more likely to ask us for that input.

Shaun: Right. Again, building relationships. Being able to open up those channels and flow of conversation, and people get to know who knows what, who is more expert at certain vibes, certain looks, certain locations. That's amazing. You guys feel really good about where you're at, obviously. Is there a community of location agencies? Is community a big part of what you do?

Rachael: Yes. I would really describe the film industry here as the film community. It really does feel like that. It's a big industry, and at the same time, it's a small industry in terms of the people that work on these productions are the same people over and over again. They have their people that they work with, and then they move to different productions together.

I think we have maybe 200, 250-ish locations' contacts in our contact list. Those are the people that we're dealing with day in, day out. Or you might not hear from somebody for-- this is the other side of it, you might not actually hear from somebody for years because they're on a historical period TV show. We don't have any locations in that wheelhouse, so we're just not dealing with them for a long time. Then the next show they're on is like a sci-fi, and then all of a sudden they're coming to us because we have some futuristic-style buildings that could work for them.

Shaun: Tell me about when I'm a client and I'm as a home buyer, there's very specific details within a house. There's always this talk of what's trending and what isn't trending. You're not necessarily needing to have your finger on the pulse of what is trending in real estate, but are there similar trends in shows that people are making, films that people are making? All of a sudden, it goes, like you said, it goes from, oh, single-family homes that are 80s-style homes are in, or mid-century, or there's so many different styles that are happening. How has it changed over the last 10 years, let's say?

Rachael: We definitely have to keep our finger on the pulse with the changing trends. For example, when I first started out in this industry here in BC, it was all sci-fi. It was Battlestar Galactica and shows like that. They were looking for futuristic-style buildings, clean lines, high ceilings, things where they could build their control centers and that kind of thing. Then we moved into the superhero era. I would say five years ago, we had Arrow, we had Batwoman, Supergirl, all the superhero shows. They were looking for completely different things like high-rises and downtown city vibe locations.

Then more recently, we've moved into the gaming-turned-film era. We have The Last of Us. There's another one that's just gone into production, which I can't name, but it's along the same vein. What they're looking for, again, is completely different. They basically want these kind of desolate, decaying, potentially, not always, but kind of, yes, desolate, remote landscapes, and also they want to make the city locations look decaying and overgrown. It's like apocalyptic-style shows now. Everyone loves the apocalyptic shows right now.

Shaun: Love it. Love it.

Rachael: And so then we're going to our high-end commercial property management clients and saying, "Hey, they want to shoot your location, but they want to cover it in ivy and decaying--"

Shaun: Mold. Black mold.

Rachael: Yes, that's cool, right? They're like, "Oh, man." They're like, "We won't be identified. You're not going to identify our building in this, are you?" We're like, "No, not by name. But by look, probably." It's inevitable if people are local. To answer your question, the trends are always changing, and we really have to stand up to that.

Shaun: You do have to be on it.

Rachael: You do. Not all of our locations have to be shiny and nice. It's good to have the grungy ones. It really is because you just don't know when someone's going to need that.

Shaun: What are those owners like?

Rachael: Often, it's developers. It's a location that's set for demolition at some point, but it's this great interim use and revenue generator for the location. It's a real win-win for everybody involved. The productions are like, "Yes, we got to use it before it got torn down," and it probably feels good.

Shaun: Talk to me about budget. Budgets are interesting. With you, you obviously want to bring options that fit the budget, but what are some tips that you might use to try to keep people within budget, productions who are looking for properties? Are their eyes just too big for their stomach? What do you do with those people? How do you keep them reined in to make sure that they sign the deal with you guys versus going somewhere else?

Rachael: The other thing to consider is that the locations' budget is one tiny drop in the ocean of the total budget that the production has on crew, equipment, rentals. The line producer is really like the financial architect for the whole production. There's all these hidden costs that you don't even-- we don't have hidden costs, but just general hidden costs that they have to keep in consideration. Sometimes when they come back to us and they say, "Oh, this isn't going to work because of budget," it's not always because the location fee is too high for them. That's not necessarily what they mean.

It's just all the other things. Oh, it means they have to get the crew too far away from the studio that day, and they just can't justify everyone's travel time, or the actor isn't available that day. There's just so many different variables.

Shaun: So many moving pieces, yes.

