Does Your Home Have Star Quality?
Private properties are a hot commodity in the movie industry. See how one landed a lucrative role in ‘La La Land’
Fade in: Interior of a mid-century modern house in Los Angeles, summer 2015. Damien Chazelle, writer-director of the Oscar-winning Whiplash, meets Adene Lacy, owner of the house, to approve its use as a location in his latest project, a valentine to the movie musicals of yesteryear. Fast-forward one-and-a-half years to today. Chazelle’s La La Land could win as many as 13 Academy Awards on February 26. And Lacy has a nice chunk of change and the satisfaction of seeing her property in a hit movie.
Mia, played by Emma Stone, centre, attends a casual pool party in a scene from La La Land that was filmed in the backyard, below, of Adene Lacy and her husband, Rob. La La Land photos by Dale Robinette / Lionsgate
For the scene, the filmmakers sought a mid-century modern house with a pool in a lush setting. Cast Locations photos by Kevin Taylor
The Role of a Lifetime
La La Land was the first appearance in a feature-length film by the Lacy home. The movie chronicling the romance between aspiring actress Mia (played by Emma Stone) and struggling jazz purist and pianist Sebastian (Ryan Gosling) counts eight private residences among 48 locations used over 42 days of shooting, location manager Robert Foulkes says. They were the interior and exterior of Mia’s apartment, the settings of two pool parties, Sebastian’s first and second apartments, Mia’s childhood home and “the flashback house to what might have been,” he says.
“Clean lines, glass and mid-century modern design with a David Hockney-esque pool were desired for the ’80s party scene,” says Foulkes, referring to the Lacy home’s big-screen moment. “That style and era are featured in so much iconic residential Los Angeles imagery that we wanted to get that feel into the movie.”
In the scene, Mia is surprised to run into Sebastian at a backyard pool party. In two previous encounters, he’d brushed her off. This time, though, he’s the hired help, dressed in a rad get-up and backing an ’80s rock cover band. Sensing her chance to give him his comeuppance, Mia requests A Flock of Seagulls’ I Ran, and a humiliated Sebastian winces through the pop song on his keytar as she gleefully lip-syncs and bops along.
Colour palettes inspired by ‘La La Land’
The Role of a Lifetime
La La Land was the first appearance in a feature-length film by the Lacy home. The movie chronicling the romance between aspiring actress Mia (played by Emma Stone) and struggling jazz purist and pianist Sebastian (Ryan Gosling) counts eight private residences among 48 locations used over 42 days of shooting, location manager Robert Foulkes says. They were the interior and exterior of Mia’s apartment, the settings of two pool parties, Sebastian’s first and second apartments, Mia’s childhood home and “the flashback house to what might have been,” he says.
“Clean lines, glass and mid-century modern design with a David Hockney-esque pool were desired for the ’80s party scene,” says Foulkes, referring to the Lacy home’s big-screen moment. “That style and era are featured in so much iconic residential Los Angeles imagery that we wanted to get that feel into the movie.”
In the scene, Mia is surprised to run into Sebastian at a backyard pool party. In two previous encounters, he’d brushed her off. This time, though, he’s the hired help, dressed in a rad get-up and backing an ’80s rock cover band. Sensing her chance to give him his comeuppance, Mia requests A Flock of Seagulls’ I Ran, and a humiliated Sebastian winces through the pop song on his keytar as she gleefully lip-syncs and bops along.
Colour palettes inspired by ‘La La Land’
The filmmakers wanted “a pool for a party scene – something with a lot of flora,” says Cast Locations manager David Hatfield, who represents the Lacy home. “A big part of it also had to do with it being possible to film at night, access for trucks and equipment, and so on. The house is in the San Fernando Valley but feels like a Hollywood Hills house. The Hollywood Hills are much tougher for nights and access.”
In fact, though the movie’s opening musical number involved shutting down a ramp connecting two LA freeways for two days, that shoot was very contained, Foulkes says. “Shoots that take place in residential neighbourhoods are sometimes the most challenging in that you have surrounding residents that need to be included and handled properly on an ongoing basis,” from planning through shooting,
he says.
