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www.wheeldog.net - Universal's 'Balto' website and more
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----- Original Message -----
From: "Jeanne Lacourse" <cckw@mediaone.net>
To: "Military Vehicles Mailing List" <mil-veh@mil-veh.org>
Sent: Saturday, December 16, 2000 6:42 AM
Subject: Re: [MV] Movie rental fees.
> 1988 Made for TV mini-series The Kennedy's of Massachusetts filmed at Otis
> AFB Cape Cod MA
>
> I got $400/day for my cckw with me the driver, others could sit in it, but
I
> had to drive it
> I would have gotten $15 as an extra
> They provided hotel rooms and all meals (they eat well on a set...)
>
> There is an article I wrote about this in Army Motors titled The Movie a
> number of years ago
There are union and non-union productions out there, and the scales change
accordingly. However, in general, on a union show, if you're driving your
vehicle while the camera is rolling, it's considered to be "Special
Abilities Extra", and you should be paid at that scale. If you're moving it
from place to place as the needs of the shot dictate but do not actually
appear on screen while you're driving it, you would typically be paid as a
"General Extra" and at a lower rate.
Some outfits try to split hairs and insist there's nothing 'special' about
driving a Humvee with an automatic transmission, but I believe the union
talks in terms of 'driving on camera' and not 'driving X-vehicle on camera.'
There are circumstances where you would not be able to drive your vehicle on
camera, and you'd have to sort that out with the production company
beforehand.
One of these is when some action of the vehicle is considered a 'stunt';
that is, operating in dangerous proximity to cast members, driving through a
fence or building (or the empty cardboard boxes in those back alleys), or
similar sorts of things. Though you might fault the logic of having some
stunt driver operating your vehicle more safely than you, the guy who's put
30,000 miles on it, the reasons are usually insurance-related. Still, we've
rammed vans with our drivers behind the wheel, so the 'rule' is unevenly
applied.
The second instance is when cast-members have to be seen driving the vehicle
on camera ("Hero Car", "Star Car"). This is *usually* accomplished by
faking the driving action on a sled or dolly towed by the camera truck, but
sometimes that's either undesirable due to filming angle or camera view, or
physically impossible due to the nature of the vehicle (i.e., Humvee too
wide for trailer or sled - or M35A2 too heavy, too high, etc.)
Rates? Up here on a union production, General Extras get around CAN 16/hr
for the first 8, time-and-a-half after 8, and double after 12. Drivers as
'Special Abilities Extras' get about CAN $26/hr. with the same overtime
schedule as above. Vehicles? I can't really speak for the company I sub
for, but it varies depending on the length of time they need it (i.e.,
daily, weekly, monthly), but as an example, something like an M113C Lynx
rented to the Tom Arnold movie "Carpool" at a day-rate of $CAN 500.00 Other
vehicles are priced accordingly as respects their size and/or comparitive
rarity.
As a guideline, I believe Los Angeles-area outfits rent their equipment out
at roughly twice the going day-rates in Vancouver, and bill in U.S. dollars
to boot.
Sounds lucrative on the surface, but though you may rent something like a
109A3 three days per year, you've got to warehouse and maintain them for the
whole 365!
Andy Hill
MVPA 9211
Vancouver, B.C.
(one compliment I did get concerning Humvees came from one of the directors
of a show I was on. He said: "Picture cars are a director's worst
nightmare. But I like these Hummers. They always start, they always stop,
and they never break down." Fortunately, the starter picked another show to
pack up on!)
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Tue Jan 02 2001 - 23:13:24 PST