Thanks for taking the time to open and read. We’ve been really busy here, relaunching, (see below) adding features like a community calendar; and representing new vendors. When you contact the business & crew members below, please remember to say the Propville name. If you own a business, you know how important it is to get those referrals. Name dropping (ego in check) gives our community strength, after all, it’s just 6degrees!

The Crucible: Got Fire? 
Find it at The Crucible! This non-profit arts education center in West Oakland is dedicated to the creative use of fire and light.  The Crucible is known for its innovative and stunning public events and fundraisers, uniting artists from diverse disciplines.  Teaching and showcasing fire, metal, glass, light art and performance art in the East Bay for ten years, you’ll find classes and studio facilities for bronze casting to neon, welding to glass working, blacksmithing to fire dancing and more. 
Check out their studios and shop for hot holiday gifts at The Crucible’s annual Holiday Gifty Art Sale, 
December 13 & 14, 2008, from 10AM – 4PM.  For more information, click here.

Antiquario

Christopher Albanese’ Antiquario is a 3400 square foot space, conveniently located on Market Street in San Francisco, crammed with antiques of every variety and every era- from fossils and ancient Roman artifacts to mid-century and modern furniture and decorative items. Antiquario has a very interesting selection of rentable items such as scientific instruments, toys of all kinds; leather bound books, taxidermy animals, Persian rugs, and paintings. (415) 824-4641

 

Videofax
New additions to the Family!
Videofax is pleased to introduce the Sony F35 camera to the Bay Area. With our new Angenieux Optimo 24-290mm zoom lens and a set of ten Zeiss Ultra Primes, we have full support for the F35 and Red One, along with the F23, F900s, Varicams, HDX 900s, EX1s and EX3.     Reserve yours today with Leigh.
(415) 661-0500.    Expert Service, solutions and equipment.    BAWIFT members welcome!


Custom Scenic: Backdrops, flats, props, plus complete art department. Our backdrops and flats used by satisfied customers in the film & photo. Our vast inventory of ready-made stock props and set dressings are here for your next production.  Custom Scenic  can also custom design and build props to meet your exact needs. Bring us your vision, dream or design and we will make your storyboard real and your clients very happy!    Call Eddie at (510) 434-0406     Last minute holiday event solutions available.

Animal Arts. One of our local animal handlers / trainers has had an amazing year. Gregg Holland                 
from Animal Arts has supplied and trained animals for Milk (Harvey’s dog), Kite Runner and tons more, polishing it off with a Super bowl XLIII spot. Gregg has been a Propville member for 2 years, working             
with both film and print shoots. Talk about the animals… Gregg Holland -- 707-567-1509

Georgie Perrins, contributor. Georgie Perrins is a Bay Area prop and wardrobe stylist working in photography and video. She recently made some valuable connections thru the Propville Directory.                          
These are some insights about cross marketing.

“With the closing of the summer, I witnessed the beginning of a quiet spell. Determined not to lose sight of the place I had reached with styling, I chose to look for opportunities which bordered my field of work. Already active with non-profit organization, Wardrobe for Opportunity, I accepted the offer to co-lead their annual fashion runway show, which I am pleased to say, was a recent success. I also teamed up with local director Tony Knott, to provide wardrobe services for his short film, and    most recently worked with Duncan Designs INC (also a Propville member) on creating retail display installations for the holidays.
I would say it's about uncovering existing parallels to your specialty, whether it's in a neighboring creative field, a relative non-profit venture, or in a local art/media project--these measures to adapt when times are slow will truly be beneficial in the long run, when you consider the networking opportunities and the new experiences to be gained.”

Scott Singer: Scott, a 4 time Emmy winner, announces the opening of his newly remodeled recording studio, featuring a custom mixing desk from John Oram/Trident, the GP40; as well as classic components from Neve, SSL, GML, RCA and Universal Audio. Same great location, super support staff, and years of experience help you pull it all together in the most cost effective way. Singer productions also offers coaching and custom sound for events.
Please call Anthony for the best Propville prices: (415) 864-0203.

Benny & Bebe
Elves, pixies, sugarplum fairies, magic !!!
It’s not too late for some whimsical fun at your event this holiday season. The Magic Circus delivers humor, fun and of, course; magic to clients like Train, Phish & Bridge School. Apple, Cisco, Google, Hewlett Packard, Oracle, Sun Microsystems, Cliff Bar, KGO, George Lucas, Lions Club, Hilton, Holiday Inn. Sausalito Art Festival, Marin & San Mateo County Fairs, Larkspur Flower Festival, Harmony & Harvest Festival, Renaissance Pleasure Faire, Earth Day Festivals, Stockholm Peace Festival. No need to go on, just call them. (415) 457-4386  http://magiccircus.com/video.htm

 New Affordable Parking Fees in Oakland - We Did it Together!    From the Oakland film office:
“Thank you so much for your generosity and community spirit in coming to the City Council meetings, writing emails, and everything else you’ve done to show your support for reasonable film parking fees in Oakland!  Our proposal passed unanimously with supportive comments from the council – because together we convinced them reducing the parking fees was the right and responsible thing to do!

