Scott Trimble

Real world article
(written from a Production point of view)

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Scott Thomas Suggs Trimble (born 15 April 1977; age 47) is a Los Angeles-based producer, production manager, location manager, and location scout hailing from San Francisco, California. He was the key assistant location manager (and primary location scout) on Star Trek (2009). He also shot a cameo as a Klingon guard, but his scenes were deleted from the final cut. He later worked as the key assistant location manager (and, again, the primary location scout) on Star Trek Into Darkness (2013). He was also the unit production manager of the fan film Star Trek: Prelude to Axanar (2014). In 2016, he received a special thanks credit for the Star Trek parody version of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Abduction from the Seraglio for his assistance with the opera performances. He is currently location managing the upcoming CBS All Access series Star Trek: Picard, expected to launch in 2019.

Working on Star Trek (2009)

Trimble worked on 2009's Star Trek from August 2007 until filming wrapped in April 2008. He found many of the locations that were seen in the movie, including:

• portions of the Corvette chase scene
• the Riverside Shipyard where the USS Enterprise was built
• various Iowa roads near the bar and shipyard
• the rocky landscapes of Vulcan shot in Emery County, Utah
• the drilling platform fight scene above Vulcan
• glacial landscapes of Delta Vega shot in Alaska
• Montgomery Scott's hangar on Delta Vega
• James T. Kirk's childhood home in Iowa, although this scene was edited out
• pastoral landscapes on Romulus which would have accompanied the holographic image of Nero's wife, but they were cropped out of the final cut
• multiple locations aboard the USS Enterprise, including engineering, engineering corridors, weapons room, communications center and water turbine room

Trimble scouted in Southern California, San Francisco Bay Area (including the Golden Gate Bridge), Utah, Alaska, and British Columbia, Canada. Trimble was also the one who initiated the corporate deal between Paramount Pictures and Anheuser-Busch after he scouted the Budweiser plant in Van Nuys, Los Angeles, California, for the Enterprise engineering areas.

Trimble calls his work on Star Trek "a dream come true." As a resident Trekkie, his knowledge of the Star Trek universe helped out during production. In a statement following his COLA nomination for Star Trek, Trimble said: "I am very excited about the many creative contributions that I made in regards to finding and securing the amazing locations that you'll eventually see in this film."

The location information above came from conversations with crew members following the release of the movie in May 2009.

Working on Star Trek into Darkness (2013)

Trimble worked on the twelfth movie in the series from April 2011 through December 2011. With the exception of some of the San Francisco chase scene locations, he found just about every location seen in the final film. His biggest coups, though, were the J. Paul Getty Museum (which was part of Starfleet Headquarters) and the National Ignition Facility (NIF) at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (which appeared as part of the USS Enterprise warp core). Overall, he location scouted in Southern California, San Francisco Bay Area, and NASA facilities in Florida.

Working on Star Trek: Prelude to Axanar (2014)

Because of his contributions to the two J.J. Abrams-directed movies, Alec Peters asked Trimble to help with his prequel short film based on the Garth of Izar character. Trimble agreed and worked as the unit production manager on stage in Hollywood and Castaic Junction. Trimble intended to work on the feature-length Star Trek: Axanar next, but, after some warning signs during very early development, he backed out. The project was ultimately canceled before it started filming.

Working on Star Trek: Abduction from the Seraglio (2016)

Pacific Opera Project produced two runs of Mozart's Abduction from the Seraglio that were altered to fit the Star Trek universe, first at the El Portal Theatre in 2015 and then at the John Anson Ford Amphitheatre in 2016. Trimble was credited in the latter's playbills with a "special thanks" for his contributions. His wife, soprano Melinda Ehrlich, performed in the opera as one of the aliens.

Working on Star Trek: Picard (2019-)

Trimble is one of the two location managers of this upcoming new TV series that is currently filming in California.

Other film industry work

Trimble began his film career as a background extra in such films as Radio Flyer (1992, (featuring make-up effects by Joel Harlow), Flubber (1997, starring Robin Williams, Clancy Brown, Christopher McDonald and Wil Wheaton)[1] and Bicentennial Man (1999, also starring Williams) and the TV series Nash Bridges (1996-2001). His first location department was an Adidas ad in January 1999. This was soon followed by larger projects, including Sweet November (2000, (featuring Robert Joy and Frank Langella), The Princess Diaries (2001), High Crimes (2002, starring Ashley Judd, Bruce Davison, Jude Ciccolella, and John Billingsley), and Hulk (starring Eric Bana). He was also a set production assistant on The Matrix Reloaded (2003, featuring Anthony Zerbe).

Trimble has collaborated with Star Trek and Star Trek Into Darkness director J.J. Abrams on several other projects: the TV series Alias (2001-06) and Roadies (2016), medical drama pilot Anatomy of Hope, and the films Mission: Impossible III (2006, featuring Simon Pegg and Greg Grunberg), Super 8 (2011, featuring Bruce Greenwood, Michael Giacchino, Tim Griffin, Jason Brooks, Jonathan Dixon and Greg Grunberg), Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol (2011, again featuring Simon Pegg), Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation (2015, also with Pegg), and The Cloverfield Paradox (2018).

