Los Angeles, since 2019
A tour company run by people who used to find the locations
Scenes Found plans small-group trips to the places where films and TV series were shot, in 12 destinations, most of them in Europe. The office is on West 3rd Street in Los Angeles; our tour leaders live in the countries they lead.
Jewish quarter, Girona
Our story
From scouting locations to showing them
Marisol Vega grew up in Boyle Heights, on the east side of Los Angeles, a few miles from the studios but a long way from the business. After college she took a job as a production assistant on a TV commercial and never left. For eleven years she worked as an assistant location manager on commercials and episodic shows, scouting streets, knocking on doors, negotiating permits and making sure a crew of eighty left a neighborhood cleaner than they found it.
Two things stayed with her from those years. The first was how much people loved the places where their favorite scenes were shot: fans stopped her on the street to ask where something had been filmed almost every week. The second was what happened to some of those places afterward, when fans arrived without a plan, blocked driveways and climbed fences. She thought there was a better way to visit, with someone who knew the stories and knew the rules, and who treated each location the way a good location manager does.
Scenes Found ran its first departure in October 2019: five days in Los Angeles, with ten travelers, a rented van and Marisol at the front with a stack of scene notes. It went well enough that she scheduled two more. Then 2020 arrived, and like everyone in travel we stopped. We used the year to plan, and restarted in 2021 with Los Angeles and New York.
For the next few years we grew across the United States, one region at a time. But our guests kept asking about the places they saw in Game of Thrones, Harry Potter and Roman Holiday, and in 2023 we ran our first tour abroad, in Dubrovnik and Split, with a tour leader born inside the city walls. Britain and Northern Ireland followed, then Spain, Malta, Rome, Iceland and the Alps, then New Zealand and Jordan. Today most of our tours are in Europe, and we keep only the American tours our guests ask for most.
The rules have not changed. Each tour is designed by someone in our office who has walked every location, and led by a tour leader who lives in that country, speaks the language and knows the place outside the film too. Public places only, no private homes, no claims we cannot back up. Our office is still on West 3rd Street in Los Angeles, a few blocks from the Farmers Market, and we still answer the phone ourselves.
Timeline
How the company grew
| Year | What happened |
|---|---|
| 2008 | Marisol Vega starts work as an assistant location manager in Los Angeles, on commercials and then episodic television. |
| 2019 | Scenes Found opens on West 3rd Street. First departure in October: five days in Los Angeles, 10 travelers, one rented van. |
| 2020 | Every departure from March is cancelled. Travelers are refunded or moved to 2021 dates. |
| 2021 | Tours restart with Los Angeles, then New York and our first day tours. Over the next years the program grows to ten US regions. |
| 2023 | Our first tour outside the United States: Game of Thrones in Dubrovnik and Split, led by a tour leader who lives in Croatia. |
| 2024 | Harry Potter in England and Scotland, and Game of Thrones in Northern Ireland, with local leaders in London and Belfast. |
| 2025 | Seville and Andalusia, Malta, Rome, Iceland and the Alps, and our first trips further afield, to New Zealand and Jordan. |
| 2026 | 15 tours in 12 destinations, most of them in Europe, planned in the office a few blocks from the Farmers Market. |
Office team
The people in the Los Angeles office
They design the tours, answer the phone and handle your money. Every one of them has traveled the routes they sell.
Marisol Vega
Founder
Spent eleven years as an assistant location manager on TV commercials and episodic shows in Los Angeles before starting Scenes Found in 2019. Still travels with one departure a year, usually in Europe.
Graham Park
Operations: hotels, transport and tickets
Books every hotel, coach, ferry and driver we use, and buys the tickets for every studio tour and museum on our trips. If a schedule changes on the day, in any time zone, Graham is the one rebooking it.
Ruth Abernathy
Tour designer: the Mediterranean, New Zealand and Jordan
Grew up in Flagstaff and designed our first western routes. Since 2023 she has designed our tours in Croatia, Malta, Andalusia, Rome, New Zealand and Jordan, and walks every location before it goes on a tour.
Desmond Hale
Tour designer: Britain, Ireland, Iceland, the Alps and the USA
A former film studies teacher from Brooklyn who designs our tours in England and Scotland, Northern Ireland, Iceland, Switzerland and Austria, as well as Los Angeles and New York. He checks every location on foot.
Jamal Brooks
Lead travel advisor
Usually the first voice you hear when you call. Jamal matches travelers to the right tour and the right month, helps with passports and entry rules, and will tell you honestly when a trip is not a good fit.