READ THIS: Now the challenge is for Oakland to increase our film production, not just for the required report back in 18 months, but for the real goal, which is more production and more work for everyone. We are currently in discussions with two production companies about series that would be both filmed and set in Oakland, both law enforcement based, one along the lines of the wire, the other a half hour comedy ala curb your enthusiasm.  We are also looking forward to increasing all forms of film making in Oakland, from commercials to student films, and hope that the film parking fee of $15 per metered space, and $2.95 for non-metered spaces (and metered spaces on the days they are not enforced) will help.

Please help us spread the word that parking for film production in Oakland is once again affordable!  And please let us know of every opportunity you think the Oakland Film Office can participate in to help bring more film, more jobs, and increase our quality of life in the wonderful Bay Area!   To a bright future!                      Ami Zins & Janet Austin
www.filmoakland.com

A Big Propville welcome to the members of Scary Cow
Want to try out a new set of crew shoes? (I’m working as wardrobe and would like to do some producing)  Scary Cow is a community-based & community-financed movie production company.Meet and work with local filmmakers of all levels. Scary Cow will connect you with other filmmakers to work on projects as a team. By connecting with other filmmakers in San Francisco you'll be making great local contacts – it’s what this industry is all about!
A film co-op; members of Scary Cow form into small teams. Those teams compete to prove that they have what it takes to move to the next level. If the other members decide the project you worked on is one of the best, Scary Cow will give your team a budget to help finance your next project. Continue to create outstanding films, and you'll continue to receive a budget from Scary Cow to fund it! Keep your eyes open to The Propville Calendar for the big, public screening in February 2009. Scary Cow is currently accepting applications for sponsorship of this event.

Crucible event:   Support local artists.    Buy Holiday gifts.   Give certificates for classes.
Check out their studios and shop for hot holiday gifts at The Crucible’s annual
Holiday Gifty Art Sale   December 13 & 14, 2008, from 10AM – 4PM. For more information, click here.  Like to list your upcoming event?   The new community calendar is open to all Propville members in good standing.  http://www.propville.com/cal.php

Working hard to serve the production community, the Propville directory relaunched quietly this fall with a new “Google-Style” search function on the home page. Use any string of 2-3 words and get all listings that contain those words, no need to pre-select a category. Also new is the community calendar, open to all members in good standing as well as the “Newsreel”.

See the daily news on the Propville home page (no war, stock market or car wrecks, just production related events and offering for film, special events, photography and theatre.)

What does this mean to our vendor members?
New spaces and connectivity for event you’re hosting, news you’d like to share and one day sales that occurs in between newsletter pots. Give Kate a call (415) 454-1260. Ask about getting listed. If you’re already a member, just click on the form to post, usually approved in 48hrs. or less. You may also use that space to post jobs.

The Crucible Reverses the Meter with Solar Energy
(The green spotlight highlights a Propville vendor in every issue that is actively practicing environmental measures to ensure the health of our planet. Qualified? We’d love to direct our spotlight on your company.)

The Crucible was founded on the principle of the reuse and re-purposing of objects--keeping them out of the waste stream and finding unique uses for them. But the energy-intensive metal fabrication, welding, blacksmithing, glasswork and casting done here puts high demands on energy consumption, and since The Crucible had already taken steps to reduce waste, a solar PV system was the logical next step. The solar project was a joint effort among community and trade organizations, energy coalitions, volunteers, and progressive equipment manufacturers.  Since May 2006, Crucible’s 56,000 square foot studio has used the sun’s energy to generate much of the electricity we use with a 34-kilowatt photovoltaic solar electric system consisting of 240 Sharp 170 solar photovoltaic modules mounted on aluminum racking atop the roof. This power is either used by The Crucible or fed back into PG&E’s electrical distribution system.

Due to the power produced since the installation and startup of the solar system in May of 2006 through the end of October 2007, The Crucible has saved approximately $27,700 in electrical costs.  During 2007, average savings during the summer period were $2,015 per month and $680 per month during the winter period. These savings cover the cost of the seven year loan that was used in addition to donations and rebates to purchase the system.   read the full article

Quote of the month:
“Focusing your life solely on making a buck shows a certain poverty of ambition. It asks too little of yourself. Because it's only when you hitch your wagon to something larger than yourself that you realize your true potential” president-elect Obama

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