Where to find prop money? at DVinfo.net

Travis Johnson · July 1st, 2007, 07:45 PM

I will be shooting a short film in under a month and one scene requires a nice wad of money. Seeing as how I'm pretty much flat broke and don't really want to use my own money as the prop, is there any place to buy prop money or what?

Andy Graham · July 2nd, 2007, 04:41 AM

Just photo copy it, i did this with about 300,000, it took me a while but it looked like the real thing. Before anyone says its illegal ,we talked to the police about it as well as using guns in the street etc and they couldn't care less. So i was driving around for two weeks with £300,000 in fake money and a deactivated AK47 in the boot (trunk for you yanks out there)

Andy.

Travis Johnson · July 2nd, 2007, 06:45 AM

Ok, well actually last night I did pretty much just that. I got the image from PDF document from the US Mint's website. And well if you try to open it in Photoshop it knows that its a bank note image so it won't open it. What you have to do is open the pdf document and hit print screen. Then just copy and paste it into a image editing program, crop it and set the measurements of the bill to 6x2.5 and print away. I only printed one side because you really won't be seeing but one side in the film. Now I just gotta print out a lot more for my money wad.

Chris Harris · July 7th, 2007, 02:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Andy Graham

we talked to the police about it as well as using guns in the street etc and they couldn't care less.

What?!?! I need to move out to Scotland!

Mike Marriage · July 7th, 2007, 05:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chris Harris

What?!?! I need to move out to Scotland!

For a lot of British Police, especially outside of London, film making is seen a quite an exciting novelty.

They can be really helpful.

Boyd Ostroff · July 7th, 2007, 06:11 AM

Here in the US, if you go to a toy store, variety store or maybe a party store (I was going to say "dime store" but there aren't very many of these anymore ;-) you can buy "play money" which looks pretty good from a distance. We use it all the time on the stage. I'm sure it can be mail ordered as well.

In fact, I just tried Goggling "play money" and got some interesting results; looks like you can buy it at Target. Also, check out that last link. Oriental Trading is a great source for all kinds of props and fun stuff...

http://casinosupply.com/Merchant2/me...tegory_Code=PM
http://www.moneyinstructor.com/play.asp
http://www.target.com/gp/search.html...ey&N=0&Ntk=all

http://www.orientaltrading.com/appli...ey&N=0&Ntk=all

Travis Johnson · July 11th, 2007, 12:08 PM

Thanks for the links!! I think I'm going to go with the moneyinstructor.com website. They seem to have the quicker and cheaper option.

Bill Mecca · July 11th, 2007, 01:56 PM

If they are going to be in a "wad" why not just use blank paper cut to size inside the wad, and a few real bills (or copies) on the top and bottom of each stack (that would save a lot on ink.)

July 1st, 2007, 07:45 PM	#1
Travis Johnson Regular Crew Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Roxboro NC Posts: 166	Where to find prop money? I will be shooting a short film in under a month and one scene requires a nice wad of money. Seeing as how I'm pretty much flat broke and don't really want to use my own money as the prop, is there any place to buy prop money or what?

July 2nd, 2007, 04:41 AM	#2
Andy Graham Major Player Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Lanark,Scotland Posts: 736	Just photo copy it, i did this with about 300,000, it took me a while but it looked like the real thing. Before anyone says its illegal ,we talked to the police about it as well as using guns in the street etc and they couldn't care less. So i was driving around for two weeks with £300,000 in fake money and a deactivated AK47 in the boot (trunk for you yanks out there) Andy. __________________ Actor: "where would that light be coming from?" DP: "same place as the music" -Andrew Lesnie-

July 11th, 2007, 01:56 PM	#8
Bill Mecca Major Player Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: New Jersey Posts: 475	If they are going to be in a "wad" why not just use blank paper cut to size inside the wad, and a few real bills (or copies) on the top and bottom of each stack (that would save a lot on ink.) __________________ Award-winning Pine Barrens Documentary! Video, Audio, Music & More

July 2nd, 2007, 06:45 AM	#3
Travis Johnson Regular Crew Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Roxboro NC Posts: 166	Ok, well actually last night I did pretty much just that. I got the image from PDF document from the US Mint's website. And well if you try to open it in Photoshop it knows that its a bank note image so it won't open it. What you have to do is open the pdf document and hit print screen. Then just copy and paste it into a image editing program, crop it and set the measurements of the bill to 6x2.5 and print away. I only printed one side because you really won't be seeing but one side in the film. Now I just gotta print out a lot more for my money wad.

July 7th, 2007, 06:11 AM	#6
Boyd Ostroff Wrangler Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Mays Landing, NJ Posts: 11,802	Here in the US, if you go to a toy store, variety store or maybe a party store (I was going to say "dime store" but there aren't very many of these anymore ;-) you can buy "play money" which looks pretty good from a distance. We use it all the time on the stage. I'm sure it can be mail ordered as well. In fact, I just tried Goggling "play money" and got some interesting results; looks like you can buy it at Target. Also, check out that last link. Oriental Trading is a great source for all kinds of props and fun stuff... http://casinosupply.com/Merchant2/me...tegory_Code=PM http://www.moneyinstructor.com/play.asp http://www.target.com/gp/search.html...ey&N=0&Ntk=all http://www.orientaltrading.com/appli...ey&N=0&Ntk=all

July 11th, 2007, 12:08 PM	#7
Travis Johnson Regular Crew Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Roxboro NC Posts: 166	Thanks for the links!! I think I'm going to go with the moneyinstructor.com website. They seem to have the quicker and cheaper option.