On April 30, the DGA Eastern AD/UPM Council's Location Manager Committee hosted a Location Manager Coffee Talk. The virtual event served as an opportunity for DGA Location Managers in New York and Chicago to discuss a wide array of topics and share valuable skills with each other.
The event featured Committee Co-Chairs Ellen Athena Catsikeas and Ryan Ferguson and Committee members Christie Mullen, Lynn Powers and Morgan Roche in a series of discussions that covered topics including: best practices for negotiating one’s individual rate and terms of employment on projects, working with Locations Department team members affiliated with other unions, and the industry’s ongoing dialogue with the New York Mayor’s Office. Members also reviewed DGA contractual topics affecting Location Managers, such as jurisdiction/minimum staffing and Qualification List (QL) requirements.
The Coffetalk concluded with an open forum where attendees could ask questions or provide comments.
ABOUT THE PANELISTS:
 Ellen Athena Catsikeas
Catsikeas’s Location Manager credits include feature films such as Michael D. Olmos’s Windows on the World, Gabriela Cowperthwaite’s Megan Leavey and Rebecca Miller’s The Private Lives of Pippa Lee; Jennifer Lebeau’s documentary Trouble No More; Jack Bender’s movie for television Weekends at Bellevue; and episodes of Deception and Allegiance. She has been a DGA member since 2008 and serves on the Eastern AD/UPM Council and as the Co-Chair of the Council’s Location Manager Committee. |
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 Ryan Ferguson
Ferguson’s Location Manager and Assistant Location Manager credits include feature films such as Jon Watts’s Spider-Man: Homecoming, Denzel Washington’s A Journal for Jordan and Liesl Tommy’s Respect; mini-series including Thomas Schlamme and Minkie Spiro’s The Plot Against America, Ava DuVernay’s When They See Us and Ben Stiller’s DGA Award-winning Escape at Dannemora; and episodes of Uncoupled and Bonding. He has been a DGA member since 2019 and serves as an alternate on the Eastern AD/UPM Council and as the Co-Chair of the Council’s Location Manager Committee. |
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 Christie Mullen
Mullen’s Location Manager credits include feature films such as Sofia Coppola’s On the Rocks, Robert De Niro’s The Good Shepherd and Woody Allen’s A Rainy Day in New York, Wonder Wheel, Café Society and Irrational Man as well as his television mini-series Crisis in Six Scenes; and episodes of The Newsroom. She has been a DGA member since 2004 and serves on the Eastern AD/UPM Council’s Location Manager Committee. |
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 Lynn Powers
Powers’s Location Manager and Assistant Location Manager credits include feature films such as George LaVoo’s A Dog Year, James DeMonaco’s Little New York and Woody Allen’s Whatever Works; movies for televisions including Barry Levinson’s DGA Award-nominated Paterno; and episodes of The Good Fight, BrainDead, The Good Wife, Fringe and Sex and the City. She has been a DGA member since 2008 and as a former Co-Chair of the Eastern AD/UPM Council’s Location Manager Committee. |
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 Morgan Roche
Roche’s Location Manager and Assistant Location Manager credits include feature films such as Leslie Small’s Holiday Rush; movies for television including Jesse Peretz’s Constance and Mike Newell’s The Interestings; Reinaldo Marcus Green’s mini-series We Own This City; and episodes of Prodigal Son, Sneaky Pete, The Punisher, The Tick, Daredevil and Inside Amy Schumer. She has been a DGA member since 2018 and serves on the Eastern AD/UPM Council’s Location Manager Committee. |
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About the Committee
The Eastern AD/UPM Council’s Location Manager Committee addresses the needs and concerns of members of this category. In addition to Co-Chairs Ellen A. Catsikeas and Ryan Ferguson, the Eastern AD/UPM Council’s Location Manager Committee’s members are Michael Anthony, Gretchen Brown, Al Cohn, Eddy Collyns, Ana Cuadra, Katarina Dedicova, Josh Dorn, Guy Efrat, Kurt Enger, Michael Fucci, Nathan Gendzier, Joe Guest, Shane Haden, Paul Hamill, Samson Jacobson, Michael Kriaris, James Lee, Joanna Lu, Suk Yi Mar, Christie Mullen, Michael Nickodem, Stuart Nicolai, Lauri Pitkus, Lynn Powers, Morgan Roche.