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 
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Subject: [MUSEUM-L] lending objects to film studios 
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> 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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