 {spotlight} feature reports
Interview with Beverley Syme October 2001
Beverly Syme has worked as Location Assistant, Unit Manager and recently a Location Manager in Scotland for the last 5 years. She has worked on most of the Glasgow based projects, including House of Mirth, Complicity and Strictly Sinatra, and in Liverpool on the soon to be released American film '51st State'.
You’ve assisted location managers, unit managed on large impact films and location managed on television drama. You have just finished your first location managing job on a feature film (Peter Mullan’s Magdalene). How did this job differ from the others?
Hugely. As a Location Manager, you not only have to find the locations but also do the deals and contracts. There are often clauses or points that the Location Manger can’t agree to and so there is a lot of to-ing and fro-ing between lawyers which a unit manager is never party to. As a unit manager you’re just in charge of the unit. So this job was very different from that point of view.
What were the most rewarding and challenging aspects of Magdalene?
Finding a location that the director likes is both rewarding and challenging. Finding 1960’s Dublin in Dumfries was certainly challenging but once we could see it all coming together it was very rewarding. Going to an unfamiliar town and understanding how it works in terms of police and city departments was another challenge but once you can see how the art department have transformed a location that you’ve found and thought would work it all becomes a very fulfilling experience.
How, as a location manager, did you interact with other Heads of Department?
Location Managers mostly work with the designer. They are taken to the location first to see whether it can work or not and if they say no, then no it is. When they say yes, I then get a list of things that they will need to be done in order for the location to work for their design of the script. After that, I will liaise with the Director of Photography and other HoD’s to ensure that everything is ok from their point of view as well, but from a creative point of view it is really the designer who I work closest too.
Who and which projects have you learnt from the most and why?
Brian Kaczynski taught me a great deal on Life Support (working title Medical Ethics) as I was still very green and needed some directing as a locations assistant. Brian guided me through the project, showing me how to do things in the best way. Top Man.
Sarah Lee also taught me a lot on House of Mirth. This was my first period film and she was great at pointing out all the considerations that you have to cope with on a large scale period film that don’t exist on contemporary projects.
What was your favourite and most difficult project in terms of locations and why?
On The House of Mirth we used lovely locations and because it was a period film people seemed to appreciate why things had to be done in a certain way and as a result were more helpful. That made it a great job.
Swine Fever was the hardest project from a locations point of view as the subject matter was so contentious. (Swine Fever tells of asylum seekers living in Glasgow and the difficulties they face) The places we went to film were actually the ones most affected by the situation and the consequent political issues. Filming a piece of drama in a place where some of the issues were a reality was very difficult.
Given the recent decline in production activity, how would you promote Scottish locations to the industry?
Having worked in Liverpool last year, where there seemed to be a film unit on every corner, I can only presume that they have worked out the best marketing strategy. So maybe the powers that be should ask them! Whilst I was there, there were 3 films and 2 television dramas shooting and only one of each were script dependent on Liverpool. The others could easily have been filmed in Scotland. There definitely needs to be stronger marketing and incentives here because other cities continue to get stronger and are able to attract more films.
How did you get into working as part of a location team?
I spent two weeks on a placement at Scotmedia magazine and whilst I was there, sent my cv out to the advertising and commercial companies that were listed. One of those was MTP, Glasgow based commercials company, who offered me a position as a runner with them. Through the work I did there, I met Harry Boyd, who then asked if I was interested in being his runner on Small Faces. I did that and then Bumping the Odds before realising I was more interested in the location side of filmmaking. I got onto Stand and Deliver with Pauline Ogle and have stayed in locations ever since.
You’ve just finished Magdalene; do you have anything lined up for the rest of the year?
I’m having a week off and then going to Unit Manage for Brian Kaczynski on Ken Loach’s Sweet Sixteen.
Where do you hope to be in terms of your career in five years time?
I would really like to work on a big budget American film for the experience of it but other than that I’m quite happy to be working on the films produced out of Scotland.
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