Hundreds of industry professionals crowded into the Beverly Hilton Hotel on October 24, honoring location managers for their work in features and television. The ceremony also recognized the many city, county, state and federal employees who work alongside location managers throughout the year.
Held in the same room as the Golden Globes, the 16th Annual California On Location Awards was broadcast around the world online and was hosted by famed television actresses Joan Collins and Linda Gray.
Teamsters Local 399 was heavily involved in the event. Two award categories – Assistant Location Manager of the Year for Features and for Television – were sponsored by the local, which was honored as a Diamond Sponsor.
Business Agent and Organizer Steve Dayan presented the two awards sponsored by the local. Teamster member Jason Kaplon won for the Television category and Michael Wesley (Aycock), also a member, won for Features.
Also greatly involved in the awards was Business Agent Ed Duffy, who was asked to serve as one of this year’s judges. He joined Local 399 members Michael Chickey, Robert Gregory and Darrin Lipscomb on the nine-person judging panel to pick the winners of this year’s awards.
“This is a wonderful recognition of the hard work put in all year by location managers,” said Duffy, a five-year Local 399 trustee who has represented location managers as a Business Agent for 3 years. “It’s named the California On Location Awards for a reason: location managers are doing all they can to keep as many shoots in California as possible.”
Along with the two Teamster-sponsored awards, five other categories were won by Local 399 members:
Kent Matsuoka, Location Professional of the Year – Commercials (Ford Superduty); Timothy Hillman, Location Professional of the Year – Episodic Television (CSI: NY); Mike Fantasia, Location Professional of the Year – Features (The Green Hornet); Tony Salome, Peter Sands, Dorion Thomas, JJ Levine, Roger Fath and Ronald Antwine, Location Team of the Year – Episodic Television (NCIS: Los Angeles); and Mike Fantasia, Donny Martino Jr, Peter Costelli, Steven Lee, Marie Healy, Perri Fichtner, Michael Louis, George Shockley, George Alvarez, Chas Allen, Brigette Pope and Lori Balton, Location Team of the Year – Features (The Green Hornet).
Secretary-Treasurer Leo Reed, who attended the event, said: “We are tremendously happy to see these talented and very hard-working professionals get the recognition they deserve, and we are proud of the contributions our local makes to the film and television industry in California.”
