"I just looked at the rooms and eliminated the books and thought of other spaces those books could be in," said Hillman. "The first thing I thought of was the old ticketing area at Union Station." The crew filled the area with books and presto, they had a library.
Later, for the same film, Hillman needed water-filled tunnels for a scene depicting the sewers underneath the streets of Los Angeles.
During a trip to the Donald C. Tillman Water Reclamation Center in Van Nuys for its Japanese Garden, he noticed tunnels that were perfect for the sewer scene.
Indeed, a star can be born in the most ordinary locations.
Want the feel of New England with Cape Cod-style houses and deciduous trees without jumping on a plane? Plenty of houses in neighborhoods south of Ventura Boulevard in Studio City fit the bill.
A cheap alternative to transplanting cast and crew to the Serengeti? Put a few huts and lions among the tall grasses and trees in the sandy flood-control basin at Hansen Dam in Lake View Terrace.
In fact, before filming begins on his latest project, Hillman will have scouted hundreds of potential sites across the Valley and Los Angeles, working 12 to 14 hours a day, shooting 12 to 14 rolls of film.
The images are collected and assembled in a book of photos that, depending on the number of locations, can be up to 15-20 pages thick.
And that's just for starters.
Hillman helps coordinate the "field trips" to set locations with the director, the set designer and others, including grips and electricians.
When filming finally begins, he goes from being a location scout to a location manager--getting permits from local police, fire, traffic and parking officials; crafting a budget for each film site; and making sure the necessities are there for the crew, including phone lines, catering, parking and restrooms.
Delicate Negotiations
For one film's opening sequence, in which the film crew set a small blaze in San Bernardino National Forest near Big Bear, Hillman had to appear at a special hearing before the South Coast Air Quality Management District.
"I've been in a maximum-security prison, a nuclear power plant, the bowels of a ship, the back of a strip club and in gorgeous mansions and churches all over the country," says Hillman.
Since 1990, he has worked on more than 30 projects, including feature films, movies of the week, television series and pilots. Most of his work is done in the Los Angeles area, but he has gone as far afield as Georgia, Minnesota, Iowa, Tennessee and Texas.
