NYWIFT Blog

By Paige Hapeman

Let’s give a warm NYWIFT welcome to our new member, Angelica Marciano. Angelica is a location manager and producer who has worked in several different states on narrative feature films and TV. She just recently moved to New York after living in New Mexico, and Boston. She is the person behind the scenes of queerfilmbk and prides herself on being a person who excels at bringing community together.

She has a cat named Lewis who acts like a dog. She’s an enthusiastic extrovert who can talk to any stranger and is a self-proclaimed freak in that she hopes that the person sitting next to her on an airplane wants to chat.

In our interview, Angelica discusses her winding career path, advice to women filmmakers, and what excites her about the locations department! 

NYWIFT Member Angelica Marciano

What sparked your interest in pursuing a career in entertainment?

I wanted to answer this question first, because I think something pretty important about my story is that I actually never planned on pursuing a career in entertainment, and the trajectory of my career has been better for it. 

For the women out there who didn’t go to film school, I just want to say – you absolutely do not need to. I didn’t. There are many different paths that you take to be in the film industry and the best creative projects happen when we bring together a variety of individuals with different backgrounds and interests and make something beautiful together that we couldn’t have built otherwise. 

I’ve always been a creative individual, but I never thought of myself as ‘creative enough’ or ‘artistic enough.’ I had friends who were ‘real artists’ and sold their art prints at comic-cons, and I continually compared myself to them. And then some of those friends asked me for help because I liked talking to people at their booths, but I never thought of it as much of anything. I can see now that gave me the confidence and the skills that are required of being a producer.

I’ve had a very strange career over the course of my life so far. I graduated college with a degree in communications and a minor in psychology. I ended up working clothing retail jobs for most of college. I worked at the Gap and spent a few years folding clothes (which is my least favorite thing to do in the world). I then got a job at Ralph Lauren in a support staff capacity, so I assisted the actual sales associates with their high-end clients. I made deliveries and got coffee for people who spent more on purses in a year than I made in my entire life, and somehow, I didn’t end up spilling coffee all over them. 

It was funny, I remember vividly when I worked at Ralph Lauren, there was a movie filming in the back alley behind our store. I thought it was so cool! I poked my head out the back while on my sales break and saw all the crew moving and preparing for the shot. I went and blogged on tumblr immediately after my shift about how I thought I could never work in film. It was Black Mass (2015). Lo and behold, here I am. 

Really, what happened was I was in the right place at the right time. I gained a significant amount of skills from the variety of jobs I held after college (after that, this is another story, but I worked for an airline and then I became a commercial fisherman for three years) and I was hired in film because I had the people skills to navigate that. It takes us all coming together with beautiful skills to make something. 

What led you to join NYWIFT and what about being a member are you most looking forward to?

I’m really looking forward to meeting other NYWIFT members! I’m very excited to connect with writers and other women who produce and have started their own production company or developed other projects, and in turn I’d be more than happy to chat about my experience as a Location Manager and consult about Locations. 

I moved to New York over the summer, and while in my career I’ve been very fortunate to be a member on a lot of union projects I want to dive into producing my own projects, so I’m excited to connect with the members of NYWIFT. 

Angelica working on set

You were previously working in Kingston for a feature film. What can you tell us about this project?

I worked on After This Death which is directed by Lucio Castro, and is going to be premiering this year at Berlinale. It’s starring Lee Pace and Mia Maestro, and you can find more information here. I can’t say too much about this feature yet, but I can say how much I love Kingston and how it’s a darling city. I’m really grateful for the experiences I had working on this production. I knew nothing about Kingston & the surrounding areas, and I can say that I ended up filming at some of my favorite locations ever.

I learned a lot about myself working on this movie too, and I am excited for you all to see the film. It’s going to be a great one.

Tell us about your journey becoming a location manager/scout.

My journey in film was never linear. I had been looking for a part time job at the time I got connected to the first movie I worked on. I recently met this new friend at a brewery in Massachusetts that did board game nights every Monday – shout out to Aeronaut in Somerville, you changed my life in more ways than I can count. 

She said, “Well, it’s not part time, but if you hate it, you never have to do it again.” That’s how I got my job on Little Women (2019) as the Assistant Stage Manager, directly reporting to the Production Supervisor. I fell in love and kept doing it. 

I followed my friend to New Mexico where she was on a job and met some incredible colleagues who convinced me to stay and explore the southwest. I spent five years there working in film and it was a breath of fresh air that I needed. I missed the city, so eventually I made my way to the east coast, but New Mexico will forever have a piece of my heart. 

Behind the scenes on set with Angelica

What are the most rewarding and challenging aspects of working as a location manager/scout?

The most rewarding part about working as a location scout is when everything aligns perfectly and the director’s vision is achieved. From words on a script, a location is the start of what makes the movie come alive. Finding either a real location that fits the vision, or a blank slate location that needs to be completely gutted by the production designer, all of that is part of it. Working in locations means you’re just a small part of the logistical puzzle of the industry, but you connect all the ideas of every department 

As a location scout, you are the first friendly face that people see of the film industry. I’ve talked to people who have never stepped foot on a film set before and had to convince them to let this crew of 130+ people into their house, with promises that I personally will take care of them. My reputation is on the line. Doing a good job as a scout means taking care of people. It means being responsible for their home. It means when accidents happen, we fix it. If someone has a bad experience with a film crew, they might never work with the film industry again, and they’ll be significantly more annoyed when a film crew comes to their neighborhood. They could even go so far as to complain enough that it complicates the filming permit. 

The most challenging part of being a Location Manager is having to work with last minute changes – when weather happens during a film set, or some scheduling conflict arises and we have to find a new location a day before shooting. Those are the moments where I do thrive, and I love being able to pull those off – but it is extremely challenging to align all those puzzle pieces. 

The silliest thing that is my absolute favorite about being a location scout is meeting all the people that I do. I have a genuine and bright curiosity, I love people so much, and I love getting a glimpse into their life. A picture is worth a thousand words, a picture of someone’s house is a novel in itself.

This job allows me to lean into all of my best qualities – exploring, creating, connecting communities, problem solving and taking risks. I’m very good at it, and I love what I do. 

Angelica catching some rest on set

You were the Assistant Production Coordinator on A24’s Love Lies Bleeding. What was this experience like?

I’m so grateful to have had this experience working on a Rose Glass production. This was a pretty miraculous moment for me – the crew I usually work with were all in the locations department, but there was no room for a location coordinator with the tighter budget of the film. Luckily, I was able to connect with the production coordinator, Denys Sedillo, who gave me a chance to work with her. I really learned so much about what it takes to build a feature film from this, and it really kicked off my interest in exploring more about development. 

More fun on set with Angelica

What are you most looking forward to with upcoming projects?

I’m very excited to connect with producers who develop their own projects, and I’m excited to start developing my own projects. 

I’ve been in love with locations and what I’ve been able to accomplish in my career but I’ve been eager to take the next step and explore developmental roles, taking the mix of the logistics that I love about locations, and my desire to craft something and be what locations really is at heart: a producer. 

Additionally, as a side project – I started a networking group called QUEER FILM BK where I’m hoping to connect more queer folks in the film industry and other creative industries for community and collaboration. I’m looking forward to building that in my spare time.

What we need more than anything right now is community, and I’m hoping to help build it. I know I need it. 

What is something people would be surprised to learn about you?

I used to be a commercial fisherman, and I’ve caught a fish that weighed more than 1,000 lbs before. 

Follow Angelica’s linkt.ree, her personal Instagram @aemarc, and professional account, @queerfilmbk.  Check out her IMDb!

(All images courtesy of Angelica Marciano)