COLA organizers will continue to accept nominations through midnight PDT on Friday, July 5, 2013. Nominations may be submitted by representatives of the Film Liaisons in California Statewide (FLICS), or by location managers and production companies wishing to recognize their colleagues for bringing the on-location filming experience to the level of art.

Each year, COLA bestows awards on both individuals and production teams. Specific eligibility criteria apply, but individual film professionals may be nominated for Location Manager of the Year (Studio or Independent Feature, Television Episodic, Commercial, Reality TV or Music Video). Government employees at the city, county, state and federal level may be nominated for Public Employee of the Year.
Group nominations are also accepted for Location Team of the Year (Studio or Independent Feature, Television Episodic), and Reality TV Production Company of the Year.

Representatives of Teamsters Local 399 also annually recognize one or more Assistant Location Managers of the Year (eligible categories include Feature Film and Television Episodic).

To date, COLA has bestowed honors on 92 individuals, 69 teams and 67 public employees. COLA is a project of Film Liaisons in California, Statewide (FLICS), a group that seeks to promote and facilitate in-state filming. FLICS welcome project inquiries and offers a variety of services to help expedite and assist productions.

To submit a nomination for the 19th Annual COLA awards, or to see eligibility requirements, please click here.

From that one idea from the vision of Sheri Davis, director of the Inland Empire Film Commission, grew the California On Location Awards (COLA), a premier awards program saluting location managers and production companies for exemplary professional excellence while filming on location In California. In addition federal, state and local public employees are recognized for their valuable services in going above and beyond to facilitate California location filming in their jurisdictions.

The tradition of the COLA program recognizing and supporting excellence continued on Sunday, October 28 as the 18th annual COLA reception and ceremony was hosted by the Huntington-Langham of Pasadena amid the grace and elegance reminiscent of the Golden Age of Hollywood captured by that historic hotel. There over 500 entertainment industry executives, producers, directors, location managers and other production professionals gathered along with community leaders to celebrate this state’s signature industry and salute the location professionals who help make it work. Popular veteran actor Lorenzo Lamas guided the show as master of ceremonies.

COLA is the signature and flagship annual event of the Film Liaisons In California Statewide (FLICS), a non-profit organization focused on promoting and supporting California’s film and television production industry. The FLICS membership consists of regional film commissions throughout the state each of which offer local expertise to assist film and T.V. projects with a multitude of elements required by productions.

The annual COLA ceremony saw four awards presented to individual location managers as location professional of the year for outstanding work in the categories of television commercials, episodic T.V., studio feature films and independent features. Scott Allen Logan received the award for his commercial work on “Gymkhana 5” which involved precision high speed driving on the streets of San Francisco. The episodic television award went to Gregory Alpert for “Luck,” an HBO series about the world of horse racing and Chris Baugh received the COLA in studio features for his location management work on the Warner Bros. film “Argo” about the CIA extraction of American diplomatic personnel out of revolutionary Iran filmed in California. In the category of independent features location manager Caleb Duffy was recognized for “Hitchcock,” a 1959 Fox Searchlight Pictures period film shot in modern day Los Angeles and Ventura Counties involving a love story between legendary filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock and his wife during the filming of “Psycho.”

Assistant location managers make very important contributions to the location filming process. The Assistant Location Manager of the Year award in episodic T.V. went to Eva Schroeder for her work on “The Client List,” a Lifetime Television series. Keomanee Vilaythong took home the COLA as Assistant Location Manager of the Year in feature films for “The Dark Knight Rises,” another in the Warner Bros.’ Batman series.

Due to the collaborative effort involved by the entire location department in the success of a complex production COLA presents awards to location teams of the year in the categories of episodic television, studio feature films and independent features. The Location Team of the Year award in episodic television went to the Warner Bros. Entertainment – John Wells Production “Southland:Sunset” with Michael Haro as associate producer and Location Manager Alison Taylor. For studio feature films the Location Team of the Year nod was given to the location department behind Paramount Pictures’ “Star Trek into Darkness” headed by Supervising Location Manager Becky Brake. The COLA for Location Team of the Year for Independent Features was presented to the location department of the Dogwood Pictures production “Knight of Cups” led by Location Managers David Lyons and Kei Rowan-Young.

In recognition of exhibiting the highest professional standards while filming in California’s communities the Production Company of the Year award went to the reality television show “The Amazing Race” by CBS Productions with Deven Chierghino as location manager.

California’s film and television production industry often engages the valuable services and expertise of many departments within various governmental sectors in the state. The California On Location Awards recognizes individual government employees for outstanding service in partnering with California’s entertainment industry and going the extra mile in facilitating diverse productions filming on location. Awards are presented in the categories of city, county, state and federal Public Employees of the Year. Receiving the city employee award was Tehachapi City Manager Greg Garrett while the county recognition when to Tony Martinez of the Kern County Fire Department. In the category of state employee the COLA was awarded to John O’Rourke of Humbolt-Redwood State Park with the federal employee recognition going to Guy Langham of the United States Coast Guard.

This year recognition was paid to Rajan Shandil the COLA show producer and director for the last 14 years. Also recognized was John Brown of the live show production company The Show Pros for his 13 years in providing the creative and technical production expertise behind COLA.

For 2013 the 19th annual California On Location Awards will return to the Beverly Hilton, legendary home of the Golden Globes, by special invitation from that hotel’s management.