Rachael: So many moving pieces. For us, quite commonly with our locations in our portfolios, we have a sliding scale system. So it's not one-size-fits-all for every production budget. We know that the bigger productions, usually the feature films and the really large TV shows, have bigger budgets than the TV commercials and the photo shoots. It's not really fair to charge the small photo shoot productions the same as the giant feature film productions. We don't have that system at all of our locations, but it's something that we've tried to introduce with as many of them as we can just to appeal to as many different budgets as possible.

Then you're not ruling out the smaller shows just because they don't have the budget for it, which is really not our intention. We want to try and encourage all different scopes and sizes of film productions to come.

Shaun: See, that's good to know because I always wondered about, it's like, "No, no, don't talk to Rachel. She's way out of your league, bro. She's way out. You can't work. Her location's too much, too much. You can't even deal with it."

Rachael: Some of them probably, some of the locations might be out of budget for some productions.

Shaun: Sure. Yes.

Rachael: It's a range. It's a big range. Yes, a big scale.

Shaun: Now, I'm sure there's tons of different opinions when it comes down to the final decision. How do you manage all of the different stakeholders? Is that something that you feel you have to be involved in? You're selling, obviously. You're like, "No, trust me, this would be-- I've worked with these people before. The location is way better for X, Y, and Z. They have an outlet. They have an electrical outlet. One in the corner. Trust me, you want to do that." How do you deal with all these different opinions?

Rachael: I would say we're out of the loop on that process for the most part. It's like, "Okay, we've done our piece. It's back to you. Have some discussions internally and let us know if you want to move forward with this location." However, when they're coming to do scouts and surveys, it's all the heads of departments that are coming to the site and we're interacting with them. If we are doing our best to accommodate their needs and requirements and just generally be flexible, kind, friendly humans, I think they're more likely to consider that location.

It becomes a film-friendly location in their mind. They're like, "Okay, we're dealing with good people here. The process is somewhat seamless, and also these people are going to help us figure a lot of this stuff out."

Shaun: Yes, that's good, though. It's not on you. You don't have to insert--

Rachael: It's not on us.

Shaun: Yes. You do yield some power. You have some power because you can make a house super famous. I'm sure you've done that or you've been working on productions where they keep shooting that one location as the central house, like in Home Alone, there was the Home Alone house. Do you have any properties like that you've, unknowingly, when you agreed to that location or worked in that location, that it became iconic? What are the most iconic places you've had to work with?

Rachael: Yes, I used to work out at Riverview Hospital, which is a former mental health facility that's mostly closed down now. Within one of the main buildings, they have an apartment set. It's a fairly basic apartment set, nothing too fancy about it.

Shaun: What does it look like? What's an apartment set?

Rachael: It doesn't even have the furniture. It's just the bare bones. It has a faux brick wall. It has some windows. It has the dividing walls to separate the rooms. It has a kitchen, a living area, a bedroom, a bathroom, but it doesn't have the furniture. The productions would always bring that in themselves. It was originally built by the film ALF in, what was that, the '80s or the '90s?

Shaun: '90s.

Rachael: Long, long time ago. It's still standing. It still exists within this building just outside of Vancouver. I kid you not, so many productions film that apartment. It's been in so many productions. The way they make it different is they'll do a different window treatment. They'll use curtains instead of blinds, or they'll use blinds instead of curtains, and they'll have a different aesthetic couch, and they'll have a different lamp. They'll paint the walls a different color, or they'll add wallpaper. They'll just make these changes that are really not that significant. It's still the same bones.

Shaun: There's a trivia right there. That'd be such a cool trivia question. Which apartment in the movie blah, blah, blah was the same apartment in the movie ALF? What movies had that same apartment? What TV shows?

Rachael: I think there was a remake of-- there was another Exorcist film that came out a few years ago. I'm pretty sure they filmed in there. Yes, I wish I had a list. Did you find your lighthouse the other day?

Shaun: Yes. I'm now waiting for the military to get back to us because we found out it's an active radar station. It's one of those things where-- we were like, "This is it, 100%, lock and load." My producer is currently waiting to hear back from DND and also the Canadian Coast Guard to see about using it. I'm also like, as a director, the scenes, it totally works if we can't get into the lighthouse. It's like, we could shoot around the lighthouse and shoot on that area. There's actually these weird burnt-out bunkers that are next to it. Anyway, yes, I found it, but now we're waiting to hear. We'll see.

