Seinfeld curbs enthusiasm for Microsoft, goes back to Mac.

[TheAshMan]

You guys don't get it. Hollywood is very "left" in their thinking and don't want to piss anybody off. Showing the underdog Mac is the PC D) thing to do and it's what they do best.

It's a neutral device.

Show something with HP, Lenovo or Dell on the lid and you open up a can of worms.

It has nothing to do with anything political, it is a paid prop, plain and simple. Same with many other products.

 

[dejo]

You think that's still the same policy 3.5 years later?

I do. Maybe you'd like to post a link to a more recent article that proves your case?

 

[BradenG]

I watched "Drag Me To Hell" (horrible, horrible film btw) which costars Justin Long (the mac guy from the I'm a Mac, and I'm a PC ads) And throughout the film he's shown using Apple products. He carries and uses an iPhone, and at his office he has an iMac.

 

[MacSince1990]

Wow, you make it sound like most prop guys are unbelievably lazy. Somehow, I doubt that's really the case though.

Actually he's right. They tend to use whichever computers are available, or many do.

Honestly though, who CARES. Jesus. This meant a lot more before Apple moved to x86 and the peecee users flocked over, but now it means pretty much nothing. Everybody and their mother has a Mac...

 

[Little HZ]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/14/AR2006041401670.htm

"Apple said it does not pay for product placement ... l

that same Washington Post article goes on to say: ... and [Apple] would not discuss how its products make their way into television and films. ...

A study released by the firm [media research firm PQ Media.] last year found that 64 percent of products placed in films or TV shows are not paid for, but rather arranged through some kind of barter in which the show provides exposure in exchange for products or services. The firm projected last year that product placement on television would grow 30 percent, to $2.44 billion in 2005, and continue to climb 15 percent a year for all media through 2009."


So TECHNICALLY Apple is not "paying" but is providing "free" goods in exchange for services, perhaps?

 

[reallynotnick]

Wow, you make it sound like most prop guys are unbelievably lazy. Somehow, I doubt that's really the case though.

lmao, I was just thinking the same thing. I want to be prop guy, I am just going to run around the studio and steal ****!

 

[dejo]

So TECHNICALLY Apple is not "paying" but is providing "free" goods in exchange for services, perhaps?

Perhaps. That I could see happening. I've heard of producers asking Apple for product placement fees and, when turned down, they simply covered up the Apple logos. I have not been able to find any documented proof of this however.

 

[tofagerl]

Wow, you make it sound like most prop guys are unbelievably lazy. Somehow, I doubt that's really the case though.

No, I just think grabbing what's available is cheaper than buying a $2000 dollar computer for two scenes and four background shots in a low-budget CBS sitcom.

 

[dejo]

No, I just think grabbing what's available is cheaper than buying a $2000 dollar computer for two scenes and four background shots in a low-budget CBS sitcom.

I don't think you have much understanding of how a prop master works, especially in regards to their collaboration with the production designer, set decorator, etc. And what would you consider "low-budget" for a CBS sitcom?

 

[smchan]

Wow, you make it sound like most prop guys are unbelievably lazy. Somehow, I doubt that's really the case though.

I know it's only 1 data point, but... a few weeks ago I worked as an extra on the set of an upcoming series, and they needed a kid's bicycle for the scene. They've got the rented cherry picker truck, multiple cameras, lights, a big jib for the overhead shot, cast, crew, a usually-busy closed street, talent, and ~50 extras standing around because they failed to bring a kid's bicycle. They finally borrowed the bicycle from one of the extras and put a bunch of colored tape on it to make it look like the prop they were supposed to have.

Sam