“We also knew that we were going to choose a more high-tech, contemporary-modern house for the opening schmooze-fest party, so this would mix up the styles a bit,” Foulkes says. “In a similar way, the classic Old Hollywood, Spanish courtyard of Mia’s apartment contrasts with the small, boxy Valley apartments for Sebastian.”
Those locations were transformed for the movie by the production designer and set decorator. “We had two of the best on La La, the husband-and-wife team of David and Sandy Wasco,” he says.
In fact, though the movie’s opening musical number involved shutting down a ramp connecting two LA freeways for two days, that shoot was very contained, Foulkes says. “Shoots that take place in residential neighbourhoods are sometimes the most challenging in that you have surrounding residents that need to be included and handled properly on an ongoing basis,” from planning through shooting,
he says.
“We also knew that we were going to choose a more high-tech, contemporary-modern house for the opening schmooze-fest party, so this would mix up the styles a bit,” Foulkes says. “In a similar way, the classic Old Hollywood, Spanish courtyard of Mia’s apartment contrasts with the small, boxy Valley apartments for Sebastian.”
Those locations were transformed for the movie by the production designer and set decorator. “We had two of the best on La La, the husband-and-wife team of David and Sandy Wasco,” he says.
Sebastian, played by Ryan Gosling, left, and his band mates perform just outside the Lacys’ bedroom, at right in photo below.
What winds up on screen isn’t always the most flattering portrait of the location, Hatfield says. Sometimes location managers “need a house that looks like a porn house, a crack house. This can be a difficult conversation, but I think homeowners have to know.”
“In most things, we do recognise our house,” says Adene Lacy, who has owned it with her husband, Rob, for a dozen years and who happens to be in the movie industry herself – not on the artistic side, she points out, but rather on the accounting side, as chief financial officer for Vendome Pictures. “We knew they were using the pool area. The band was by the pool equipment, adjacent to the master bedroom. They built a platform for the band and moved patio furniture out of the way. They removed all our stuff, and artwork because it’s not licensed, and put it in the garage.”
“In most things, we do recognise our house,” says Adene Lacy, who has owned it with her husband, Rob, for a dozen years and who happens to be in the movie industry herself – not on the artistic side, she points out, but rather on the accounting side, as chief financial officer for Vendome Pictures. “We knew they were using the pool area. The band was by the pool equipment, adjacent to the master bedroom. They built a platform for the band and moved patio furniture out of the way. They removed all our stuff, and artwork because it’s not licensed, and put it in the garage.”
“I love our home, but I don’t think it’s anything special,” Lacy says. “We have a big, open space. You can see the inside from the outside. They can figure out what they want with a clean palette. When you walk in the front door, you can see 99 per cent of our house.”
“For the most part, directors, designers and cinematographers love open floor plans, where you have ease of movement around a home’s interior, and which can lend itself to nice depth of focus and various angles through doorways,” Foulkes agrees. “Unless, of course, a more claustrophobic feel is called for.”
“For the most part, directors, designers and cinematographers love open floor plans, where you have ease of movement around a home’s interior, and which can lend itself to nice depth of focus and various angles through doorways,” Foulkes agrees. “Unless, of course, a more claustrophobic feel is called for.”
The Lacys spent two nights in a hotel at the production company’s expense while the filmmakers prepped, shot and wrapped the scene over five days. Aside from meeting Chazelle during the scouting process, they didn’t meet any of the cast.
Staying away was wise, Hatfield says. “You have to let go a little bit. They come in with 50 to 100 people and invade the property. It’s like a circus.”
Browse more mid-century homes
Staying away was wise, Hatfield says. “You have to let go a little bit. They come in with 50 to 100 people and invade the property. It’s like a circus.”
Browse more mid-century homes
As for the movie, “I really liked it,” Lacy says. “It was very different and a little surprising how well it has done. I never thought that musicals were going to come back.”