Rachael: That's exactly what we were talking about earlier, where you might find that exact location that ticks all the boxes, but then there's other challenges, the reality check.

Shaun: Exactly. And so you can't get married to something until it's going to happen. I know you've got to keep an open mind up until it's finally done.

Rachael: I guess it's exactly the same in real estate too. Until that sale is complete, nothing is certain. Anything can fall through.

Shaun: Exactly. How many heartbreaks have happened because you fall in love with a place and then something happened, the inspection goes bad, or the price jumps. That almost happened to us once. We sold our house. Oh, no, we bought a house and sold the house at the same time. The purchase of the new house was contingent on the sale of the house that I was selling. Then we bought the house. Everything went through. Then the inspection happened. They found some water damage. They were like, "Nope, we won't do it unless you--" then everything went upside down for a second. It all worked out in the end, but keep an open mind until the very end.

Rachael: Sometimes we get productions that come to us because a location has fallen through at the last minute, and suddenly they're needing a replacement for two days later or the next day. They're like, "Please help us. Our location has fallen through, and we need a new location. Can you turn this around for us in time? We'll do everything we can to make it happen for them." We're a team of people, so we can be really on top of that stuff.

Shaun: Is that common where a production is dialed in, then all of a sudden a production location drops out, and then they have to find a new place like yesterday? Does that happen a lot?

Rachael: I wouldn't say it happens a lot, thankfully, but it does happen. When it does happen, it's really challenging. They have all their ducks in a row. Sometimes they've even printed, they've finalized the call sheet, 8.30 tomorrow, this is where everyone's going to be. Then all of a sudden, that's not where everyone's going to be. It really does throw a spanner in the works, but these location teams are very, very pro. Then we're like an extension of that team. And so we'll partner with them to do whatever we can to make something else work for them within--

Shaun: Yes, and they have to be understanding of, now we're shopping at a different store all of a sudden, inventory--

Rachael: They're usually very, very thankful if we can pull it off. We'll try our best.

Shaun: Yes. It sounds like you guys are dialed in and pros across the board. It's so good. I'm so happy you chose Canada. Isn't it true that a lot of these productions, too, not only are they choosing locations, but going way back at the $100,000 level perspective, they're also, well before that, they're choosing a country, right? They're not just "What city--" but how does that whole process work?

Rachael: Some of these big productions, the film productions in particular, they will consider multiple countries, and then they'll hone in on one. They'll just send a couple of key personnel. They'll fly them out to each country. They usually meet with the BC Film Commission, somebody from their team, and they'll tour some of the landmark locations in and around Vancouver. They would have read the script or at least read the director treatment, so they know the kind of locations that they're looking for, and then they can put forward the best picks.

Sometimes they'll involve us in those scouts if it's at our locations, and we just get to showcase the best bits of what BC can offer. Yes, you definitely have your saleswoman or salesman hat on when you're doing that bit. "Come and film here. Everyone's really great."

Shaun: Thank you so much for sharing all these incredible stories and perspective.

Rachael: My pleasure.

Shaun: I do see the hybrid between REALTORS®, home buying, the commercial real estate, all the real estate that you can imagine. You're in it in many ways. More mentally, I think, than actually financially, but it is interesting to see the hybrid, and it was a great chat. Thank you so much, Rachel, for hanging out with us today.

Rachael: My pleasure. Thanks so much for chatting with me this morning. I can talk about this forever.

Shaun: Yes, I know, and I love it. Me too, especially on the storytelling stuff. I'm stoked about the future of Canadian storytelling. I am.

Rachael: Yes, me too. Yes.

Shaun: Awesome, Rachael. Thank you so much.

Rachael: Thank you.

Shaun: What a great conversation with Rachael. Look, even me, working in the film industry, I learned a whole lot today, and that was so insightful. That ALF thing. I'm going to be watching every movie now going, "Was that the same apartment in ALF?" How many people are going to be doing that? I bet you will be. It would make for great trivia. Anyway, guys, I hope you enjoyed today's conversation. I know I did. Please go out there, like and subscribe wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts. Of course, REAL TIME is brought to you by the Canadian Real Estate Association, CREA Production, brought to you by Alphabet Creative. My name is Shaun Majumder. Thank you so much for joining us on REAL TIME, and we'll see you next time on REAL TIME.