Security Expert Keeps Intruders Out and Secrets In for 'Leverage'

The Intern Report: How Oregon Businesses Profit From Local Productions

A short and sweet interview with Larry, owner and founder of KnightHawk Security and man of zen-like silence and mystery… Next week the fourth and final installment of this project will go live, thanks for reading!

Michal Orczyk

Oregon Governor’s Office of Film and Television

KnightHawk Security

Larry Knight, owner and founder of KnightHawk Security company, probably wouldn’t be much fun on a date. Maybe producers charge him a nickel for every word he divulges to the outside world, but my interview with Larry, an impressive businessman who has built his company from the ground up since 2001, took about ten minutes. However my talk was still fruitful, and a good look at another company that has employed Oregonians as a result of mediaproduction in Oregon.

Larry started KnightHawk Security in 2001, and now has 2 locations in the Portland metro area. His company provides clients with services including on-site surveillance, patrolling, alarm response, executive protection and security consulting.

A local location scout put Larry in touch with a producer several years ago during the production of The Hunted, a film shot mostly in Portland and Silver Falls State Park. Since then Larry has worked on several productions, including season 3 of the TNT series Leverage. Larry provides producers with everything from on-set security and surveillance to body guarding. On any given day in the past few weeks, Larry has sent out 9-15 of his employees per day to production-related locations. He employs around 75 people, so that is 12 to 20 percent of his workforce.

I can see why Larry is such a good security consultant. He gives me his poker face when I ask him if he has any stories from bodyguards and their celebrity clients, or about rabid fans trying to sneak on set. Larry himself seems uninterested in the lives of celebrities though, an admirable quality in anyone, but especially someone in his line of work. I hoped to end this article with some humorous anecdote, but unfortunately Larry hasn’t gotten clearance from the producers for me to be wry or amusing.