“I loved it and was so pleased to see how much of what we filmed made it into the movie in such a beautiful way,” Foulkes says. “It turned out to be the amazing showcase we’d hoped for in all the chosen locations.”
“I loved it and was so pleased to see how much of what we filmed made it into the movie in such a beautiful way,” Foulkes says. “It turned out to be the amazing showcase we’d hoped for in all the chosen locations.”
Photo by Adene Lacy
The Road to Stardom
The discovery
La La Land wasn’t the screen debut for the Lacy home. A decade before, a location scout was exploring its Encino neighbourhood of 1970s tract homes. He had no particular project in mind but was simply looking for more privately owned residences around Los Angeles that were available for print ads, commercials, TV shows and movies.
He knocked on the door and asked if Lacy, her husband and teenage son had ever envisioned their house, shown above, in pictures. It was akin to 16-year-old Lana Turner catching the eye of The Hollywood Reporter’s publisher, William Wilkerson, as she sipped a Coke at a soda fountain.
The Road to Stardom
The discovery
La La Land wasn’t the screen debut for the Lacy home. A decade before, a location scout was exploring its Encino neighbourhood of 1970s tract homes. He had no particular project in mind but was simply looking for more privately owned residences around Los Angeles that were available for print ads, commercials, TV shows and movies.
He knocked on the door and asked if Lacy, her husband and teenage son had ever envisioned their house, shown above, in pictures. It was akin to 16-year-old Lana Turner catching the eye of The Hollywood Reporter’s publisher, William Wilkerson, as she sipped a Coke at a soda fountain.
The audition
And in the same way that Wilkerson introduced Turner to talent agent Zeppo Marx (Groucho’s brother), the scout connected the interested Lacys with Cast Locations, a location service agency founded in 1980 in Los Angeles. These agencies act as the liaison between production companies (and their scouts) and homeowners.
When a house tries out for Cast Locations, the owner simply has to fill out an online form with basic contact and property information, then attach a few digital photos, says Hatfield, who grew up learning the family business. If it makes the cut, the agency sends a listing agreement; arranges for a photographer to take those all-important head shots, or in this case, home shots; and promotes the house to people in the movie industry. Some agencies charge a listing fee; Cast Locations takes a cut only when a property is booked.
And in the same way that Wilkerson introduced Turner to talent agent Zeppo Marx (Groucho’s brother), the scout connected the interested Lacys with Cast Locations, a location service agency founded in 1980 in Los Angeles. These agencies act as the liaison between production companies (and their scouts) and homeowners.
When a house tries out for Cast Locations, the owner simply has to fill out an online form with basic contact and property information, then attach a few digital photos, says Hatfield, who grew up learning the family business. If it makes the cut, the agency sends a listing agreement; arranges for a photographer to take those all-important head shots, or in this case, home shots; and promotes the house to people in the movie industry. Some agencies charge a listing fee; Cast Locations takes a cut only when a property is booked.
With rare exceptions – a few unusual ranches and cabins, and a smattering of places in the nearby desert enclave of Palm Springs – the properties in Cast Locations’ portfolio are within a 30-mile radius of Hollywood. They range from funky, old-fashioned bungalows to “the grandest of the grand,” Hatfield says. The latter can be harder to come by because “those people don’t need the money.”
“Hip new building materials – those can fall out of date pretty quickly, so we’re always trying to find the new modern home, as well as the classic American home for commercials that need to play for the whole country,” Hatfield says. “I take more of those two types than the Spanish homes. Those have to be perfect!”
Reasons for rejection include, “if it’s something we already have; doesn’t have a lot of character; is a classic American house but has palm trees out front; or if the inside doesn’t match the outside,” he says.
“Hip new building materials – those can fall out of date pretty quickly, so we’re always trying to find the new modern home, as well as the classic American home for commercials that need to play for the whole country,” Hatfield says. “I take more of those two types than the Spanish homes. Those have to be perfect!”
Reasons for rejection include, “if it’s something we already have; doesn’t have a lot of character; is a classic American house but has palm trees out front; or if the inside doesn’t match the outside,” he says.
