Randy's comment reminded me of a recent story.

In the Battlestar Galactica TV show they have been showing Edward James 
Olmos's character, for the last 2 seasons, building a model ship.  In this 
year's season he finally "finished" it.  The production company had been 
renting a museum quality ship model as the finished ship.

Well, half way through the season a crew member dies and as they were 
filming his character's reaction scene without warning Olmos picks up this 
model ship and smashes it to pieces!  It wasn't something he had rehearsed, 
it was just something he did caught up in the moment of acting.  The prop 
people were stunned and said they would have been glad to make him one that 
he could smash to pieces rather than the one they had been renting.  The 
production company had insured the piece but that isn't going to bring it 
back.

I'm not a lawyer and I have no idea how to write contracts but I'm guessing 
you can put anything in them that you want.  So I would suggest that the 
production company should have to include in writing all the names of the 
people who might handle your artifact, including the actors, and make it 
mandatory for them to take a lesson from museum staff on the proper handling 
of the artifact.

Heather Marie



>From: Randy Little <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: Museum discussion list <[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: lending objects to film studios
>Date: Tue, 19 Jun 2007 15:25:17 -0700
>
>As a person who works in Hollywood I have watched priceless things 
>destroyed
>on a whim especially if it is insured.  The only way I would recommend
>letting something on set is with very hefty penalties and on set 
>supervision
>of the object by someone who has the power to say NO you can't do that.
>
>R.
>
>
>On 6/19/07, Glenn A. Walsh <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>>
>>Marcella,
>>
>>In the late 1990s, "Wonder Boys" by Michael Chabon was
>>being filmed in Pittsburgh. The studio requested use
>>of historic tables from the main reading room of the
>>Andrew Carnegie Free Library and Music Hall in
>>Carnegie, Pennsylvania [a Pittsburgh suburb], for
>>certain college scenes in the movie.
>>
>>We had hoped that they would actually film some of the
>>movie at the Andrew Carnegie Free Library [as was done
>>with he filming of Tim Robbins' "Bob Roberts"
>>political satire in November of 1991]. However, after
>>looking over the Library and Music Hall, they decided
>>they only wanted to use our reading tables!
>>
>>As a Life Trustee on the Library's Board of Trustees
>>at that time, I was very hesitant to loan out our
>>historic tables. However, the Library was always short
>>on cash; we needed the money so we loaned-out the
>>tables.
>>
>>After several months, the tables were returned to us
>>without any problems. Of course, we did have a
>>contract with the studio, and we required a
>>certificate of insurance.
>>
>>It is difficult to say what you should do. Certainly
>>lending out a historic motorcycle is more problematic
>>than reading tables. I was not so worried about the
>>reading tables being damaged [after about a hundred
>>years of library use, what more could be done to
>>them!]. However, I was worried about the reading
>>tables being "lost" among all of the other props.
>>
>>A strong contract, with insurance requirements, would
>>be the minimum, if you decide to go through with the
>>loan.  You should probably also require some sort of
>>daily accountability--say, a daily check on the
>>condition and end-of-the-day storage of the motorcycle
>>that HAS TO BE SIGNED-OFF BY ONE OF THE MAJOR STUDIO
>>EMPLOYEES. And, you should probably insist on a
>>periodic report on the consition of the motorcycle.
>>
>>As with libraries, I am sure your museum could use the
>>money such a rental would provide. Make sure your
>>attorney "dots all the i's and crosses all the t's" of
>>any such lease contract.
>>
>>Good luck!
>>
>>gaw
>>
>>--- Marcella Wiget <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>>Date: Tue, 19 Jun 2007 16:11:52 -0500
>>From: "Marcella Wiget" <[log in to unmask]>  Add
>>to Address Book  Add Mobile Alert
>>Yahoo! DomainKeys has confirmed that this message was
>>sent by HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM. Learn more
>>Subject: [MUSEUM-L] lending objects to film studios
>>To: [log in to unmask]
>>
>>
>> > Hello everyone,
>> >
>> > Our museum has recently received a request to borrow
>> > one of our artifacts (a
>> > motorcycle, to be precise) for use in a film.  Now,
>> > this obviously raises a
>> > number of concerns, and we're still very early in
>> > negotiating this process,
>> > but we wanted to hear what other museums have done
>> > in similar situations.
>> > Have you lent your artifacts?  If so, how did you
>> > work out the details about
>> > overseeing the object, price to borrow the artifact,
>> > and other issues I
>> > might not even be thinking about?
>> >
>> > I could swear I've seen this topic (or one very like
>> > it) come up before on
>> > the listserv, so if anybody could point me in the
>> > direction of any previous
>> > threads where this topic was discussed, I would
>> > really appreciate it.
>> >
>> > Thanks!
>> > Marcella
>> >
>> > Marcella D. Wiget
>> > Curator of Collections
>> > Reno County Historical Society
>> > [log in to unmask]
>>
>>gaw
>>
>>Glenn A. Walsh
>>Electronic Mail - < [log in to unmask] >
>>NEWS - Astronomy, Space, Science:
>>< http://buhlplanetarium.tripod.com/#news >
>>Author of History Web Sites on the Internet --
>>* Buhl Planetarium, Pittsburgh:
>>   < http://www.planetarium.cc >
>>* Adler Planetarium, Chicago:
>>   < http://adlerplanetarium.tripod.com >
>>* Astronomer & Optician John A. Brashear:
>>   < http://johnbrashear.tripod.com >
>>* Andrew Carnegie & Carnegie Libraries:
>>   < http://www.andrewcarnegie.cc >
>>* Duquesne Incline cable-car railway, Pittsburgh:
>>   < http://www.incline.cc >
>>
>>
>>
>>
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>
>
>--
>Randy S. Little
>http://reel.rslittle.com
>http://www.linkedin.com/in/rslittle
>
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