First off you want to eliminate showing any logos if possible. If this is not possible then the next step is to contact the individual companies...they all have departments that handle this. Most likely they will refer you to their PR firm that handles representation of their products in print and film. Start with their marketing departments and eventually you will get to the right person. If you show their product in a negative way I can guarantee you will not get their sign-off to use their product. I was able to get Marriot Hotels, Fila Sporting Goods and Breyer's Ice Cream to allow me to use their products without any problems. I had them sign release forms. Your best bet is to eliminate the use all together.

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Originally posted by Kess

First off you want to eliminate showing any logos if possible. If this is not possible then the next step is to contact the individual companies...they all have departments that handle this. Most likely they will refer you to their PR firm that handles representation of their products in print and film. Start with their marketing departments and eventually you will get to the right person. If you show their product in a negative way I can guarantee you will not get their sign-off to use their product. I was able to get Marriot Hotels, Fila Sporting Goods and Breyer's Ice Cream to allow me to use their products without any problems. I had them sign release forms. Your best bet is to eliminate the use all together.

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Interesting. So, if I showed the inside of a vehicle, without showing any logos, it'd be okay?

And were you able to use the hotel, sporting goods, and ice cream products, free of charge?

I was able to use them free of charge. Fila and Breyer's Ice Cream actually gave me product to use in the film. It mostly comes down to how you use their product. If you show their product in a positive fashion you won't have any problem. If you use their product in a negative way...possibly that it causes some harm to their product and image then they won't want you using their product. I wonder how gun manufacturers view the use of their guns in films. Most likely they love it when the good guys shoot the bad guys with their weapons in plain sight. And they probably don't want their weapons used by the bad guys for criminal actions. Contact them and get it in writing. Go for it!

On a similar note, I've heard that product placement can be a good source of props/costumes. I'll be shooting a feature this summer and I'm wondering if this is maybe something I should look into.

Is it just a matter of contacting individual companies and asking them, or is there a service out there somewhere that would track down opportunities for me? Thoughts?

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Andrew Gingerich
Exploding Goldfish Films
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