The debut
Soon the Lacy home got its first taste of fame: a day of filming outside and in the master bedroom yielded six seconds of a little girl pretending to slalom down a mountain in a minute-long ExxonMobil commercial for the 2006 Winter Olympics. “It was very exciting!” Lacy says. “We watched the commercials instead of the Olympics that year.”
And in a bit of perfect comic timing, the house got a Viagra commercial, involving two days of filming and a hotel stay for the Lacys, just before the son’s first college tuition cheque was due. “My husband still jokes about that,” Lacy says. “It was a nice surprise.”
Soon the Lacy home got its first taste of fame: a day of filming outside and in the master bedroom yielded six seconds of a little girl pretending to slalom down a mountain in a minute-long ExxonMobil commercial for the 2006 Winter Olympics. “It was very exciting!” Lacy says. “We watched the commercials instead of the Olympics that year.”
And in a bit of perfect comic timing, the house got a Viagra commercial, involving two days of filming and a hotel stay for the Lacys, just before the son’s first college tuition cheque was due. “My husband still jokes about that,” Lacy says. “It was a nice surprise.”
Although the income certainly isn’t steady, it can be a boon. Most jobs range from US$3,000 to US$7,000 for a shoot day and about half that for a prep or wrap day, Hatfield says. “Some upscale homes can command $10,000, $20,000, even $30,000 per shoot day.”
Moreover, as many as 14 days a year of rental income are free of federal tax (and of state tax in California). The Lacy home has come close to that limit, but the family prefers not to disrupt its routine or impose on its neighbours that much.
Cast Locations takes an industry-standard 30 per cent commission, Hatfield says, for marketing the property, negotiating the contract and having someone on-site during filming to look out for the homeowners’ interests.
Moreover, as many as 14 days a year of rental income are free of federal tax (and of state tax in California). The Lacy home has come close to that limit, but the family prefers not to disrupt its routine or impose on its neighbours that much.
Cast Locations takes an industry-standard 30 per cent commission, Hatfield says, for marketing the property, negotiating the contract and having someone on-site during filming to look out for the homeowners’ interests.
The Competition
Cast Locations represents 370 commercial properties and nearly 1,800 private homes, and it’s just one of more than 30 location service agencies in the Los Angeles area, Hatfield says. If you have a property in the US and are interested in renting your residence as a filming location, you don’t need an agent, and the California Film Commission offers a wealth of information on how to market your property yourself.
If Hatfield were to single out one of his properties for a lifetime-achievement award, it would be this Anywhere USA tract ranch in the Tarzana neighbourhood of LA, pictured above and below, which he has represented for more than 30 years. The homeowner is more than 100 years old.
Cast Locations represents 370 commercial properties and nearly 1,800 private homes, and it’s just one of more than 30 location service agencies in the Los Angeles area, Hatfield says. If you have a property in the US and are interested in renting your residence as a filming location, you don’t need an agent, and the California Film Commission offers a wealth of information on how to market your property yourself.
If Hatfield were to single out one of his properties for a lifetime-achievement award, it would be this Anywhere USA tract ranch in the Tarzana neighbourhood of LA, pictured above and below, which he has represented for more than 30 years. The homeowner is more than 100 years old.
She doesn’t like to go to a hotel during a shoot and generally stays at home, Hatfield says. “We always leave one bedroom for her. As long as it’s reasonable and early in the process, we negotiate the contract with clients’ preferences in mind.”
The house appeared last fall in Goliath, an original Amazon Studios drama starring Billy Bob Thornton, left, as a down-and-out lawyer trying the case of his life.
Movies at home: small screens hit the big time
Movies at home: small screens hit the big time
Hatfield’s nominees for good sport in an action scene are …
1. This Spanish-style house, which had a lion lounging in the open-plan kitchen-den, explaining grocery chain Food Lion’s campaign to feed the hungry.
1. This Spanish-style house, which had a lion lounging in the open-plan kitchen-den, explaining grocery chain Food Lion’s campaign to feed the hungry.
