TRONA, CALIFORNIA - 2026

There is a nod to Ridley Scott’s Thelma and Louise in this photograph. The iconic girl power movie from 1991 has been a material prompt for me - especially in terms of using the grandeur of the American West as a layer of narrative in car stories. The addition of police cars to this set makes the nod even more emphatic.

Location scouting is an integral part of visual storytelling and more often than not, a possible location we have discovered during desk work, does not pass the test when we do a site visit. That’s good, as there needs to a be high bar in what we perceive to be a strong contextual background. We are greedy operators when it comes to filling the screen.

The Trona Pinnacles are remote and that always helps to provide some privacy in what we do, especially if we film in the early morning in the off season. I can’t really remember scheduling a shoot in the American West in the summer months; it just gets more complicated.

Road trips are good for team bonding; it gives us time to think and reflect on what we can do better in the creative process. Being out and about in the great American West should always be more productive than sitting behind a desk. I do think I mentally land on some of my better conceptual ideas when looking out from a car window.