Hollywood Picnics Ep. 3- NIGHTBITCH Locations
Speaking with Matthew S. Stevens, Location Manager of Searchlight's Newest and Most Ferocious Pic
Nightbitch is the story of “A woman pauses her career to be a stay-at-home mom, but soon her domesticity takes a surreal turn.”
Locations Team:
Matthew S. Stevens...location manager
Lexington Graham...assistant location manager
Tony Nawrocki...location scout
Will Ruvalcaba...key assistant location manager
INTRODUCTION
It is so appropriate that the location manager of this film has a connection to dogs. Thirty and living in New York City, Matthew S. Stevens decided he wanted to pursue a career in filmmaking. His dog-walking business just wasn’t cutting it, and he was always aware of the film world. His clientele after all had been filled with film professionals, one in particular, a location manager. One day he was walking dogs the next he was working on Ben Stiller’s Night at The Museum 3 which filmed in New York. After a few more movies, Matthew expanded his horizon to California where he and his wife, Zoe set their sights on Hollywood. Zoe, a director got into grad school at UCLA and hence were officially moving.
LOS ANGELES
Although a seasoned professional in the world of feature films, Matt had to start from the ground up in California. Initially working on shoots for Beyonce’s “Ivypark” that led to more jobs with artists including Alicia Keys for her short film “Let Me In”, a story of an American family crossing into the Mexican border for refuge.
That job led him to Janicza Bravo for her feature Lemon which he classifies as a truly LA film “this film is some of my proudest moments as an LM because of how many unique LA locations are featured”. He credits the collaborative experience that Janicza brought to the film that showed him the spectrum on how truly thoughtful directors performed alongside location managers. From Lemon, he made the move to network shows such as Lethal Weapon (2017-2018) , The Trials of Gabriel Fernandez (2020), The Rookie (2018-2020) all which prioritize on location shooting.
NIGHTBITCH TEAM
A few years ago Matthew was approached by two people who wanted to make a movie in LA. They decided to meet at a coffee shop in Highland Park and discuss the location needs. He heard the pitch for the movie and loved it. However due to timing, it didn’t workout. That movie was Everything, Everywhere, All at Once. The Daniels, were that duo. So the next time the opportunity to work with the producing team behind EEAO he jumped on the chance. That movie being Nightbitch.
Matt has made some really incredible choices with this film and I couldn't help but praise these unusual locations. These locations paint a beautiful picture supporting Mother’s story. From Glendale to Long Beach let’s go find Nightbitch.
The Locations
Home (Glendale)
There were over 75 homes scouted for Mother and Father’s home. Filming kicked off in September 2022 with over nine weeks of prep for twelve locations in the film. Matt tells me there wasn’t a time crunch but a desire to find a specific look; a nondescript American city. The vision was to stay away from “anything LA specific”. And while LA offers vast options in architectural styles from Craftsman to Art Deco, it can feel very Californian to look at in some cases. What they ended up with is a home located in the highly desired El Miradero neighborhood in Glendale- the home, a quaint yellow cottage picked right out of a fairytale book. It’s the kind of house sleeping beauty would have if she lived in LA. Appropriate considering our very own star, Amy Adams played a princess in Disney’s Enchanted.
An unusual thing that Matt did is he stayed away from using a location service for the house. Typically many location managers will prefer their scouts to use a location service to find a desirable location. It saves time and scouting energy, and the home owners already have an understanding of the filming process. However, there are many complications that can arise with a middle man and it can be time consuming to constantly go through catalogs and wait to hear back from owners. Location services are invaluable but sometimes doing it yourself works out for the better. Matt and his team stumbled upon this home that was listed for sale. It once belonged to a family whose kids now inherited the property. Matt was able to convince the owners to take the home off the market just for shooting and just like that, they had a completely vacant home in a quiet neighborhood.
For anyone who is familiar with Glendale it is kind of unusual to have filming in a city not operated under FilmLA. Many unincorporated cities have an unfriendly process of filming and it can be more costly. Matt tells me Glendale had recently been absorbed into FilmLA and this film was one of their first runs in coordinating a large scale production.
Production worked for three weeks straight and “lived” in the home. Limiting production’s footprint and being respectful were all small steps that his team took to ensure a happy community.
