MTFCA Forum

I was contacted by a movie producer who is looking for people with Model T's and old cars as extras for a movie being made in Alpena Michigan 9/17/23 - 10/6/23. Besides cars he needs 5-6 trucks. Movie is portraying the Purple Gang on an island near St Clair Michigan in fall of 1927. No actors will drive the cars, and if any driving is needed the cars owner will be doing the driving. No pay for the cars or extras, just free food and bragging rights, and perhaps gas money. Many scenes will need various cars and trucks as background parked and driving. There will be 5-6 trucks, a paddy wagon, a sedan, and a roadster needed as essential or key props for some scenes. They dont even need to be drivable or roadworthy and will be pushed into position for filming. As of today he only has one car lined up.

Anyone who wants to do this please contact the producer Vane DeFord 517-242-0241, he is with the Collective Development Movie Company.

I am not endorsing this and am not involved so please contact the producer and keep me out of it. I am attaching a couple of schedules he sent me.

“No pay, just gas money”???

Whoever is making the movie might not be too realistic…

‘20’s vintage vehicles we’re getting $250-$325 per day Fifteen Years Ago in a couple films that were produced around my area.

If you participate, at the bare minimum; ask if they have proof of any sort of insurance coverage.

“Only one car lined up” ?….. “No pay for cars or extras”???… I wonder why.. I received $400 @ day for background Ts 5 years ago

That's the deal, no pay, no insurance maybe gas money, maybe not, take it or leave it. If it sounds like a bad deal, don't do it. I know there are a lot of people that are going to Dearborn for OCF at great personal expense and inconvenience for no pay, no insurance, and no gas money, even though Greenfield Village is charging admission and making a profit. These guys are making a movie while Hollywood is on strike, they have a shoestring budget and no big name actors, that's the outfit your dealing with and that's the deal. No need to whine and complain, don't like it, don't go, but for anyone who might find this an interesting way to spend a few days or weeks with their Model T, the opportunity is there.

Jeff don’t hold back, tell us how you really feel, ha

Filmmaking as an industry (using the term loosely?) has been through a paradigm shift in the past twenty years. Going from a handful of television and cable networks, and theater presentations with huge budgets for proven talents (producers, directors, actors, writers), to literally a hundred poorly run cable networks, hundreds of "you-too" and similar channels, another hundred steaming services, all hiring any fool that thinks he is a filmmaker!
The average person today is so used to poorly made trash that they would no longer know a truly great new film if they saw one! Very little money is available to invest in high quality films. Almost everything is being made on shoestring budgets, mostly by people kidding themselves about their own ability and working with other similar fools.
CGI programs today can be bought for a couple thousand dollars that can make an average person able to produce a professional looking major film. The only problem is, one needs to know really how to tell a story, and how to stage it, in order to make anything worth watching, no matter how good the computer is.
The production quality even on major network television has sunk so low that it reminds me of the early days of television, when shows were produced locally, and done live in real time in front of the camera at the local television studio. Poor quality single camera work, bad if any background music, simple story lines, with little character development. Those days also had a charm, the newness of the medium, seeing something like never before, that modern network shows can never duplicate.

A lot has changed in the world the recent past thirty to forty years. And I am not convinced any of it will truly be for the better.

Supposedly the guy in charge says they’re working on a budget and have a million dollar insurance policy

It’s an indie outfit.