Renting your vintage to moviemakers?

[ShooShooBaby]

my housemate is working on a low-budget movie spanning several decades, and the costume people are interested in renting some items from my collection for use in the film. i am considering doing it since i need the money and also because i feel like i should "share the wealth" of my vintage collection a little. however, i'm a little wary of doing this without any sort of stipulations. for instance, what would be reasonable compensation if a dress very dear to me gets torn? stained? completely ruined? i know this is a risk i run, but the fact that some of the stuff they want is very hard to come by makes me want to ensure that i will be able to replace it if need be.

has anyone rented out their vintage clothing for use in a movie? what was the experience like? was it returned in the same condition? any horror stories? how much did you get paid?

thanks in advance!

(bartenders, i'm not sure if this thread is in the right place... move it if need be!)

 

[ShortClara]

Hmmm... even on the calmest of sets, clothes get abuse. Lots of abuse. If it were anything even slightly unsturdy of mine, I wouldn't want to do it. First, get the script and find out what they will be doing in your clothes. If they won't give it to you or tell you, I would question it. If you do agree, get a contract stipulating exactly what the compensation will be, replacement value, per piece. Have photos before that they have to sign off on, and a meeting after to go through it all WITH them before you will sign for the return of the stuff. Stipulate how many days exactly they will be renting it.

FYI, I'm an actress and producer, and I would not think the above to be weird in either case. I would expect people to be cautious and smart about the stuff I borrow.

PS - You may be able to have it included in the production's insurance. yes, they should have insurance or else how could they pay you back? You should get a copy of this insurance so you know how to file a claim.

 

[ShortClara]

One more thing - I'm a rather small time producer, so I'm not the end all be all of opinions

 

[ShooShooBaby]

thanks, shortclara! this is good info. i emailed my housemate and am waiting to hear back from her. i'll start thinking about what i would need to get from them should anything get ruined. i got the idea that the clothes wouldn't be worn for long but i'll make sure i know exactly what's happening in them. it'd be fun to see my stuff on film, though!

 

[Diamondback]

Other advice: big-$$$ insurance and damage-deposits. This is a lesson from the vintage-auto community: George Lucas for one is notorious for his people assuring an owner they'll get their item back exactly as they got it, then totaling it, and writing a minimal check with a "no big deal" attitude, not even a "sorry about that". A case in point was one of the cars destroyed for one of the Indy movies.

Tangent, but it seems that any kind of vintage-item owner could learn an important lesson from that incident about taking measures to preserve their property.

 

[Mike in Seattle]

Other advice: big-$$$ insurance and damage-deposits. This is a lesson from the vintage-auto community: George Lucas for one is notorious for his people assuring an owner they'll get their item back exactly as they got it, then totaling it, and writing a minimal check with a "no big deal" attitude, not even a "sorry about that". A case in point was one of the cars destroyed for one of the Indy movies.

Exactly - and you're dealing with a low-budget picture, meaning amateurs who'll probably not be taking the best care of things, and won't have money to pay-off even if something is damaged.

First step - I'd be talking to an attorney AND an insurance company about cost of insuring and drawing up an enforceable contract. And be sure whoever is agreeing to accept liability for damage has assets to back up their agreement. If the "film company" is the one liable, and their only asset is this low-budget film, how are you going to get recompensated for loss?

At the very least, you're going to need a true valuation of the items to be used. I would probably look at it like this - find out exactly what they want to use. Figure you'll never see that item again. How much money would it take for you to be OK with losing the items? I have some things that have a sentimental value to me. I could get a similar replacement for $100, but there's something about the particular item I have that makes it worth more. I have a book that can be replaced for $15. But my copy's signed by the long-dead actress/author to me and there's an interesting story behind it. To me, I'd say it's priceless.

And do you already have this collection insured? What do you feel your monetary loss would be if your house, God forbid, burned down and you lost the entire collection? Then consider if you want to gamble the items on what they want to pay, or if they can come close to a fair price for use. What are the actors going to be doing in the items? Little chance of damage if someone's in the outfit for two minutes walking down the street, vs. someone wearing the outfit for hours of filming & refilming of a fight scene or something equally as strenuous. AND would damage to any of the clothing drive a wedge between you and your friend should you have to accept a pittance for the damage?

 

[Mike in Seattle]

Let me add - your housemate is working on this movie and tells the filmmakers, "Hey, my roommate has all of these OLD CLOTHES and we could probably use them in the film." And they think, "Cool - maybe she can cut us a deal on THOSE OLD CLOTHES. Maybe we can give her a couple hundred bucks and she'll be happy."

And you're thinking, "I can make some much-needed money off my TREASURED VINTAGE ITEMS. They want to use TREASURED VINTAGE ITEMS that I paid $5,000 for and would cost $7,500 to replace. I could sure use $500."

And something worth $750 get ruined. They don't want to pay. It goes to courrt and it's "We borrowed some ratty old clothes from her! We could've gotten the same thing from Goodwill for $5" and you're saying, "I loaned them these museum quality pieces of vintage clothing! I say it's worth $750."

