Vehicles required for filming in NSW

[Phil Waterman]

Alex's, comment is dead on, our MV Club was involved in a Minnie-Series shoot years ago, and they talked some owners into letting them put "easy cleaned off mud" on their vehicles some of them still had the mud ten years later. What was even worse/better is they convinced the owners of a B17 to let them paint over the tail markings with "water soluble paint that would wash right off" but the owner of the B17 having seen this before said fine but had them write into the contract that the movie company would remove the paint after shooting and if damaged the paint they were responsible for the refinishing cost. You guess the out come the “water soluble paint” didn’t wash off and the movie company had to pay for the repaint of the tail. In the end the entire week worth of shooting some 20 MVs, B17 and B25 along with all the actors etc. was left on the cutting room floor when the Minnie-Series was reduced in length by half.

Cheers Phil

[maple_leaf_eh]

I would be happy to rent (not loan) my vehicles to a film crew as long as there was a damage deposit. Somewhere I read a story about a production that wanted to show a damaged Sherman (or maybe it was a Halftrack). When the producers had the owner distracted, the special effects guys put a flat pan of gasoline in the back end and lit it on fire. Just because it has green paint doesn't mean it is indestructable.

[Philliphastings]

I have been working in the film industry for several years and sadly I have to agree that all the above comments ring true. At the very least owners should be reimbused for fuel/costs and catered for.

Donations to clubs don't really cut it in my book as it is inconsistent with most concessional license conditions (which vary from state to state)

you would be well advised to ask for a written agreement or contract between yourself and the production company.

If you think involvement in film productions will make you famous or wealthy - think again. Having said all that and despite long days of waiting around you can still have a lot of fun and meet some very interesting people.

How do I know ? - I work as an actor, producer, owner of a production company and director of theboard of the Film & Television Institute Of WA Inc

If anyone has any questions about providing vehicles to film productions feel free to drop me a PM

Cheers

Phill

[Dianaa]

I wouldn't have a thing to do with movie/production companies. My family had a company where one of our products was dry ice distributed on the south coast of NSW. One morning a driver arrived desperate for dry ice for one of these organisations. The process we use generates the solid bricks direct from liquid CO2, so we dispatched a driver from Nowra to Kangaroo Valley over the Cambewarra mountain. The driver had to stay with the crew for 5 hours znd with driving making a whole day's work. The JEEP Grand Cherokee ad went to air but we are still waiting for our money a decade later.

Also anyone with vehicles on NSW historic rego, must remember the vehicles cant be used for paid work as they are considered unregistered for that purpose. You will either have to get an unregistered vehicle permit or cancel the HCRS permit and put the vehicle on full rego, requiring a visit to the RTA pits with a vehicle that will pass the RTA's testing standards and pay the costs.

Diana
Conditional Registration Secretary
LROC Sydney

[Philliphastings]

Sadly all of the above negative comments are probably pretty accurate. It seems to be an industry that thrives on promises - so often broken and yep I get let down constantly - but there is often magic on set and when things go well it can be very satisfying.

A short film I recently co-produced, appeared in and was historical supervisor oncalled 'Restare Uniti' has received international critical acclaim. It's a true story of WA's Italian men being rounded up and interned at the beginning of WW2. Look for it on youtube...

I guess the best advice I could offer regarding vehicle use on screen is : if you don't enter into a written contract then expect disappointment.

I insist on contracts for everything these days and it saves a lot of grief ( and scares off the shonkies)

good luck

Phill

[Phil Waterman]

Back to the original point of this thread looking for correct period vehicles for a film. The film maker does deserve some credit for at least trying to find vehicles which are authentic to the period of the film.

As to providing vehicles for the films, as long as you have your eyes open and some basic written agreement working with film makers can be interesting, and reasonably to ridiculously financially rewording. Couple guys in our local MV Club have a sideline business in renting their vehicles to film companies. The require that one of the guys be present when the vehicles are being moved, driven, or setup with the film paying for their time, hotel and meals. In one recent film they offered to sell the film company the trucks at inflated prices, the film company declined liking the rental arrangement better in the end the film companies paid a day rate for the trucks that was about double the sales price offered. But for that price the vehicles always started and were ready to go. Film was Shutter Island one of the truck even has the Leonardo DiCaprio autograph on one of the troops seats.

Cheers Phil

[warren brown]

Yes, Phil - it's interesting you should mention Shutter Island. I was onboard a flight last year and flicked through the in-service movie guide where the key picture was of Leonardo Di Caprio and pump-action shotgun wielding prison guards sitting in an immaculate Weapons Carrier - which in turn ensured it was the first film I watched. Shutter Island also had a terrific M38A1 - but I couldn't for the life of me figure out why these Alcatraz-style prison guards in dark blue/black uniforms were driving around in army liveried olive-drab vehicles on an Alcatraz-style prison island in the US. (Actually, that was the least of my problems with the film because I couldn't understand much else either).
While I've never hired out any of my vehicles for movies, I know of a few people who've had pleasant and lucrative experiences during film shoots - they've always been with the vehicle - and had hotel accomodation paid for etc. But a word of warning - I was involved with a motoring television program that required 'onboard' cameras be fitted to film you while you drive. The specialist onboard camera guys needed to fit mountings and tubular, scaffold-like framework within the car. Because of batteries running out, tape running out, daylight disappearing, focus shifting, director's blowing up - these guys were under enormous pressure to fix things - and quickly. More often than not, the car was returned to the supplier with trim, upholstery and paintwork damaged - dashboards scraped and torn - headlining marked or cut - it would make you cry. And I'm not talking about cheap cars either - really top-end stuff. Manufacturers were not happy...