On Locations: Lessons Learned from My Life On Set with The Sopranos and in the Film Industry

by Mark Kamine, Mike White (Foreword)

Celebrating 25 years of The Sopranos : The executive producer of The White Lotus shares how he got his start in film and television production on “the greatest TV show of all time” ( Rolling Stone )

An inside look at the film industry for fans, students, and aspiring professionals — featuring a foreword by Golden Globe and Emmy Award winning creator of The White Lotus, Mike White

This page-turning account of starting at the lowest rung on the production ladder among enormously famous & outrageously demanding people will be devoured for its insights, gossip, humor, & storytelling. Married and with a child, the author takes unpaid gigs to get a foot in the door, and eventually ends up working on all seasons of The Sopranos , often named the best TV show ever.

The show's setting and its creator's insistence on accuracy placed the native New Jersey author in the right place at the right time to become part of television history, and to witness the effects of sudden fame and acclaim on the show's principal players.

Includes many stories about guest stars like Steve Buscemi, Peter Bogdanovich, and Lauren Bacall, as well as the beloved cast, including new tales of James Gandolfini, who Kamine first meets after David Chase casts him as the Dean of Admissions in the classic first season "College" episode. Later, after he’s been promoted, Kamine gets the calls from Gandolfini when he's hungover, or still drunk, and might or might not make it to the shoot that day. One night, Kamine tries to prevent Gandolfini from taking a swim in the ocean after they've been drinking all night, telling him it could be dangerous but Jim doesn't listen.

Woven in is a personal story of home life and strife, achievement and frustration, anxiety and accomplishment. The book's epilogue brings readers up to the moment as the author, after many more years as an anonymous everyman, eventually enjoys outsize professional success as executive producer of the HBO hit series created by Mike White, The White Lotus .

Genres: Nonfiction, Memoir, Autobiography, Audiobook, Tv, Biography Memoir, Film

208 pages, Hardcover

Published February 6, 2024

About the author

Mark Kamine has written for the the Times Literary Supplement, The Wall Street Journal, The Believer and The New York Times Books Review. He works in the film business, where he has been an executive or co-producer on 21 Bridges, American Hustle, Silver Linings Playbook and other movies.

Reviews

[Mediaman · Rating 2 out of 5]

Serviceable and dry telling of how a movie location supervisor does his job but lacking in depth or even well-rounded stories. The author claims to have been an English teacher before going into show business but this reads more like a movie or TV "treatment" than a full screenplay (to use industry terminology). A treatment is a summary that communicates the essentials but fails to include the entire plot. While his content is abbreviated, his writing style is not--many paragraphs are a page-and-a-half long. Fifteen sentences or more in many paragraphs? This English teacher may want to go back to school, he would have never allowed his students to get away with this.

In this case Kamine is focused on a couple of his major productions, including The Sopranos, but skips past many other shows or films he was involved with. There are certainly some fascinating facts about how he went about bribing local officials to use public spaces, paying private owners for use of property, and even himself admitting to stealing from the cash box to support his low pay. I'm not sure why anyone would hire this guy after seeing the secrets he reveals or his admission to privately spending money from production budgets, but Kamine makes it sound like everyone does it. No wonder movies and television shows are so expensive to make!

This should have been a lot better. At less than 200 thin pages with a lot of white space, some chapters seem like padding (especially when writing about his family). Many are filled with diversions and digressions, going off on tangents in the middle of a story. There's a dramatic lack of outside research, which he excuses away by saying that "the purpose of this account is personal...memories that...lodged in my mind." Well then they were not sufficient enough to give a full view of how movies or TV shows are made. He should have put the work in to add outside examples and expand his own stories with input from coworkers.

There are also a lot of horrible people exposed, starting with the Sopranos creator and including a number of performers, the worst being the star of the series. For some reason the author feels the need to overpraise the show's star despite the man being a disgusting addict who wastes millions of dollars by delaying production. If you admire James Gandolfini's work on the drama then what's revealed in this book should make you think twice--the guy didn't know lines, wasn't there many times when others are shown in a scene with him and had reckless disregard for professionalism. And for that he got a major raise? That's how the business works, and this writer seems to be okay with it, even praising the actor and those who wasted their lives on drugs and alcohol.

