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A Conversation with Rick Gagnon and Kyle O'Conner
(Locations Dept.)
GAGNON: My name is Rick Gagnon and I'm one of the assistants in the locations department. And we look after locations and if we find locations, we do the scouting. But mostly my job is onset, kind of like liaison between location people at the location we're using and the crew. And I'm on set all the time. So that's my role.
O'CONNER: My name is Kyle O'Conner. I'm also an assistant from the locations department and I do all the location shooting when they're outside of the studio. I'm with Rick.
Q: What are some of the variables that you have to deal with when setting up locations?
O'CONNER: Basically the biggest one is kind of being a liaison between our crew and industry and the public. Taking care of where we're shooting and the people that own the buildings and then the people parking on the streets and then people passing by. We have to kind of leave a good impression wherever we go.
Q: You do crowd control and public relations. . .
O'CONNER: Yeah, we work closely with the police and they help us out. And we just have to keep the film name a good one in Toronto so we can keep shooting here.
GAGNON: And one of the hardest things is keeping up with the change of locations, because a lot of times they change their mind and they want to change locations like within about three or four hour's notice and we have to change all the permits and sometimes it's just down to the last minute and it's really difficult and nerve racking and exhausting (LAUGHS).
Q: Now that Toronto is being dubbed the Hollywood of the North, have you noticed a significant increase in the number of non-Canadian productions you work on?
O'CONNER: I think that there has been, over the last little while. Recently, it's been dying down a bit with fear of strikes and other political things. It's a great place to shoot. We have lots of Americans come up to shoot here and we get along great with them and they love coming up here. It's keeping us working.
Q: Were there any special obstacles that this episode ("Nailed") presented in terms of setting up, for example, this alley location?
GAGNON: Actually today we almost didn't get all of the permits and everything to get in here today. Plus there were a couple of changes and we have to come back here Monday. We would've liked to have stayed here for two days in a row, but we can't because some of the places weren't gonna be available. So we had to switch everything around and we've got to come back Monday, which really costs a lot of extra money and a lot of traveling back and forth. And yeah, so that's hard.
Q: Do you think that WITCHBLADE, as opposed to other projects you've worked on, has more or less location shooting? Is there anything about the ratio of location to studio work here that's unique?
GAGNON: From the television shows that I've worked on, this probably has more locations. . .It's nicer to be in the studio, of course.
Q: It's warmer (LAUGHS).
GAGNON: Yeah, but actually it's fun being on location here.
Q: Okay. Anything else that you'd like the fans out there to know about what you do?
GAGNON: I'll tell you -- this crew and the cast is the best cast and crew. I'm not just saying that because I'm working on it. But I've worked for the last seven years in this department in the industry and this is, hands down, the best crew and the best cast I've ever worked with. Last year I worked on the show also and I've seen a couple of the episodes and it's just great. And Yancy, of course, she's wonderful. Everybody loves her. And that's important.
Q: Is it frustrating to work on productions that don't air in Canada so that you often don't get to see your final product?
O'CONNER: It is. To tell you the truth, I've never seen an episode, but you know you'd like to see what you do. You'd like to see some interesting locations and some of the things that you've done and helped do. But at the end of the day, we're here to do a job and as long as it gets done and the producers are happy and the public's happy with the television show, then we're happy.
Q: Thanks a lot.
GAGNON and O'CONNER: Thank you.
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