Port of Spain, 5th December 2022: On November 30th, the Trinidad and Tobago Film Company Limited (FilmTT) held the very first session of its Meet the Practitioner Series: Location Management. The practical workshop was unlike any other; it took place at the Cocorite Fishing Facility and incorporated the sights and sounds of everyday life, which was part of the lesson on how to scout, pitch and manage a location.
The attendees, who were a mixture of seasoned and up-and-coming film industry professionals, were excited to learn from one of the industry’s most experienced location managers and fixers, Princess Donelan. It was truly a treat as this was the first workshop ever facilitated by Princess, who has been actively involved in Film for twenty-plus years. Born in Trinidad to Grenadian parents, she grew up in Grenada and lived her formative years there. Her dream of working in the Arts grew so much that she migrated to her birth home to pursue it. Six seasons of Westwood Park as an actor proved to her that her love of film focused behind the camera, primarily as Location Manager and Fixer for various International and Local productions. She had also adopted the role of past venue Director for the Trinidad and Tobago Film Festival for 6 years, and two years at Boxsmall Festival (Scotland) during the Edinburgh Fringe Festival; Fixer for House Hunters International, Locked Up Abroad, National Geographic Studios; Fixer Chain of Command, Nat Geo; Producer Forward Ever, The killing of a revolution and Dubois; Associate Producer, Gold Loves the fighter, and, most recently, Lead Location Manager for Amazing Race season 32, CBS and Fixer for BBC Studios on the Story of Michael X.
Some of the key takeaways from the session included: always visit the location in advance before filming; look for environmental detractors from filming; be respectful of the people and places within the location; make sure to leave the location in the same, if not better, condition as you met it; and so much more. Princess also issued a challenge to the attendees where they were to interact with people in the location to obtain footage/images. The winners of the challenge received prizes and learned a valuable lesson in location management, you have to work with the community in order to ensure success when filming.
One of the attendees, Kamron Waithe, stated “This is so cool. The fact that FilmTT is creating opportunities to freely share this type of information, we should all take advantage of this. We look forward to all the future sessions in this series provided by FilmTT. Thank you so much.” The other attendees echoed her sentiments.
“FilmTT is thrilled with the turnout for the first session of the Meet the Practitioner Series and look forward to having more sessions in the future. The purpose of this initiative is to encourage information sharing within the industry, to have the knowledge from experience passed around and shared among persons who are very passionate about film and want the industry to build and grow,” Leslie Ann Wills Caton, General Manager, FilmTT.
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