When scouting the Boston area, Charlie Harrington continually finds himself drawn to a handful of familiar locales. A few of his favorites:  1. The Marblehead and Swampscott areas: Not only are the local governments and residents easy to work with, but “it’s the most New England-y place on the mainland,” Harrington said. “You can get a look like Nantucket or Martha’s Vineyard without getting on a ferry.”  2. Boston Public Schools: Since many films shoot in the summer, and since many of the school system’s buildings are empty that time of year, local schools have become one of Harrington’s favored shooting sites. They work particularly well for re-creating municipal buildings: “We’ll use them as jails or for courtroom hallways,” he said.  3. Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation properties: The DCR has properties of all kinds, meaning that Harrington does business with the agency on nearly every movie he tackles. In the upcoming “Ghostbusters” film, for instance, a DCR mansion was used for filming. Joked Harrington, “I think we’ve donated more money to the state parks system than the Kennedys.”  4. Trustees of Reservations properties: The nonprofit owns “forests all over the state,” Harrington said. During his work on the 1996 movie “The Crucible,” filmmakers re-created 1690s Salem on an island under the trust’s control. When they finished, they simply cleaned up and headed out.  Charlie Harrington has been described as “the godfather” of local location scouting.  5. SouthField: The former South Weymouth Naval Air Station has become a burgeoning sound stage in recent months, and is currently in use by crews from both Boston Marathon films. Sizeable enough to facilitate the re-creation of New York City’s Times Square and Boston’s Boylston Street, it’s an attractive option, Harrington said, for movie studios looking to go big.
When scouting New England, Cape Cod resident and feature-film location manager Charlie Harrington has a few favorite spots.