Terry Fernández of PRODUlocaciones: We have created an extraordinary tool to search for locations in Mexico and soon available in other countries

“PRODUlocaciones is a pioneer in the audiovisual industry with a database of online locations; it’s like Airbnb, but with locations. It is a product that does not exist worldwide; not in Europe, nor in the US, nor in Japan,” said Terry Fernández, partner of PRODUlocaciones, in #PRODUprimetime with Ríchard Izarra.

THE QUEEN OF LOCATIONS
“Today I have the pleasure of being with a production company with more than 30 years of experience, specialized in locations, airplanes, and ships, to such an extent that today it is known as ‘The queen of locations in Mexico.’ It has more than 16,500 locations pinpointed and more than 100,000 photographs in a database available for our industry. She is María Teresa Fernández Rivas, better known as Terry Fernández”, said Ríchard to introduce her.

FINE EMBROIDERY
“PRODUlocaciones is an extraordinary adventure that is making noise in other countries. Soon we will have PRODUlocaciones Argentina, PRODUlocaciones Chile, PRODUlocaciones Colombia. And not only with locations, but with other products such as picture cars that also want to join the platform. One of the advantages is that the owners of the locations are able to know what are the situations and the movements that are going to take place; payments are online. We have a legal backing, and the support of PRODU, which makes the platform work and have a good design. It has been like a fine embroidery of something that is just becoming known,” she added.

LOCATION: FRONT & BACK
“The great challenge was not changing my profession and not go directly to the production or art department where I was working, but to be in the locations and discover them, which is a fantastic and wonderful world. You meet a lot of people, you travel, I love driving: I don’t complain about distances. I think that you need to have a special profile, and it is also a constant search, because when you have to find a location, you have to do it based on the script: where are the characters going to move? How do they move? What social class do they belong to? What happens in that scene? As well as the script, you have to create the locations, because they don’t exist, you have to create them, you have to imagine where the characters or the scenes are going to fit in to have an optimal location. And the location is not only the front, it is also the back, you also have the back. Behind the camera there is a completely different world, trucks, catering services, the crew. If you add to that the government permits you must request, the world of locations is getting bigger and bigger,” she said.

TRAINING
Terry also has a vocation to train and educate new generations in the location trade. At the Cuban film school in San Antonio de los Baños, in Cuba, she offered the first lecture about locations in that institution. Also in the CCC, Centro de Capacitación Cinematográfica de México, and in Chile and Bolivia. “I also like teaching because I like to spend time with the kids, with young people, and for them to learn from the beginning how to relate with and see a location. What is required, because within the audiovisual industry it is like a black hole; is not something that you can study, is not a subject you receive in a classroom, there are no location teachers. Everyone thinks they know how to manage a location and what to do in a location and that is a big mistake many times. What the big platforms ask of you is truthfulness, versatility and that world is given by the locations.”

PLANES
She talked about her knowledge about airplanes, which she always applies when choosing them and in which airports: “The world of airplanes runs in my family, and they have always been my passion. Let me tell you something that few people know: when I was 17-18 years old when I was hitchhiking, I didn’t go by car. I would go to a private airport, find out where a private plane was going, make friends with the pilots, and with the owners of the planes, and then fly by private plane to many parts of Mexico. It was my hobby, and on Sunday I would return home to go back to school on Monday. Sometimes I was left stranded and had to return by other means. I have always liked the aeronautical world a lot and I had the chance to fly a plane thanks to friends that own aircrafts”.

SHIPS
“I love the world of the sea because I have been diving all my life. I like ships, yachts. I know all the marine vocabulary. When there are action scenes at sea, I take great care of safety and tell the production which are the situation of risk or what are the details to take care of, even what the crew is going to eat that day if they have scenes at sea. For me, it becomes like directing a ballet: the location, the sea, the beach, where the actors are going to be, the runner boats, the bay stand, all that fascinates me.”

She also mentioned her interest in the film commissions of the states and municipalities; she told how Puerto Vallarta grew because of the idyll of Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor; the time that there is needed for the permisology …

View interview here