Location Works, a business which finds locations for filming, television, photo shoots and events, won the Medium Business of the Year award, sponsored by Pound Gates, at this year’s EADT Business Awards.
Run by father and daughter Kell Gatherer and Lorna Gatherer Ford, the business was founded in 1985, making it the longest-established company of its kind in the UK.
“Our clients need locations for feature films, television dramas, advertising, photographic shoots and events,” said Lorna. “Finding the perfect location can be a challenge!”
Initially, Location Works scouts would go out to photograph potential locations before presenting them to the client. After some time, the Location Works library was started as a collection of these images organised into a categorised filing system, which was eventually launched online.
Today, Location Works is described as a “virtual company”, with the team working from offices in Suffolk, Norfolk, London, Bristol, Devon, Northampton, Ireland, India and Sweden using its bespoke Sumeru database to work from any location or any shoot.
It aims to make the process of location scouting as simple as possible, with its categorised web library and a powerful keyword search that instantly suggests the places that could suit the brief.
“Finding the location is just the beginning,” said Kell. “We assist with negotiations, contractual matters and logistics.
“We also take over space for use for creative projects hosting film shoots, artists’ studios, community projects and local charities.”
“We’ve been lucky enough to have our locations featured in productions of all shapes and sizes,” said Lorna. “Recently we’ve had big hitters such as Magic Mike’s Last Dance and Venom 2: Let There Be Carnage. We’ve worked with a few upcoming superhero movies too – but we shouldn’t talk too much about them!
“Obviously, the film industry isn’t all like that, and we’ve worked on more than our fair share of TV adverts, fashion editorials and music videos too.”
One recent project which earned high praise from the EADT Business Awards judges was Metworks London. This saw Location Works take over a large former university building in central London during the pandemic, making it available for filming at a time when filming in certain ‘real’ locations would have been almost impossible.
“We built ‘standing sets’ – the kind of locations that can be difficult in real life,” explained Kell. “For example, we built a hospital ward and a police station set – exactly the kind of things that were especially difficult to get during lockdown.”
The once derelict building has been given a new lease of life thanks to Location Works and is still used today as a space for artists to showcase their work.
This innovative revitalisation project demonstrates the unique approach that Location Works has taken to scouting since its launch, which led to the company being crowned Medium Business of the Year for 2023.
"It’s so encouraging to be given recognition for all the hard work we’ve put into our long-term projects over the last few years,” said Kell.
“The whole company has worked so hard to get to where we are today. It’s brilliant to get recognition for that,” added Lorna.
Kell also explained that securing the award has given Location Works the recognition and motivation to develop “a lot more social initiatives”.
“We have a dream we can make the UK a lot more accessible to filming, both economically and socially,” he said. “It’s great to be recognised for what we’ve done so far – here’s to going forward!”
For more information, please visit locationworks.com
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