Nora Feld
Bookings and payments
Handles deposits, balances, date changes and invoices. Questions about a payment usually get an answer from Nora within the hour.
Hector Salas
Traveler care and the 24/7 line
Runs our 24/7 line for travelers on the road, in every time zone we travel in. When a flight is cancelled or someone needs a doctor in the middle of the night, Hector or a colleague he trained picks up.
Tour leaders
Named tour leaders who live where they lead
Every group travels with one of them from the first day to the last. They are local: they live in the country, speak the language and know the places outside the film too. Licensed site guides join where a site requires one, and Bedouin drivers take us into Wadi Rum.
Ivana Kovač
Tour leader, Dubrovnik
Born in Dubrovnik and still lives just outside the walls in Pile. She studied history in Zagreb, came home to guide in the Old Town, and has walked the city walls more times than she can count. Leads our Croatia tour from Dubrovnik to Split.
Niamh Magennis
Tour leader, Northern Ireland
Grew up in Downpatrick and lives in Holywood, County Down. She led walking groups in the Mourne Mountains for years before she started our Northern Ireland tours, and she knows the Causeway Coast in every kind of weather.
Sigrun Helgadottir
Tour leader, Iceland
Born in Selfoss and lives in Reykjavik. She drove and guided small groups around the Ring Road for a decade, checks the road and wind forecasts before breakfast, and leads our Iceland tour from Snaefellsnes to Skaftafell.
Clayton Farrugia
Tour leader, Malta
Grew up in Żebbuġ and lives in Sliema. A licensed Maltese tourist guide who spent his first working years as a history teacher, he knows the forts around the Grand Harbour well and has a soft spot for Gozo. Leads our Malta tour.
Oliver Pryce
Tour leader, London
Grew up in Yorkshire and has lived in London for fifteen years, most of them as a walking guide in the City and Southwark. He reads the Harry Potter books to his two children at bedtime and knows which Oxford doors open at what hour.
Katharina Moser
Tour leader, Salzburg
Born in the Salzkammergut and living in Salzburg since her music studies, she has guided visitors around the city for twelve years. She drives the Alpine passes in her own car on weekends and checks every cableway timetable before a group arrives.
Chiara Rinaldi
Tour leader, Rome
Born in Rome and still lives in the Monti neighborhood, a short walk from the Colosseum. A licensed city guide for fifteen years, she has a soft spot for 1950s Italian cinema and knows where the Roman Holiday frames line up with today's streets.
Lena Kowalski
Tour leader, Los Angeles
Has lived in Los Angeles for twenty years and worked in film publicity before leading tours. Knows every studio gate in town and the best time to beat the parking at Griffith Observatory.
Marcus Bell
Tour leader, New York
A born New Yorker who lives in Queens and knows the city block by block. Leads our New York tour and matches film frames to street corners better than anyone we know.
Kiri Walsh
Tour leader, New Zealand
Grew up near Lake Taupo and has lived in Wellington for fifteen years. She spent several winters on the ski patrol on Mount Ruapehu before she started leading small groups, and she still checks the mountain forecast every morning out of habit.
Omar Nawafleh
Tour leader, Jordan
Born in Wadi Musa, the town at the gate of Petra, where he still lives with his family. He has been a licensed Jordanian guide for twelve years and has walked the steps up to the Monastery in every month of the year.
How we work
Rules we do not bend
Public places only
We visit streets, squares, parks, castles, museums, restaurants and businesses that welcome visitors. We never stop at private homes, even famous ones, because the people who live there have asked fans to stay away. We tell the story and let them be.
Small groups, on purpose
A maximum of 14 travelers on our multi-day tours and 12 on day tours. That fits a cafe, a castle courtyard or a narrow old-town lane without taking it over, and lets your tour leader know everyone by name on the first evening.
Local leaders
Every tour leader lives in the country they lead in. They speak the language, know the people who run the places we visit, and can tell you about the country as well as the film.
Honest about what we are
We are an independent tour company with no tie or special access to any studio, network or production. When a studio tour is on the program, we buy tickets for the public tour, the same as anyone else, and we say so. Every filming fact on our tours is checked before it goes on the program; if we are not sure, we leave it out.
Our office
Scenes Found LLC5850 W. 3rd Street, Suite 214
Los Angeles, CA 90036, USA
In the Fairfax district, a short walk from the Original Farmers Market. Come in for a coffee and a chat about the films you want to follow; please call first.
Come and see the locations with us
Tell us when you can travel. A travel advisor replies within one business day.