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For further information please contact:

Sheri Davis, COLA Chair Emeritus
Director of the Inland Empire Film Commission.
Telephone: 951-377-7849.
Email: sheridavis@filminlandempire.com

Richard McMillan
McMillan Production Services
Director of Media Relations for the Film Liaisons In California Statewide (FLICS)
www.filmcalifornia.com
Telephone: 310-754-9250.
Email: reelbizpro@yahoo.com

COLA organizers will continue to accept nominations through midnight PST on Friday, July 20, 2012. Nominations may be submitted by representatives of the Film Liaisons in California Statewide (FLICS), or by location managers and production companies wishing to recognize their colleagues for bringing the on-location filming experience to the level of art.

Each year, COLA bestows awards on both individuals and production teams. Specific eligibility criteria apply, but individual film professionals may be nominated for Location Manager of the Year (Studio or Independent Feature, Television Episodic, Commercial or Music Video). Government employees at the city, county, state and federal level may be nominated for Public Employee of the Year.

Group nominations are also accepted for Location Team of the Year (Studio or Independent Feature, Television Episodic, Commercial or Music Video), and Reality TV Production Company of the Year.

Representatives of Teamsters Local 399 also annually recognize one or more Assistant Location Managers of the Year (eligible categories include Feature Film and Television Episodic).

To date, COLA has bestowed honors on 86 individuals, 65 teams and 63 public employees. COLA is a project of Film Liaisons in California, Statewide (FLICS), a group that seeks to promote and facilitate in-state filming. FLICS welcomes project inquiries and offers a variety of services to help expedite and assist productions.

For the second consecutive year, the California On Location Awards™ show will be streamed live on the web.

Now, those who weren’t among the 500 or so guests to register for the event can now catch all of the show action live thanks to USTREAM.

Bookmark this page and return at 5:00 p.m. on Sunday, October 16, 2011 to catch the show as it unfolds.

In keeping with tradition, the distinguished panel includes veteran location professionals, producers, unit production managers and industry union representatives, in addition to a select group of recent COLA award winners. Judges for this year’s awards include (in alphabetical order):

• Steve Dayan, Teamsters Local 399
• Ed Duffy, Teamsters Local 399
• Mike Fantasia, Location Manager
• Timothy Hillman, Location Manager
• Kent Matsuoka, Location Manager
• Bill McDonald, Writer / Producer
• Marcus Morton, Writer / Producer / Entrepreneur
• David Phelps, Association of Independent Commercial Producers (AICP)
• Richard Prince, Producer / Production Manager
• Nina Ruscio, Production Designer

Judges are charged with selecting winners from this year’s group of COLA finalists, which includes 19 individuals, 15 production teams and 19 public employees. Their decisions will be announced at this year’s invitation-only gala on Sunday, October 16, 2011 at the Millennium Biltmore Hotel.

Photos and biographies of our judges can be accessed here.

Each year, COLA names Location Managers, Assistant Location Managers and Location Teams of the Year in an assortment of film project genres, plus city, county, state and federal Public Employees of the Year for their efforts to facilitate filming in the Golden State.

For the recently announced finalists, the path to COLA honors began with an open nominations process, in which film commissioners and industry professionals nominated individuals and teams based on film, television, and commercial production work performed in California between July 1, 2010 and June 30, 2011.

The core of each nomination was a 350-word essay describing, in detail, the work that nominees performed to facilitate local filming. In August, 2011, COLA organizers forwarded more than 100 nominations to representatives of Film Liaisons in California, Statewide (FLICS) and Teamsters Local 399 for a vote. Based on total votes received for each nomination, a select number of COLA nominees earned their finalist status. Today, Teamsters Local 399 also announced finalists for its Assistant Location Manager of the Year, Features and Assistant Location Manager of the Year, Television awards.

“Our congratulations go out to all of the individuals and team nominated for this honor,” said COLA Co-Chair Paul Audley of FilmL.A. “To the nominees, finalists, and eventual award winners, all of us at ‘COLA Headquarters’ thank you for your professionalism and wish you luck at the awards show on October 16th.”

COLA is a project of Film Liaisons in California, Statewide (FLICS), a network of film commissioners and others seeking to promote and facilitate in-state filming. In December 2010, FilmL.A., Inc. — Los Angeles’ not-for-profit film office — was tapped by FLICS to serve as COLA event coordinator, financial agent of record and volunteer organizer. Throughout its sixteen-year history, COLA has bestowed honors on more than 80 individuals, 60 teams and 55 public employees.

On August 5, 2011, COLA organizers distributed a selection ballot to representatives of Film Liaisons in California, Statewide (FLICS), aimed at narrowing the list of eligible finalists for a California On Location Award. The nominations period officially closed on Friday, July 22.

FLICS offices and select representatives of Teamsters Local 399 will now cast their votes for the most deserving COLA award nominees. This year, COLA organizers received more than one hundred individual nominations, recognizing 86 individuals and teams for awards for on-location filming excellence across 13 different award categories. Based solely on the number of nominations received, competition is exceptionally strong this year in the Location Team: Episodic Television, Location Professional: Commercials, and Location Professional: Episodic Television award categories.

Each FLICS office has one week to cast its vote and help narrow the list of finalists prior to final judging. Completed select ballots are due by 5:00 p.m. on Friday, August 12, 2011. A panel of esteemed judges (stay tuned for judges announcement) will meet later in August to review the list of finalists and select award winners.

Our thanks go to all who submitted nominations this year. To the nominees, finalists, and eventual award winners, we at “COLA Headquarters” thank you for your professionalism and wish you luck.