Making a movie? Want to rent our guns? Read this first.
I have rented many times to film and TV productions. With several of my clients, it’s been great. But to be honest, with the majority of others it has been less than pleasant for both sides. So here are several reasons why you don’t want to rent from me.
No matter what: I will not send out a firearm in which flame or smoke can come out of the barrel to any film set, production company, armorer, or theatre . If there can be a discharge down the barrel, that is a potentially LETHAL gun. I won’t have them in my shop, and I emphatically suggest you not use one – ever.
- I can ship modern replica firearms to a permanent theatre, film studio or university film dept address only. No residential, PO Box, or non-theatre business addresses. No exceptions. And I do verify the address before I ship.
- For film I require a substantial deposit before I ship. Not just for guns, but for all of the items. This can be charged to your credit card, and is equal to six times the rental fee. That must be paid in full before the box goes out. The deposit is credited back when all items are returned, minus any incurred charges. (This requirement is waived for orders placed directly from college film departments.)
- All of my items are designed for stage, meaning they need to look reasonable from about thirty feet away. All of the repairs and defects are magnified a hundredfold on film. These rental items have been horribly abused over the years. That abuse, and all of the epoxy, welding and spray paint shows up clearly on film. (And now with HD, forget about it.) As one student filmmaker so eloquently and accurately put it, “your stuff is crap.“
- The blank-fire guns are built on starter pistol frames. That means that there is absolutely no muzzle-flash, which is mandatory for most theatres. The flash that there is is directed to the top or out the sides of the gun frame. Looks lame on film.
- As they are built on starter pistol frames, there are many compromises in the look of the gun, even when new. I don’t even try to make them look like real guns; the best I can do is to make them look “gun-ish”. Rent one of these for your film and you will be hugely disappointed. Not might be – will be.
- If you are a film maker in California, New York, New Jersey, Kansas, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Massachusetts, or Connecticut, you will have to contact your own state’s film board or Attorney General’s office to get permission for us to ship to you. Even though these are not real guns, those states have tight restrictions on even non-firing inert replicas.