By the production company for the Movie Gone in 60 Seconds or Fast and the Furious? (I dont remeber which movie). I do remeber seeing or reading about a big name shop that had the cars they built for the movie, taken from them without the bills being paid for. Thanks for the help
Im not sure about that, but I do remember reading in OSR that eddie Paul was ripped off for all the mercs that he built for the movie Cobra with sly stallone. Is this what your talkin about?
The movie companies are really bad about this. We provide products for movies... No matter what company, The way they screw you is that they delay paying until after the movie is done, then they disolve the production company. So none of the previously working phone or fax numbers are valid and they break up and move on to the next movie and to create a new company. They all talk big, but when it comes to paying up they turn into weasels.
Sounds like I will never do any business with a movie guy! Not even buy them a cup of coffee... No offense, Plan9-- you're OK still, LOL
Yep the sure were. screwed most of them up too. Had to go dig through my stacks of magazines. in the article is says he built seven and trashed four.
Yes, they do. I talked with a guy that supplies them with vintage cars and he showed me one that they were welding the top back on. Seems the movie guys had cut the top off to get an interior shot... Then I asked about the bullet holes in a decent-looking '20's car of uncommon marque sitting there, and he stated matter-of-factly that they really do shoot up and crash the cars...
A movie company/trashing cars story that I witnessed a few years ago was the film October Sky,and a friend of mines 51 Merc 4 dr.I got my then 12 year old son a spot as an extra when the set decoraters needed a few vintage bicycles,and they called me.Since my son was that young,a parent had to work with him,it was a slow time of year,and my wife refused to do it,so ol' dad shaved off his stash,cut his hair and went off on the great adventure.Saw a bunch of vintage cars used in the movie,got to drive a few in some scenes,since the younger guys couldn't even drive most of them.One of the main cars was a 51 Merc,painted a damn ugly shade of green.I walked around that car,thought it wasn't too bad,and never even knew it was the Merc that belonged to a friend of mine.He rented it to the production company as a damn nice car,painted stock Merc yellow,with a beautiful paint job,and they decided that they liked green,so they had it painted shitty green,the paint job looked like hell.Then they BOLTED the camera shit on the fenders and the hood,and finished fucking up the car.I didn't even know it was the same car when I saw it.Oh yeah,they gave him some more money after they finished with it.The car was never the same.DON'T let these guys near your cars unless they hire you to drive them,and you can keep an eye on them the whole time they've got them.The guy that owned the Merc was sick when he got it back..I didn't ever show him the pictures I took of it with all that shit bolted on it,but he could tell . And all that for a few seconds of film that didn't mean shit.
I've had lots of experience with this. I have a side business supplying picture cars to film-TV-Print. First and foremost: GET IT IN WRITING. You are not an employee. You are a contractor or subcontractor. Draw up and spell out your requirements and conditions. Make sure you are dealing with the Production Manager or her staff. The PM hires contractors, negotiates deals and writes checks. Do not deal with the production intern, the producers mistress or the fucking director. KNOW YOUR CLIENT. Do some checking regarding the company, the producers and thier previous productions. This isn't easy for someone not connected to the business. If someone has a bad track record the word gets out. Make sure the production company carries an insurance bond. Make sure they also have a completion bond. Make sure you meet the transportation captain and the teamsters who will drive the vehicle (if a big union type shoot) or sometimes you or your people will be handleing the vehicle on the set. Make sure that grips and electricians and other production types who may want to mount cameras, lights or etcetera know to take care. You are also the best one to instruct the actors who might actually drive it how to correctly operate the car. Don't be surprised to learn that many, many actors and actress have no fucking idea how to drive and gave it no thought until they arrived on set that day. It's a good idea to be on site anyway. Not unreasonable to ask for half or even all your payment up front or to be paid in full upon completion of your work that day. Good productions run payrolls everyweek. Don't be afraid to pull your vehicles if the production company is negligent and violates the contract or damages stuff. The truth is I have had damage to one degree or another on almost every film. Because time is money film productionruns as hot and hard as it can to make up for those times when things are FUBAR. I've threatened to pull my stuff in the middle of a shoot because of damage but was able to negotiate an Immediate settlement (a check) which allowed the production to continue to use my stuff. You do have real leverage at this point because your vehicle is vital to the contiuety of the picture. TV movies are the worst. Networks tend to sub these out These usually are disolved at the end of the production and everybody splits. These have lower budgets and faster shooting schedules than features. Additionally producers earn bonus's from cutting costs which often means screwing local people or subs. Commercials are usually good. Budgets and shooting schedules are realistic. Usually. I like print ads. Usually one location. Things are static. No one is driving your car. Usually one day. Still photographers are cool. Small crew as opposed to films hoards of stinking, bitching, rabble. (just kidding. You know how much love I have for you. Most of you. Thanks for letting fire this off. I have no idea if this makes a lick of sense because the phone keeps ringing . And I don't even remember the original question. I'm reliving those wonderful movie memories. That said, it is good to be able to work on a good, well run production where people know what they are doing and show respect for each other and thier work. Yes they do exist.
Ah yes. A couple years ago I rented a nice convertible to a shoot. I gave it to them freshly detailed, tuned, and fresh fluids. A couple days later they call and want my permission to touch up some gravel chip on the front valance. I tell them they can but it must be water soluble because I want it off when they are done. 6 weeks later when I pick up the car I find dots of touch up paint down its flanks and it doesn't match and it isn't water soluble and won't come off. A formerly pristine stainless piece has a big square dent. For some reaon they has pried apart one tail light and now the white reverse lense is gone. The oil is opaque brown. I never got any explanation for that, And it's running like the point are fried or the plugs fouled. Granted they paid me what I demanded for damage but it still has the touch up paint on it. I have to do a bunch of work just to get it back to where it was. I might as well redo all the paint. That one really pissed me. The guy who did the vehicle for Eddie Murphy's movie "Metro" wanted to buy my 57 dodge pickup. I said no to selling but how about renting? He was willing so we were working out the details. This was going to be Eddie's truck and would be all over the movie. That sounded good. Then he mentions, Oh yeah, would you mind if I put 1958 front fenders on it? The quad headlights look cooler. And I want to paint it red, would you mind? My truck is an orignal tourquise/green sweetheart so this wouldn't work. He finally did put together a 58 from a couple hulks. Looks great on screen and is suitably funky. I would have had a godamn conniption fit if they had used my truck.
If your budgeting $50 Mil. for a pic. then wrecking a Shelby, Superbird, or COPO Camaro, ect is a minor expense. As long as people pony up the $ for smash 'em films it'll keep on.
Thing is, they don't go around warning people that such-and-such car was destroyed in the film or more people would boycott the film. People just go and see the films totally unaware until they see it on screen and then they wonder "was that really smashed up?"
[ QUOTE ] By the production company for the Movie Gone in 60 Seconds or Fast and the Furious? (I dont remeber which movie). I do remeber seeing or reading about a big name shop that had the cars they built for the movie, taken from them without the bills being paid for. Thanks for the help [/ QUOTE ] The movie I believe you are talking about is COBRA with Stallone. They did the guy dirty, on top of tyhat he built 6 of the mercs i belive in a very short unrealistic time frame.I do not remember what shop it was. I saw this on TV a couple of weeks ago. That is about all I remember.
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