It's odd that Kamine names some shows and staff members but refuses to name others. One production with two corrupt producers he gives enough facts to quickly figure out it's "New York Undercover" on Fox. You can do a quick Google search and find out what crook or criminal he worked with. Why didn't he just name them, since he has no problems revealing names of Mafia ties and crooked politicians that he handed cash to?!

One concern is that many of the criminals in these New Jersey and New York City tales (or those with criminal behavior) are Democrats (or liberal Republicans) and union members--yet instead of pointing that out the author takes a shot at Republicans when a corrections officer who was a 9/11 hero goes to jail for tax fraud. Kamine notes the man "emerging after serving his term into the far-right afterlife favored by many formerly powerful ex-cons." Far right? Buddy, you just named dozens of far-left thugs (politicians, union leaders, and TV heads) who abused women and stole from bosses, many whose "afterlife" was working for Democrat politicians or liberal creative ventures. Where is the balance and truth about the industry?

He uses another section to verify that taxpayers lose money when local or state governments give tax breaks to film productions, then adds, "not that this negates all the good it does." What good is that, Mark Kamine? Your production company stealing taxpayer money to pay for bloated budgets that fund under-the-table drug deals and bribes is good? It's just more Democrat ideology where without conscience the rich take from the middle class to pay for bad habits.

Add to that a simplistic lecture about how 9/11 happened because of "the worldwide but dominantly Western and overarchingly American pursuit of an enduringly cheap and ready supply of oil." Huh? While ignoring the disaster's true genesis, deeply embedded in the hate-filled followers of radical Islamic leaders, the author tries to act concerned about the environment and "rising temperatures and seas." He stuffs all this into an ill-advised paragraph where he feels somewhat sorry for contributing to the earth's problems due to his participation in the filmmaking industry.

What he fails to say is that the movie and TV businesses are the largest abusers of the environment, with regular unnecessary wastefulness for productions that have zero importance in modern society. These Hollywood people aren't producing any consumers goods that are necessities but instead are abusing material goods and energy to create a fantasy world.

Why are show business types always the loudest in complaining about environmental abuse when in truth they are the ones harming it the most? This book's production details prove the wasted fuel, transportation, and travel costs that truly harm America for the simple purpose of pleasing obnoxious directors and overpaid stars. Limos, private jets, food flown in for stars that hold up productions for hours, wasted energy used for no reason other than to please egotistical jerks. These are the liberal elitists that lecture the rest of us about how our everyday energy usage is harming the planet. They're a bunch of frauds and hypocrites, yet Mark Kamine takes all of this as being acceptable while he claims to be concerned about the environment.

If you're scouting for great depth about how television or movies or the Sopranos is produced, you won't find enough here and will have to go on different locations.

[Marshall Yacoe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this memoir! It gives an incredible behind-the-scenes glimpse into the world of production, highlighted by Kamine’s prowess as a creative dealmaker. Mike White’s foreword nails it, observing that “when he says ‘no,’ I sense it pains him more than it does me.” This captures the essence of the grit evidenced throughout the book, which allowed him to climb the production ladder while delicately balancing family life. Along with riveting encounters with James Gandolfini, this book is loaded with engaging anecdotes from his professional and personal life. It makes for a genuine joy to read, appealing not just to fans of The Sopranos but to a broader audience as well.

[Ellie Schaben · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thank you to Libro FM, Mark Kamine, Tantor Media, and Penguin Random House for the ALC of this book!

I have never seen The Sopranos, but I enjoy memoirs from lesser known areas usually. This one was forgettable. It had some interesting parts of his job, but none of it really stuck in my brain. If you enjoy behind the scenes looks at TV and The Sopranos, you may enjoy, but if you aren’t a TV buff, this may not be for you.

[Miranda · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not all that interesting, oh well.

More content about his other career instead of locations/film industry than I expected (expected none!)

[Robin Schoenthaler · Rating 4 out of 5]

For anybody interested in what it's like to work on crew in movies and tv, this will give a lot of insight.

For anybody who likes good books about making good movies, this will be a good read. Frequently very well written.

But for anybody interested in specifics about individual directors and cast members, a lot is said obliquely and you kind of need to have IMDB open in front of you to look up which directors were involved in what episodes to follow who he's talking about. I got the feeling he did end up signing a lot of NDAs even though he says he didn't

He's either nice or neutral about most people he works with -- except when it comes to "Jim" about whom he definitely and noticeably spills the tea. The unevenness of this -- only dissing the one dead guy -- ended up bothering me a lot. If you're going to talk about him drinking and drugging, perhaps you could describe the others who were doing it as well.

