The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk Photo opportunities for these old trucks????

Hi Stovebolters

I see from time to time old trucks staged in wedding photos and for CD album covers and some for just advertising for a business too...I always wondered how to get to use your old trucks for these occasions...and also how much generally do guys charge for the use of their trucks for these photo shoots??

Thanks for any insight.

MikeC

My 49 was used in a short tech film and used by 2 other couples for family pics. They were all friends so I didn't charge a thing. Was glad they thought so well of it..

I recently meet someone at a car show. He indicated he was from CA and he travels the country looking for various old vehicles. The need was based on location for the movie or commercial. He emailed me about a month latter, he was also emailing the Buick club I am a member of. The commercial paid $200, for a bunch of people with old vehicles. All we had to do was move our vehicles form location to location on a field and socialize with other old vehicle owners.

My shop was in a small town near McKinney, Texas where they made a Hallmark Hall of Fame movie titled "An American Story". The fellow that was in charge of obtaining period correct vehicles came by the shop and said they paid $125 a day. I got him three vehicles, a car from me and two trucks from customers. After one day of movie making I put a young man that liked that stuff in the car for the duration of the shoot and said adios. One plus is the catering service for cast members (and extras) is GREAT.

Agree with Coilover -- those movies shoots can be long, boring days, but the chow is great ... well, except the one we did with Discovery ID -- their idea of catering was Papa John's Pizza... still, not too bad.

But getting hooked up in the first place is a matter of timing, being in the right place, etc. Our "picture car coordinator" that we deal with mostly finds her prospects mainly through contacting POCs in the various clubs in our area. After that, once you get cast (or your vehicle) the first time, and you demonstrate that you are dependable and good to work with, follow-on gigs come along. The TV and movie shoots seem to have standard rates that are somewhat location dependent (I think). Movies pay better than TV shoots. I haven't done a commercial, but I think they may be best of all, depending on what they need. A friend did a major shoot for a pharmaceutical and that was a very nice pay day for him (Mike B might be able to corroborate that as he knows him, too). Another one of our 'Bolters had his truck (1st year GMC pickup) used in a GMC commercial and they treated him very well (sent an enclosed semi trailer/car hauler to pick up his truck, etc). Here's his story

At one time I had a list of companies you could register your vehicle with for use in movies, ads, etc. I can no longer find that list. It seems they paid about $300 a day even if your vehicle doesn't make the final cut.

John, our friends 1956 Effie was used in a Symbicort commercial in 2009 (I think). They picked his truck up at his home in Maryland, loaded it in a enclosed 18 wheeler car hauler and took it to NYC for a week long photo shoot and then returned it the same way. They even put our friend and his wife up for a few days so they could watch the filming! That kind thing only happens once in a lifetime...lol.

Back in 1976 my 1935 Chevy Coupe was hired to be traffic in the movie "The Other Side Of Midnight". Back then they paid us $75 per day which was more than I made at my regular job. I remember being excited to see the movie to see where my car would show up...in the end all you see is the car driving down the street and as soon as the front fender comes on the screen the scene changed...Oh well, we still had fun and they feed us well!

Mike B

My '37 truck was used in a movie shoot some years ago. It was a long day, the food was great and the pay paid for the additional insurance I found required by Hagerty. I had no idea what the story line was about before hand. When the movie came out, my truck scenes were left on the cutting room floor. That was a stroke of luck, because the movie was just shy of a cringing embarrassment. If there is ever a next time, I will more carefully check in to the story line before committing to participate.

Im actually hired out for a wedding at the end of Sept 2017. Plan on putting out 4-5 wine barrels and a few hay bales for the wedding party to sit/stand around.

Be careful about "hiring out", if you're not insured for that, your insurance company may not cover an accident.

Mike B

I was asked to have it in a wedding designers photo shoot for their new catalog. I told them, that it wasn't show quality, but they just wanted the farm truck appearance in the shoot. So away she went, $$$. I have some of the pics in my photo bucket. Then, a soon to be Bride wanted it for her pics. Here father put the brakes on that, worried about insurance coverage. She was totally bummed.

My Suburban was the wedding party's ride from the wedding-church to the Hall of Springs reception in Saratoga, NY, for my daughter's best-friend's wedding. No charge - I even bought a chauffeur's hat (and, wore a suit). I cleaned/scoured every interior surface, to be sure to not harm anyone's gown. The women did not mind climbing in/out over the front "jump-seat".

Quite a few movies were shot in this town and I was an extra in 14 all told. My 49 was in a Hallmark movie entitled "The Engagement Ring" and it was parked in front of a store near a mailbox. As I was also an extra in that film the truck made more money than me. It got $300 while I was being paid $9 per hour.
When they did Charlie's Angels R-Made I had enough credits to become a union member and doubled my hourly rate. But as far as food goes extras who were non-unionized got the crumbs left over by the union people and obviously had to wait while the union types ate.
If you see a movie being made in your area ask who the Transport Manager is or the Transport Wrangler. He/she handles all the vehicles in the movie plus the shuttle busses used to transport the actors to the site.