Movie Props for Sale

“Hey, here’s a sofa and loveseat!”

Antique and contemporary sofas, lamps, tables, toothbrushes, curtains, all sorts of  knick knacks,  at bargain prices.  

Frank Galline was Set Decorator on the film and responsible for buying all the props used to make it all seem real.

“I make fake environments to tell a little story about who the character is.”

And when shooting ends, all that stuff he says, is often liquidated. Sometimes it’s swept up by other films, sometimes they donate everything.

“Sometimes, larger studios want you to ship everything back to their prop house in Los Angeles. Sometimes everything goes to storage and is held until they’re sure they’re not going to do more re-shoots. Then they release it. Sometimes if it’s a smaller movie and they’re out of  time, they donate everything. So there’s several ways it can go. Once after a movie we took everything to a consignment shop.”

Sales like this one are open to the public and often announced at the last minute via union emails, tweeted by the Georgia film commission, or spread by word of mouth.

Alex Sarmiento heard about the sale from his new roommate, who works in industry.  

“Everything is marked down so much and it’s in pretty good condition.”

He bought a couch, a coffee table and two end tables and was still deciding on lamps.

Natalie Girourard heard about the sale from a friend of a friend of a friend 

“I’m interested in buying an old movie projector. I’m not looking to buy anything out of necessity, just sheer coolness I guess.” She ended up buying an old stereo receiver for $50.

And of course, there were folks like Wendy Parker, whose arms were full of sheets, and other fabrics. She owns an antique shop. She gets the emails and comes to these sales often. “They’re awesome. I always find great stuff. That’s why I like to be here first, get first dibs on cool stuff.”