I liked the book a lot. I definitely did not like this part.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I love The Sopranos, and have seen it at least 3 times, and have the DVD set. Also, I lived in the Los Angeles area for most of my life, and have been around 'the industry' for decades. I learned a lot about the business from this book! It would be interesting to be a location scout, but like most jobs, there is plenty of stress. The author works on more shows and movies, so it's not all about The Sopranos.

If seeing how things are behind the scenes interests you, you will enjoy this book. Some tea is spilled, but you need to read between the lines. A well-written book!

[Lee · Rating 1 out of 5]

I've been reading a lot of books recently and right now I'm into ones I'm not liking at all. Most after enough time I just delete or return to library....for some reason I finished this one don't ask me why. Mr. Kamine's style of writing is very insider. I thought I would find out something interesting about the Sopranos but it discussed various people who held jobs on the show without names, altho I'm sure people in the business would know who he is talking about. It showed me how ugly the underbelly of filming can be, the money stuff that goes on boy am I surprised, but very little about Sopranos except maybe Mr. Gandolfini was a very unhappy man with a drinking problem. Not sure what I was expecting but this wasn't it and I'm a little sorry I wasted my time as there are so many books I want to read and enjoy. I read at least 3 other books while playing in this one....can't recommend it.

[AnnieM · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting behind-the-scenes read on doing all types of jobs on movie and television sets - from location scouting, to driving producers around (Robert Redford), making sure the sets are ready, and keeping petty cash to keep complainers happy. This book is a must read for anyone interesting in getting into film and television production - the long hours, the stress, the politics, the dynamics - not for the faint-hearted for sure. Through it all, he is able to have a family (also not easy with this kind of life). The author worked on many seasons of the Sopranos so we get some insights into that experience which was interesting but also other shows and films he worked on which shows that some of the same frustrations and challenges and highlights exist on any set.

Thank you to Netgalley and Steerforth Press for an ARC and I voluntarily left this review.

[Tom Heyman · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent memoir. Ostensibly about Kamine's time as the Location Manager on the Soprano's, it is really much broader and deeper, with fascinating insights about the the brutal vagaries and chaos of working on a film/tv set. The story traces Kamine's move from teaching college, to abruptly changing careers and starting at the lowest rung of the ladder as a PA right out of film school as someone a bit older than his peers, and then rising to his position at The Sopranos, and working there for the entire run. It is fast moving, drily funny, gimlet eyed and full of surprising insights. Kamine has serious writing chops (he has maintained his sideline writing book reviews for The Times Literary Supplement, NY Review of Books, WSJ and many others throughout his career). Totally recommended for film buffs and people who dig memoirs.

[Christine Cazeneuve · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've read a couple "behind the scenes" books and was excited about reading this one as The Sopranos was one of my most favorite TV shows (as I'm sure it is for many people). However, I was disappointed as I expected so much more than what the book contained. I understand with what the authors job was wouldn't necessarily have put him in direct line with the actors, but I was interested learning how they go about scouting, negotiating and securing sites for shoots. Sure there were some stories about dealing with the people who owned the various homes, businesses, etc., that were used but I wanted more. This just wasn't what I expected and not the book for me. Thank you to the author, NetGalley, and the publisher for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest opinion.

[Maggie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not sure that marketing this as a “behind the scenes” Sopranos book is a faithful representation. It was a bit of a let down, only because I’ve been expecting a different book based upon the galley. This was surely done to make the book more marketable, but I believe the author deserves better.

Mark Kamine does go into some behind-the-scenes Sopranos info (which isn’t flattering to James Gandolfini), but this is mostly a book about his career in general. I did find it interesting, just not true to its description.

Thanks to NetGalley and Steerforth Press for allowing access to a digital ARC.

[Shea · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is an amazing hybrid: it’s a primer on the intricacies of film production. It’s a detailed and fascinating history of THE SOPRANOS, as seen by a below-the-line worker who over the course of the series works his way up to become an integral member of the creative team. Finally, it’s a stellar personal memoir illustrating one of the many, many paths into film & television production.

Once I started, I did not put this book down until I reached the last page. Brilliantly written and accessible enough to be enjoyed by all, this is essential reading for anyone who works in film production, or hopes to one day.