When a location manager is able to work a show that consistently shoots on location there is a specific skillset that is gained. Matthew worked on the first three seasons of The Rookie familiarizing himself with different jurisdictions, people, traffic laws and restrictions everyday. Shutting down blocks, and filming in various homes, businesses and quirky locations was the exposure therapy necessary to make Nightbitch the location success it was.
El Dorado Neighborhood Library (Long Beach)
2900 N Studebaker Rd, Long Beach, CA 90815
No libraries in the thick of LA were necessarily open to closing down for three whole days to shoot the film which made production get a little scrappy. They spread out to Long Beach and found that their perfect park and library exist next to each other. The library, El Dorado Neighborhood Library located on Studebaker Rd. allowed production to shoot there for midweek. Shooting took three days with Matthew and his team coordinating with the library to allow them limited operation and still serve the public.
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El Dorado Park (Long Beach)
7550 East Spring Street, Long Beach, CA 90815
The El Dorado park has lived several different lives including being owned by the Bixby’s, a former naval hospital and home to several games of the 1984 Summer Olympics. Its sprawling grounds contain a playground, a nature center, several lakes, dog parks, a library, archery range and railroad Western town. That little western town within the park turned out to be a bonus characteristic of the park which played into the film later on. This park is probably one of the only places near LA that you can experience all those amenities, a true hidden gem.
Edendale (Silverlake)
2838 Rowena Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90039
When Mother finally gets one night to herself she meets up with her friends from the art world at a restaurant. This location popped immediately to me. What makes Edendale so unique is that it has four different unique sections within its location that offer different looks. Matt pointed out that the bar, the back patio and the front are all decorated differently and have their own unique looks- which can come in handy when you want a location to offer you more than one style.
Fresco Market (Highland Park)
5914 Monterey Rd, Los Angeles, CA 90042
Our opening shot finds us in a supermarket in Highland Park a sort of Whole Foods meets Super King. A beautiful space that introduces us to monotonies of motherhood and the subtle terror that arrives with it. Marie Heller herself makes an appearance, pictured below.
Olive and Eighth, Seventh and Sixth (Downtown)
If you ever see anything shot in Downtown just know that everyone in locations worked very hard that day. The section of DTLA where production filmed was once filled with bustling with businesses but during COVID, shut down. The good news is the only real accommodation was made for the hotel around the corner working with valet to ensure guests could arrive. It is seldom that DTLA is not troublesome, one of the busiest portions in LA there are a variety of factors that affect filming. Matt tells me these scenes were filmed on the last day, shutting down three cross streets. They shot overnight giving DTLA an extra hint of glamour with the city lights and high rises glistening on the rain soaked streets.
The Pasadena Railroad Museum (El Sereno)
5458 Alhambra Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90032
This is the location that took my breath away when I first saw it. Everything in this location lent itself to a tenderness that is absent until this point in the film. The atmosphere in the museum completely transforms the energy in that moment. Matthew said that this location actually came reccomended from Marie Heller. She visited the location with her son and wanted to incorporate this location in the film. As it turns out, it was an amazing choice and Matt notes that the people who run the museum are “the sweetest”. I have never wanted to visit a location more to see these model railroads!
Golden Oak Ranch (Newhall)
19802 Placerita Canyon Rd, Newhall, CA 91321
The emotional gravity in this film is so well balanced and it is only in retrospect that you understand the powerful imagery you experienced. I won’t spoil it but there are key scenes relating to Mother at these fields and forest. She reconnects with nature and her childhood at the famous ranch owned by Disney in Newhall. Golden Oak is one the last remaining ranches that has a slew of standing structures which is where we find Mother’s childhood home.
Superchief Gallery (South of Downtown)
1965 S Los Angeles St, Los Angeles, CA 90011
Natural History Museum (Downtown)
900 Exposition Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90007
WRAP
When speaking with Matt about closing notes he emphasized that Marie was “a great collaborative director”, and this experience has been exceptional. Many, many times locations can be the most easily discarded department as it seems like a stand alone decision- having great consistent communication with a director and producers is a rarity in Hollywood. What he remembers is her insistence on finding authentic and interesting locations, and him sharing that same passion. Matt’s roots in being a cinephile connect the dots to his professional and personal life. While his bread and butter has been a mix of shows and commercials, I look forward to seeing more of his feature film work. Thank you to Matt for speaking with me, and go see Nightbitch in theaters now.