Back in the spring of 2011 we published the first issue of The Eastern Script. Twenty issues later I can assure you that it was not then and never has been an ambitious Murdochian enterprise. You could safely say that the motivation to begin the next one comes at a moment in which I observe: “oh no, how did 7 months just pass?” In that first issue, I see that we shared our then recently-revised clearance guideline related to use of actual North American currency on screens big and small:
“ Spokespersons for both the U.S. and Canadian government offices that oversee currency reproduction enforcement indicate that there are no legal restrictions on videotaping or filming actual currency (paper or coin) for projection on-screen. If your intent is to make your own currency for use on set, there will be restrictions on how that can be done (please advise if you need further guidance for that scenario).”
Since 2011, we have read scripts in which we have seen that money will be shown on-screen in stories set in countries all around the world. With each new country presenting itself to us, we have identified the agency there that regulates currency use (such as the Bank of Canada or the U.S. Treasury Department) and we have requested their on-screen reproduction guidelines. A spokesperson for the Bank of Canada, for example, told us that “It is not necessary to request the Bank’s permission to use bank note images for film or video purposes, provided that the images are intended to show a general indication of currency, and that there is no danger that the images could be misused.” To-date we have information of this type on file for Canada, the U.S., the Euro, France, Germany, Indonesia, Japan, Kenya, Mexico, Switzerland, the UK.
I thought I would bring to your attention in this update article two informative pieces on the topic of currency use on-screen. The first is from The Hollywood Reporter from March 2016 and is called “Will 50 Cent Get in Trouble with the U.S. Secret Service for Using ‘Fake’ Cash?”
www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr-esq/will-50-cent-get-trouble-873905
Here’s a gem from that story, an anecdote that explains why there are restrictions on use of faked prop money on sets and mentions one on-set solution in use:
“ Hoback also nodded towards this Priceonomics article that recounted a notorious instance of ‘prop money’ gone wrong. It happened in 2000 on the set of Rush Hour 2 when an explosion scene led to hundreds of thousands of fake bills floating into the hands of movie extras and pedestrians. As a result, the Secret Service commenced an investigation. Since then, the makers of prop money have had to adjust. Gregg Bilson Jr., the chief of a prop company, told Priceonomics that his company now attempts to manufacture stacks of blank paper, topped by real hundred-dollar bills.”
The other article of interest is called “Where Does Fake Movie Money Come From” www.cnn.com/style/article/rjr-props-fake-money/
Jacopo Prisco, CNN February 22 2019. It’s a profile of a business called RJR Props and if you want to throw around the term “niche company” then this is a prime example. The company makes fake money for use on movie sets. Working with the U.S. federal guidelines on creation of fake currency, RJR’s owner Rich Rappaport produces two levels of prop dollar bills: “one for close-ups and one that will look real from about 15 inches away.” Re: the close-up money, he proclaims that the likeness is so close that it “looks fantastic. But since it looks so real, we can print it on one side only.” The article shows the bills and describes some of the fake money features, such as the signature Ima Not Real on the side of the bill with Benjamin Franklin’s image, etcetera. If you watched the series Ozark then you have seen his handiwork on-screen as you watched Jason Bateman and his family pile brick after brick of dollar bills into the walls of his Missouri money laundering location.
First published August, 2019