[Tom Coffey · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'd like to give this somewhere between two and a half to two and three-quarters stars, but there we are ..... This offers some great behind-the-scenes looks at what it takes to get a production together, as well as the requisite stories about bad behavior in show biz. (Kamine also discussed his admittedly limited role in the best television series of all time, and there can be no disagreement with that assessment, ever.) But I had this nagging feeling as I kept reading: What is the point of all this? I don't feel as though I gained any great insights into the writer or his family, which is the whole point of a memoir, right?

[Mark Lieberman · Rating 5 out of 5]

I got this book from Netgalley so I can read and review it before its official release.

I was intrigued as this book is about a location scout who worked on the television show, The Sopranos. He also worked on other shows, movies, and was even a book reviewer.

I liked all of the tidbits on the locations of some of the primary places on The Sopranos. I didn’t realize how much work goes on behind the scenes.

Thrown in was also about his life growing up and what he did between seasons.

Overall, I really enjoyed it.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid combination of memoir and a behind the scenes glimpse at movie-making/extended series production. The bulk of the book is about Mark Kamine's years of working on The Sopranos (he now works on The White Lotus series). I now know what a film AD and first Director do, and about the work of a location manager... who does the advance and onsite work of nailing down filming locations. The author sometimes gets bogged down in details. but overall, the book's narrative is kept moving (3.9-4.3/5.0 stars).

[Ungerwu · Rating 5 out of 5]

Crack combo of BTS and personal memoir

Kamine's writing is earnest and soulful. His book is rife with insights into his time on "The Sopranos," and what he's learned working on some troubled features, most of which go unnamed but can be sussed out on IMDb. He also focuses on what seems to be his frustration at not achieving more as a writer. A great book for anyone with a passion for filmmaking or literature.

[Colleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have been enjoying memoirs lately. I know I’m not the norm, but I watch very little television (as I’m so addicted to books). Although I’ve never seen an episode of Sopranos, I think that the behind the scenes look at the Sopranos was pretty interesting. Mark Kamine's role in TV production was finding/selection filming locations and ensuring that locations were ready for filming (which included local approvals, police, neighbors, strip club owners). The author drops names and stories; interesting. Even to someone who knows literally nothing about the Sopranos. So if I really liked On Location, someone that liked the show ... will probably love it. And there's pictures.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher Steerforth Press for approving my request to review the advance review copy of On Location in exchange for an honest review.

[Michael · Rating 2 out of 5]

The title of the book is a little misleading. The Sopranos stories shared were scarce. The author would have given me my money's worth had he spent one chapter on his time on the show and spent more time talking about his movie career moving from flunky to Producer. His stories about his early experiences on set were far more interesting than anything else in the book.

[Gail O'Connor · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very interesting stories of the author's life and jobs in the entertainment field. He never loses the readers attention as he unfolds the drama of everyday shooting. along with the problems of cast and locations.
Makes you appreciate watching shows and realizing everything that goes into it

[Todd Shaw · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s interesting enough to hold you but I guess I was hoping for more insights into the show. One does learn about location managers and a few of the other behind the scenes jobs that are undervalued.

[Rick Zinn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short book from the location scout for several movies filmed on the East coast. Most of the book is about the making of The Sopranos. If you are a fan of the tv show, this is an essential book to read.

[Naveen Shankar · Rating 3 out of 5]

Solid read with good anecdotes that painted an accurate depiction of the brutal nature of the industry and advice re: how to navigate the film world. I liked the alternating format of topics. Very easy to lose track of characters and a bit overly self-indulgent.

[Jake Chavez · Rating 2 out of 5]

Boring. Not insightful. Author has personality of a raisin.

[Jaap · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was hoping for more on the Sopranos and less on his own career.

[Joe J · Rating 4 out of 5]

I listened to it although that was not an option. Mark having worked on the Sopranos brought in, but I enjoy all his stories about working on different shows and sets throughout his career.

[Jayne Subwick · Rating 3 out of 5]

A so-so memoir that promised more than it delivered.

[Gabby Martin · Rating 2 out of 5]

no comment. loved pie oh my tho.

[Sean Van · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was an interesting insight into the film businesses. The book went on many tangents- some being entertaining and others not necessary.

[Jason · Rating 2 out of 5]

If you are looking for information on location managers, this is the book for you.

If you are looking for information on "The Sopranos", this is not the book for you.

[Rick · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Sopranos drama in the book was oversold. this is more about his life and career over multiple projects. still a god read.