2. This contemporary house, whose double-height living room wall was scaled by an ‘expert’ climber wearing crampons and wielding an ice ax in a commercial for Service Experts Heating & Air Conditioning.
3. This ornate Italianate mansion, scene of a lavish party where a wicked Fiat 500 Abarth careened around inside, ostensibly rattling light fixtures and cracking windows before screeching to a halt in the living room. The spot‘s tagline? Bad-boy actor Charlie Sheen steps out wearing an ankle monitor and declares, “I love being under house arrest!”
Appearances to the contrary, Hatfield says the production companies go to great lengths to take care of borrowed property. Damage of up to at least $1 million is covered under their insurance policies, he says. If they accidentally break something, they’ll find a way to make it right. And they sometimes even leave the house in better condition than they found it.
“If a production designer wants to paint a room, for example, then we can work with the homeowner in advance on what new colour is chosen, or if they ultimately don’t wish to have that new colour be permanent, then we’ll paint it back with their choice,” Foulkes says. “Landscaping is another issue that comes up a lot. If a house calls for more flowers or decorative elements, and they’re not rentals that need to be returned, they can be left behind for the homeowner to enjoy long after a crew has left.”
“We’ve had things broken and replaced” over the years, Lacy says. “But the people are very respectful. It’s not like I have a Ming or Chihuly vase worth millions of dollars. I have a home that I live in every day.”
Appearances to the contrary, Hatfield says the production companies go to great lengths to take care of borrowed property. Damage of up to at least $1 million is covered under their insurance policies, he says. If they accidentally break something, they’ll find a way to make it right. And they sometimes even leave the house in better condition than they found it.
“If a production designer wants to paint a room, for example, then we can work with the homeowner in advance on what new colour is chosen, or if they ultimately don’t wish to have that new colour be permanent, then we’ll paint it back with their choice,” Foulkes says. “Landscaping is another issue that comes up a lot. If a house calls for more flowers or decorative elements, and they’re not rentals that need to be returned, they can be left behind for the homeowner to enjoy long after a crew has left.”
“We’ve had things broken and replaced” over the years, Lacy says. “But the people are very respectful. It’s not like I have a Ming or Chihuly vase worth millions of dollars. I have a home that I live in every day.”
A Sneak Preview
Now Hatfield has another rising star: this LA Craftsman. Three generations – a mother and her two daughters, one of whom is married with two kids – recently moved into an Airbnb rental for three months so that the filmmakers could dress the house from head to toe and begin their long shoot. Improvements included installing moulding in the bedrooms and vintage tile on a bathroom floor, fixing a deck, and landscaping. In transforming the garage into a scientist’s lab, the original doors were repaired, and lighting, plumbing, cabinets and work stations were added.
Watch for the house in A Wrinkle in Time, directed by Ava DuVernay (Selma), and starring Reese Witherspoon, Chris Pine, Oprah Winfrey and Mindy Kaling. Disney’s big-budget, live-action adaptation of Madeleine L’Engle’s 1962 fantasy novel is coming to a cinema near you in 2018.
Tell us
Have you ever given filmmakers the run of your house? Would you? Let us know in the Comments.
More
Read more fun Houzz stories
Now Hatfield has another rising star: this LA Craftsman. Three generations – a mother and her two daughters, one of whom is married with two kids – recently moved into an Airbnb rental for three months so that the filmmakers could dress the house from head to toe and begin their long shoot. Improvements included installing moulding in the bedrooms and vintage tile on a bathroom floor, fixing a deck, and landscaping. In transforming the garage into a scientist’s lab, the original doors were repaired, and lighting, plumbing, cabinets and work stations were added.
Watch for the house in A Wrinkle in Time, directed by Ava DuVernay (Selma), and starring Reese Witherspoon, Chris Pine, Oprah Winfrey and Mindy Kaling. Disney’s big-budget, live-action adaptation of Madeleine L’Engle’s 1962 fantasy novel is coming to a cinema near you in 2018.
Tell us
Have you ever given filmmakers the run of your house? Would you? Let us know in the Comments.
More
Read more fun Houzz stories