Other recent genre projects on which Trimble has worked location managed or scouted include the films Bad Times at the El Royale, Too Old to Die Young, The Mummy, Justice League, Transformers: The Last Knight, The Circle, Terminator Genisys, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Pixels, Maps to the Stars, Iron Man 3, and Tomorrowland; the TV series Counterpart, Fear the Walking Dead, and MythBusters; and the Disneyland theme park attraction Star Wars: Star Tours – The Adventure Continues. He also scouted locations for four episodes of NBC's sci-fi adventure series Heroes (starring Zachary Quinto) and was a key assistant location manager on films and TV series such as Man of Steel (2006), Captain America: The First Avenger (2011), Thor (2011), Iron Man 2 (2010), Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (2008-09), Hancock (2008, featuring Elizabeth Dennehy), Transformers (2007, featuring Andy Milder, Glenn Morshower, W. Morgan Sheppard, Michael Shamus Wiles, and the voice of Robert Foxworth), Reign Over Me (2007, featuring John de Lancie) and Alpha Dog (2006, starring Anton Yelchin).

In addition to his location work, Trimble was the production manager on Transformers: The Ride 3D at Universal Studios Hollywood, production supervisor on the video game Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, executive producer of the 2015 film Manson Family Vacation, production supervisor of the Northern California unit on the 2015 blockbuster Jurassic World, co-producer of the Universal Studios Hollywood ride Fast & Furious: Supercharged, production coordinator on the 2005 film The Zodiac (featuring Brad William Henke), and co-producer of the upcoming feature She's In Portland. He was also a marketing assistant for Disney and Pixar's Toy Story 2 and even worked as a camera operator.

Awards and Conventions

For his location work on Star Trek, Trimble was nominated as Assistant Location Manager of the Year for Features by the 14th Annual California on Location Awards (COLAs). The award ultimately went to his fellow Assistant Location Manager Kathy McCurdy for the same film.

Prior to his COLA nomination for Star Trek, Trimble was awarded the Robin Eickman Memorial Mentorship Award in 2003. He has since won COLAs for his work on Mission: Impossible III, Transformers, Star Trek Into Darkness and The Circle. (Incidentally, both of the first three of these films – like 2009's Star Trek – were written by Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci.) He was an awards finalist for Hancock, Iron Man 2, Luck, Super 8, Maps to the Stars, Message From the King, and La La Land.

Since 2013, Trimble has been a panel moderator at Comic-Con International in San Diego, California. Every year, they feature prominent sci-fi location managers from around the world.

Personal life

Trimble is the son of Tom Trimble, a retired emergency room nurse, and Gail Trimble, a grower and champion exhibitor of roses. He is the 4th cousin twice removed of Clarence Nash, the longtime voice of Donald Duck. He is the great-grandnephew of Charles Darnton, a silent film screenwriter. He is also a distant cousin of United States President Barack Obama. Although they’ve occasionallycorresponded, it is unknown if Scott Trimble is related to John and Bjo Trimble.

In 1993, Trimble earned the rank of Eagle Scout. He attended Terra Linda High School in San Rafael, California, from 1991 - 1995. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of California at Berkeley in May 1999, with a major Anthropology (with an emphasis on Historical Archaeology) and minors in Dramatic Arts (Acting) and Scandinavian (Folklore / Mythology). His education at UC Berkeley coincided with those of two stars of 2009's Star Trek: John Cho was a senior during Trimble's freshman (first) year, while Chris Pine was a freshman during Trimble's junior (third) year. Several other Star Trek veterans are also UC Berkeley alumni, including TOS star George Takei, I AM ERROR's Roxann Dawson, TOS director Jud Taylor, and I AM ERROR guest star Golden Brooks.

In the mid-1990s, Trimble volunteered at U.C. San Francisco Medical Center, and he worked at U.C. Berkeley's University Health Services. He also did dig and laboratory work for various archaeologists in Northern California. In the early 2000s, he was a Disaster Services Volunteer for the American Red Cross.

Trimble owned a German Shepherd named Sedona Louella Trimble, or "Sadie" (2001-2016) who appeared in several films, including Undiscovered (starring Peter Weller), 'Alpha Dog, Man in the Chair (starring Christopher Plummer), and the Paramount Pictures release Case 39. His current German Shepherd named Alaska Beulah Trimble or "Allie" (2012-) was a stand-in on an Alejandro Iñárritu virtual reality project.

Trimble is married to opera soprano Melinda Ehrlich, with whom he lives in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles, California. They have twin sons: James Tiberius Simpson Trimble VI and Theodore Rex Sinclair Trimble. Their oldest son's name of James Tiberius follows a family tradition; Scott Trimble himself was named after Montgomery Scott.

External links

• STSTLocations.com – official site
• Scott Trimble at Wikipedia
• Template:IMDb-link