M D Productions presents: 'Violet'

I just grabbed a rental car off of Price Line. Put in a bid for $15 / day and got one for a week. Total cost of $105. Now considering that I drive easily 1000 a week, thats a great deal. Sometimes you really have to be opportunistic to get the great bargains.
 
Ooh! Can we use that rental car in TTN? You know... for the NIGHT scene on the HWY? :grin:

BTW - GREAT PRICE!!! WOW! $15/day???
 
Hey Ted,

You bring up an interesting subject, namely the difference between "normal" car rentals and "camera" car rentals.

Just to clarify, a "camera" car is any automobile that is intentionally seen by the camera. The difference in rental rates is astronomical. As I mentioned my $15/day price line find, by contrast, I was trying to rent a camera car (just needed any full sized SUV) for a project a few years back and the best price that I could find was $125 / day.

This SUV didn't really have any special features, no camera mount points (though they did allow you to attach a hostess tray), nothing at all that made it any different from any other, except for a permanent tow rig attachment point under the front bumper. The tow rig wasn't included, it was an additional charge (can't recall the rate). The only substantive difference was that we were actually "allowed" to use this as a camera car (a photographic release was part of the rental agreement) and it was insured as a "camera" car.

The obvious standard rules still applied. Things like no high speed driving, no off highway use (or rather very limited) and no actors appearing on camera could operate the vehicle (it had to be towed by another vehicle, driven by a stunt coordinator). In the end it seemed like the differences were paperwork, and not much more.

I am wondering what experiences others have had in this area, or if most, have just gone the gorilla route and used any vehicle that they had access to for a camera car.

As for TTN, I think that if I brought up the idea of using real "camera" car(s) and employing a stunt coordinator, I would be shot down in a heart beat. Not that I have any objection to the gorilla approach, its really a matter for the producer to decide how much exposure they are comfortable with.

This does bring up yet another question, I know that Blaine is acting as the line producer on this one, but are the duties of producer (and responsibility) split between yourself and Mark?

Details, details...
 
For my last short I got lucky with cars...my brother had exactly what I was looking for. And then one of the actors we hooked up with happened to drive a Jag to my first production meeting.

Most recently I used a special on-camera car that was a rental paid for by a client. $300/week...but this is in Ohio...sounds they gouge you out there in LA-LA-land.
 
I am not certain that we get "gouged" here, but everything is so high profile that you really can't avoid following every rule unless you don't mind the risk of getting fined. Doing everything "by the book" certainly adds to costs.

The $300/week rate does seem rather good. How was this car configured?
 
We had photo rights for it...most of the shots were from a tripod looking at the car.

It was a 2007 Mitsu Eclipse from Enterprise.

The on-car rig was from filmtools.com. I think it was one of the stock kits, except for one extra 6" suction cup. Worked great...I'd put the HVX up on it with no hesitations.
 
Hello Kevin and crew! I hope that you all had a great Thanksgiving!

Happy Holidays and Happy ThankGuinness!

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Ted
 
Blaine said:
Purty durned good, Ted. I'm having cold dressing and espresso for breakfast. :thumbsup:
Click to expand...
Well, the best part of Thanksgiving for me has ALWAYS been the leftovers! But that is a new one, for sure! Not the cold dressing..... that is my favorite. But cold dressing and espresso! Gonna have to put that on my list of things to try!

Ted
 
What about your contingency line item? And don't forget to factor in the payroll costs / taxes. When I was looking to pay actors $100 a day one project, it was going to cost $142 a day when all the taxes and processing fees totaled up. Other than that it looks good. Makes me wish you were shooting a feature. Good luck with the project.
 
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