Location, Location

I know I’m not as “important” as Sean Penn but if it wasn’t for me, Joseph Hanania wouldn’t have had such a “sweet deal” (“Hey, Sean, Did You Enjoy Being Roomies or Was It All Just an Act?,” April 14). The name is Fega, not Sega.

And about that sweet deal, let me say a few things to dispel other apartment-dwellers or homeowners from thinking you can get paid exorbitant fees for allowing a film crew in your dwelling.

As the location manager on the film “I Am Sam,” it was my responsibility to find an apartment building that would satisfy our director’s artistic vision, allow our director of photography to shoot it in a way that highlighted its unique qualities, and to assist our production designer in complementing his overall look of the film. This was no easy task. My staff and I shot over 200 apartment buildings.

Ultimately, however, Hanania’s apartment was “discovered” by our production designer and our director of photography while they were driving around together. Having been a location manager for the last 10 years, I never would have picked anything in Santa Monica. It’s a nice place to visit but I wouldn’t want to film there. Too many restrictions.

Now, about that fee. Hanania was in the right place at the right time. Because we had had such a difficult time finding the right location and because we were under considerable time constraints, he was in a very good negotiating position. Had the situation been different, I would have walked away from the deal.

As far as the “sweet deals” the other apartment managers-owners were making with me for use of the public street for parking our trucks, I believe I paid a total of $100 to one manager. Sweet, huh?!

RUSS FEGA

Altadena

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What an annoying, dull piece of information! Who cares? And why wouldn’t Sean Penn be irked by the intrusive, self-serving presence of this knucklehead? Jeez!

A. FRANZEN

Culver City