Veteran location manager Veronique Vowell will receive this year’s Lifetime Achievement Award from the Location Managers Guild International (LMGI) at the 7th Annual LMGI Awards celebrating “2020 Vision: We See It First.” A founding member of the Location Managers Guild, Vowell is best known for her work on Cold Case, Scandal, Little Fires Everywhere, Ray Donovan, The Replacements, Angels in the Outfield and The Distinguished Gentleman. Hosted by Isaiah Mustafa, the Awards will be held on Saturday, October 24, at 2 p.m. PDT presented via a digital ceremony on YouTube.
“I am in awe of Veronique’s passion, perseverance and expertise. As an actor, a producer and as a director on Scandal, I was always inspired by Veronique’s artistry, her talent, her commitment, her work ethic, her kindness and her unwavering ‘can do’ attitude. I am thrilled that she is being honored in this way,” said Kerry Washington.
“Veteran location manager Veronique Vowell has made a career of giving back. In addition to her creative and logistic solutions to decades of production dilemmas, her legacy importantly includes generations of current and future location professionals. Diligent, clever, determined, they have been schooled by the master and we are grateful,” said Awards co-chair and former LMGI president Lori Balton.
Vowell began her acclaimed career as a field researcher on National Geographic television network. Predating cellphones and internet, she traversed the country, armed with a small typewriter, a 35mm camera and a roll of payphone quarters, working as a location manager, supervising location manager and production supervisor. Vowell worked for Shondaland/ABC for almost 10 years as location manager on Scandal, and as supervising location manager on The Catch, Station 19, Grey’s Anatomy and How to Get Away with Murder.
Vowell sees her most important role as mentor to the many assistants whose careers she has fostered. For over a decade, she has volunteered as an instructor at the American Film Institute’s Boot Camp for future filmmakers. Vowell also lectures about location management at Chapman, Emerson and Boston Universities. Her devoted volunteer efforts include Film 2 Future and Manifest Works helping underserved members of society establish a foothold in the entertainment industry.
A dedicated Local 399 Hollywood Teamsters Steering Committee member, Vowell continues her work with the LMGI Education Committee. No stranger to Sacramento, she is a respected advocate for location professionals in key campaigns like California’s Expanded Film and Television Job Creation Act and Tax Incentives program. “Location managing, like political lobbying, is the art of compromise in the effort to achieve the impossible,” commented Vowell.
A founding member of the Location Managers Guild International, she served on the board for several years and currently co-chairs the LMGI Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Committee. Additionally, Vowell sits on the Board of FilmLA and is a member of its Operations SubCommittee, as well as the Los Angeles City Mayor’s Task Force.
As previously announced, Christopher McQuarrie, acclaimed producer, director and Academy Award®-winning writer, will receive this year’s Eva Monley Award, which recognizes and honors industry members who support the vision of location professionals. Oscar®-winning director Spike Lee, whose films have reflected significant cultural and historical content with the highest quality, will receive the acclaimed LMGI Trailblazer Award honoring the groundbreaking spectrum of Lee’s extraordinary award-winning work over the past three decades. Emmy®-winning and Oscar-nominated actor Gary Sinise will receive the esteemed Humanitarian Award for establishing the Gary Sinise Foundation with the mission to serve and honor America’s defenders, veterans, first responders, Gold Star families and those in need.
The LMGI Awards honor the outstanding and creative visual contributions by location professionals in film, television and commercials from around the globe. The LMGI Awards also recognize outstanding service by film commissions for their support “above and beyond” during the production process.
This year, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 7th Annual LMGI Awards breaks with tradition and will be presented on a digital platform, streaming to a worldwide and more inclusive audience. LMGI Award winners will be announced at the virtual awards ceremony.
Committee co-chairs of this year’s LMGI Awards (#LMGIawards) are Balton and John Rakich.
Christmas TV movies are in their Taylor Swift era, with 2 Swift-inspired films airing this season
Two new Christmas TV movies have a Taylor Swift connection that her fans would have no problem decoding.
"Christmas in the Spotlight" debuts Saturday on Lifetime. It stars Jessica Lord as the world's biggest pop star and Laith Wallschleger as a pro football player, who meet and fall in love — not unlike Swift and her boyfriend, Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce.
"It's clearly inspired by Taylor and Travis, but I don't know them and I don't know what is going on behind the scenes. I only know what's been put out there," said Eirene Tran Donohue, a longtime, devoted fan who jumped at the opportunity to write a script even loosely based on her favorite musician.
She was inspired by the couple's support of each other's accomplishments, particularly Kelce's ease with dating the star despite the glare of the spotlight, adding, "I love the way that he celebrates her."
Tran Donohue wants fellow Swift fans to know she wrote the script with them in mind.
"There are so many Easter eggs," she said of little details added that a Swift fan would pick up on. "I put in as many as I could."
Then, on Nov. 30, Hallmark will air "Holiday Touchdown: A Chiefs Love Story." Instead of a nod to Swift, it's an ode to family traditions and bonding, like rooting for a sports team. Hallmark's headquarters is also in Kansas City, so it makes sense why the company chose the Chiefs to be highlighted.
In this story, written by Julie Sherman Wolfe, sparks fly when a new employee for the Chiefs organization (Tyler Hynes) meets a woman — played by Hunter King — whose family's dedication to the team goes back generations.
Sherman Wolfe, a San Francisco 49ers fan, said she got the call a week after Super Bowl LVIII, when the Chiefs... Read More