Props

Props are all objects that are visible in a scene or are used: furniture and decoration in the background, glasses, phones, pieces of clothing as a play object, and in erotic productions also objects close to the body such as toys, restraint material or costume parts. The production procures, checks and administers them.

Procurement is the production’s job

You do not bring props and you do not buy any. That is not a kindness but a question of responsibility: the production is liable for what is used on set, and it bears the costs. A request that you bring or buy certain objects yourself is unusual in the industry and, with applicants, a warning sign in principle — a serious placement does not create costs for you.

An exception are personal things you deliberately supply yourself, for example your own shoes or your own underwear. That too is agreed beforehand and, in doubt, paid or replaced if something is damaged.

Hygiene with props close to the body

For everything that comes into contact with skin or mucous membrane, stricter rules apply than for a vase in the background. They can be checked at four points:

• Material: objects of porous material cannot be cleaned safely. What is used is what can be disinfected.
• Preparation before the scene: cleaned, disinfected, visibly freshly packed or recognisably new.
• No change between people without preparation: if an object is used by several people, it is prepared or exchanged in between.
• Barriers: where condoms or disposable covers can be used, they are used. For vaginal and anal intercourse the condom is with us an exceptionless duty.

You may ask about that, directly and before the take. A production that reacts irritably to that question has the actual problem. More on the health rules on the shoot day is in the article health on set.

Props belong on the limits list

Which objects are used is not a mere question of dressing; it is part of what you consent to. That is why they belong by name on your Yes-No-Maybe list: what you refuse in principle, what goes under conditions, what is unproblematic.

This list is part of the contract. If an object appears on the shoot day that was not discussed, that is a new situation and not a small thing in the process. Consent to a scene is not consent to every object in it — that difference is the core of Consent.

On set in concrete terms

Look at the start at what is laid out, and raise unclear points at once. Two minutes at the props table spare you the surprise in the middle of the scene. After that, during a running setup, change nothing about the position of the objects, or continuity breaks; see Continuity.

If an object you do not know is handed to you during a take, you may pause and ask. That is not a breach of the rules; it is the normal case with props close to the body.