Location, Location, Location

Girum Berhan Tsehaye, 29, works as a location manager for the new television series, Mogachu. The series is broadcast by the American based TV station, Ethiopian Broadcasting Station (EBS), once a week.

He is responsible for securing different locations for shooting.

“I started working in the entrainment industry in 1996, when I was young,” says Girum.

At the time Fortune interviewed him, he was at Alert Hospital, Zeneb Werk, with his film crew, recording the sixth episode of the series. The first episode has already been broadcast.

“The first thought to work as a location manager and to see it as a separate profession came while I was sitting in a café and saw a film crew”, Girum said. “I asked the owner of the café for permission to use the place. At that moment I realised that someone has to take the responsibility to secure the location before shooting began.”

He started doing it without any training, but has since read numerous books and follow some online courses.

“Most of the people are working on this specific profession on the basis of experience, but we have to improve ourselves and I am planning to go to film school in the near future,” says Girum.

According to Abebe Beyene, a Secretary of the Ethiopian Filmmakers Association (EFA) and a film teacher at the Blue Nile Film Academy, location manager is one of the segments of the production manager, who works in coordinating all inputs for a film, including securing locations, finance management, coordinating the operations of the crew and logistics.

“The location manager has to have the ability to feel and taste everything around him,” says Abebe.

Girum got his first chance in 2005 for a film called Hamawiw, for which he earned 3,000 Br. Then he worked for a film called Melak in 2007, a movie about child trafficking, which took him to different locations and was a challenging, but also interesting, experience for the young man.

He called the film a masterpiece, and ended up making 30,000 Br for his contributions. Since then, he has worked on different movies and has now signed a two-year contract with the EBS series, which will pay him for every episode.

His job is not solely focused on securing locations, but rather managing and coordinating the crew, finding sponsors for the film and generally assisting with all stages of the film – preproduction, production and post-production.

“Five or six years back, there were few people working in this specific area, but now there are  many like me, with average earnings of  10,000 Br to 50,000 Br,” says Girum.

Eshetu Melesea, 25, is a graduate from the Addis Abeba University in Theatrical Art, in 2003. With an office at Kera, Sofia Mall, he works as a location manager, a producer at a radio station, advertiser and, in between, is also writing a film script.

A location manager must read the script and understand what the film is about, Eshetu says, and then provide the locations according to the directors’ desire.

“I am also responsible for coordinating the whole cast, and arranging meetings on preproduction as well as in production,” says Eshetu.

His first experience was in 2004, on the film called Le Medres. His most recent film is Tikure Engeda. He is also working on his new upcoming movie, Ye Tebesa Qine.

The profession still lacks credit and recognition, according to Eshetu,  but now, with the film industry growing and the audience having more options to choose from, the need for the profession and professionals has at least become accepted by all. According to data from the Addis Abeba Culture & Tourism Bureau, 194 films were rated, approved and  shown at cinemas from July 2013 to June 2014,.

“Most of the filmmakers understand our efforts and how we minimise costs for them,” he said.

Yonas Berhane Mewa, a renowned film director, says that in the early days, where one person used one camera and acted as director, producer, script writer and actor/actress, nobody bothered about location managers or their function. Now, despite the lack of quality, there are many more of these professionals in the industry.

“But their role must go far beyond the mere securing of a specific location,” he says. “In old days, we, as directors, were responsible to work as location managers, while also coordinating all crew member and other necessary ingredients for the film, and this was a big headache. But now these people minimise the cost and the time we used to waste.”

It is not like in Hollywood, where they have the resources to create the sets on the scene in two or three studios, says Eshetu.

“Here, you have to find the real locations – be it a café, a hotel, hospital or church.”

The location manager must be persuasive enough to get permission for the use of locations selected for shooting. For some they have to pay, for others an “indirect promotion” in the movie is enough.

Eshetu looks forward to the future with optimism, and he says he is working with friends to create a database of pre-identified locations which directors can choose from.


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