I hate to boast, but I thought that you might like to know that I supplied the typewriters for this film !  They wanted all identical Underwood 5s, but I couldn't source enough within their timescale so we compromised on half Underwood 5s and half Royal 10s.  Even then, I had to drive all over the South of England to get them, and spent countless hours refurbishing them,  I seem to remember that by and large they didn't want to pay to have the platens re-rubbered !  Nice to see a clip of them on the trailer.  I never did get to see the whole film in the cinema !

Well done, Tom!

I'd never heard of this movie, but now I want to see the movie so that I can see your machines. 

Thanks for those insights, Tom. I've never actually thought to aggressively outsource typewriters I didn't own and will use that approach in the future. 

Prior to COVID, I used to do a fair amount of typewriter work for film and television. I had a few opportunities recently, but none worked out because of the number of identical models they required.

It's been an interesting way to make a few bucks, and one prop master did her best to persuade me to work full time in the industry, but the hours these people work are absolutely insane and best suited for someone who isn't married or doesn't have any other commitments. 

Some of the productions I worked on stand out as fond memories, in particular my interactions with both film crew and actors. One Academy Award actor even typed me funny notes while she was being filmed, pretending to type something far more important.

Some of my work has been post-production. For one film I worked with a sound engineer to recreate all of the typing scenes that appeared on screen. We were very meticulous in our approach. He provided screen shots of each scene with a typewriter so that I could provide an exact match of the model that was used. On recording day, which of course coincided with a bad snowstorm, I filled my car with those machines and drove to the sound studio. Each typewriter was covered with microphones, and I spent the day typing on each in turn to recreate what was happening in the film. 

It's surrealistic now when I watch that movie knowing that the typing you hear was actually my hamfisted technique, and not what the actor was doing on set.

For most productions I just supply the machines, but for Stockholm (2019) with Ethan Hawke (see photos below), I had to fill an entire bank with SM3s and SGE models and was actually allowed to install them up on set.

thetypewriterman wrote:

... Sometimes they are hired man-with-van, sometimes junior members of staff getting their first job in the industry.  ... and take vintage portables in and out of their cases.

I learned the hard way to not allow those "prop couriers" to handle my rentals. I've gone to extreme lengths to protect my machines including concise packing instructions (with photos!), and yet they would still find ways to mess things up. I watched one guy toss the cases in the back of the truck despite the massive "Fragile - Handle with Care!" stickers covering them. One rental came back with the typewriter jammed into the case upside down and the carriage scratched up.

Some people are great with handling vintage items, some don't have a clue. Since then I make it mandatory to handle all deliveries and pick-ups, and add it to the bill.