I think I'd do something along the lines of listing, item by item, a price for rental of the piece if it's returned as-is, and a price they agree to pay to outright purchase the item should any damage at all occurs. Rental fee paid up front, along with a deposit of say 10-15% of the purchase price of the total collection perhaps held in escrow. You and they look over each piece beforehand, snap pictures and list all existing damage before AND after the items are returned just like you do when you rent a car or apartment. You can always negotiate later if you want an item back but are willing to accept an amount between rental & damaged returned price.

I think it's safe to say they're not going to want to fork over anything, but it's better everyone be on the same plate and walk away from the deal before, and not try to set damage values later. Remember everyone here is an amateur. You're not in the business of renting costumes professionally, they're not in the business of making films professionally. There's a thought - see what a local costume shop's contracts look like and what you have to agree to when renting from them.

 

[Snookie]

Don't rent anything you would really miss if it were ruined or lost. This is your personal collection, your closet, not a rental company, and you shouldn't feel pressured to rent anything in particular. If possible, only show the items you'd be willing to rent, and hide the rest. Don't even let them see it.

Stipulate in your contract that all pieces must be professionally cleaned before they are returned. Also consider alterations - will you let them do alterations? If so, you might also specify that all alterations must be undone before return. Be aware that they might do pretty shoddy work. Both of these requirements are standard for costume rentals.

Beyond damage to your clothing, an item that someone likes might disappear. This happens frequently.

When factoring in the worth of an item, don't forget to add in the labor/expense of procuring it, not just the price. Time/money spent hunting for it, paying for shipping, etc.

If you have garments you wouldn't be disappointed in losing forever, I'd give it a go. I've got some like that. But I wouldn't risk renting anything I like.

 

[Miss Sis]

I wouldn't lend ANYTHING to ANYONE, I'm afraid.

Other people will not take care of your treasures. I've seen it happen too many times and won't lend out to people now. It might seem mean, but I don't want my stuff ruined.

 

[Edward]

Looking at this with my lawyer hat on, I think most of it has been covered here, the important points being:

- Insurance on high dollar items is a good idea, especially if they will be hard to reproduce. You can laways pass the cost of this on in your fee.

- Don't lend out anything that you can't cope with the idea of losing, especially if it has sentimental value and can't be replaced

- The contract: the golden rule is GET EVERYTHING IN WRITING, then you can (if needsbe) use it to hang someone later, so to speak. Included here can be whose liability it is to have repairs done, pay compensation, what compensation is necessary, fees payable to you, and how they should treat your clothing. This last one essential - as mentioned above, an awful lot of people simply see "old clothes you can buy in any thrift store," not the precious vintage items you do.

 

[Miss_Bella_Hell]

I would suggest having copies made instead of lending the originals out. If that's feasible.

 

[Twitch]

In regard to vintage autos at least the companies have the owners drive their cars themselves in background scenes in movies.

 

[Spitfire]

Just do not do it. I have been on far too many filmsets, where at the end of the day, nobody really cares about the props, costumes, location etc.
Especially if it's not going to be used anymore. Then it just ends up in a corner....so: If you are attached to the things. Don't do it. Not even for money. They can't get the things back.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I would agree with everyone here who suggests being really careful -- and dont loan anything you couldn't afford to lose. I used to loan a lot of my stuff to theatre groups, and it got to the point where half of it came back with serious damage. When I loaned a floor lamp to some film-school students and it came back spray painted a hideous shade of orange, that was the final straw.

 

[Edward]

When I loaned a floor lamp to some film-school students and it came back spray painted a hideous shade of orange, that was the final straw.

I hope you unleashed merry hell on them. Accidental damamge is one thing, but to treat somebody else's stuff that's on loan with that level of contempt beggers belief.

 

[Paisley]

Even if you did everything carefully, if some of your things are ruined, it could make it very uncomfortable living with your housemate. I can see it ending up that she moves out and you'd have to pay all the rent and utilities until you found another roommate. So much for the extra cash! My suggestion is to tell her you're too attached to your vintage clothes to loan them to anyone.

If you still think this is a good idea, I'd find out what costume companies in your area charge to rent out similar clothing--both in rent and damage deposits.

 

[ShortClara]

I would not try to take out my own insurance on the items and make them pay - they should have production insurance and the clothes should be written into the rider. If they don't have that, then don't do it.

 

[Idledame]

I agree with the people who say don't do it. I lent some Victorian style hats to a friend whose kids were doing a high shool play. The hats I had made, so they really weren't worth much, but with vintage ostrich feathers and lace. "Something" happened to the feathers and lace during the run of the play, and so she went to Michaels and replaced them-but that's not the same at all! She apologised so what could I say. (Except "never again" after she left.)

 

[ShooShooBaby]

thanks for weighing in, everyone!

i talked to my housemate, and as it turns out, the actress who would be wearing my stuff actually has her own. did i mention it's a really small production?! lol

hopefully this discussion will come in handy for someone else though!