Autumn is traditionally the season of the blockbuster period drama; longer evenings and lowering temperatures are conducive to hunkering down in front of the latest releases, from series six of The Crown on Netflix, to Napoleon on Apple TV+.
And, while the actors, the stunning locations and the sumptuous costumes will draw most of the plaudits, spare a thought for the set dressers and props buyers.
The meticulous work of these unsung heroes of the world of film and television is central to the overall mood, and success, of these shows.
More often than not, their research will lead them to specialist antiques dealers or to dealers, such as Salianne and Andrew Collier, who cater solely to the entertainment industry.
Run from a vast granary in Nottinghamshire, the Colliers’ props business, Rufus J. Maypole, is a sister operation to Collier Antiques, and was established as a result of regular requests from set decorators and props buyers.
Having provided antique antlers and carvings for the tavern scenes in Disney’s 2017 film, Beauty and the Beast, and all the glassware for Murder on the Orient Express, a props buyer visited their stand at Battersea Decorative Fair and proceeded to gather up assorted pieces of stock.
The buyer turned out to be Ellen Freund, a big name in the world of set design – as the Property Master on Mad Men, she was responsible for creating the show’s completely immersive and believable 1965 ambience, right down to the ice in the drinks, which was made using vintage mid-century metal ice cube trays.
At the time of her visit to the Colliers’ stand at Battersea, Freund had been all over Europe sourcing antiques for The Alienist series. ‘Ellen explained there was a gap in the market,’ says Salianne.
‘There are big prop-hire companies in London, but the problem is the same things crop up in every production and it becomes very noticeable. Prop houses have ‘Victorian vases’ but they don’t have the specialist knowledge to differentiate between years.’
Ellen was looking for a dealer to work with regularly and advised Salianne and her husband to set up a website.
They now run props supplier firm Rufus J. Maypole, selling and renting props to the TV and film industry, alongside Collier Antiques, their main business.
It’s impossible to photograph and list every antique in the Rufus J. Maypole hoard, says Salianne. ‘Only five per cent is actually shown online,’ she chuckles. ‘We invite companies to visit us to see the full range of stuff we have. It’s quite extensive!’
Since launching the business, Salianne has carved out a niche, providing a ‘one-stop props shop’ to time-poor, money-rich buyers, who have almost impossible deadlines and difficult requests.
‘It can get fraught,’ she admits. ‘If a buyer needs obscure items in just a few days, the pressure is on.’ She loves the rush of it, she says, before adding, ‘my husband doesn’t!’
Compared to the relatively sedate world of traditional antiques dealing, the realm of TV and film is fastmoving and exciting.
‘The props buyers are given a list of props for each scene as they go along and they release scenes in blocks according to location,’ explains Salianne. ‘For example, the first block might be set in a kitchen in a stately home.
The buyers know the story but they won’t know exactly what they need for the second block of filming until maybe just two weeks before it’s filmed, which is hard.’
The buyers are often under stress from the director, who always has the final say. ‘At the moment, we’re looking for a particular knife for a French chef,’ says Salianne. ‘It’s an important part of the scene, which has to be right – the props team need five examples so the director can make the final decision and choose the best one.’
Salianne’s team recently helped to find props for the Apple TV+ adaptation of Edith Wharton’s novel The Buccaneers, due to be screened next year. Set in the 1870s, it tells the story of five American girls searching for English husbands.
‘They needed 70 fans for huge debutante ball scenes. They also needed 100 matching Champagne glasses, which wasn’t easy. It’s the big numbers of things that they struggle to source.’
Fortunately, Salianne likes a challenge, as she had to drive up to Scotland twice on the same day, she recalls. ‘That’s why they ask us – we never say “no”!’
The enormous budgets that film and TV crews have was a shock to Salianne, she says. ‘Props buyers from Disney bought two glasses dating from c1670/1680 – they were used by Belle and the Beast to toast one another in the final scene of Beauty and the Beast. They cost £150–£200 each, but they were only seen on screen for a split second!’
They’ve had men parked outside at 6am, fresh from an overnight ferry, ready to pick up props that will be driven straight back to European film sets. ‘It’s a crazy world, but it’s given us a nice different angle to our business.’
Lydia Marks, a set decorator and interior designer based in New York City, has worked on many TV and film sets, such as Fosse/Verdon, and is regularly tasked with sourcing antique and vintage props at short notice.
‘When I start sourcing props for a new project, it’s always a surprise to learn what’s tricky to locate and what’s easy to find,’ says Lydia.
‘The hunt is a huge part of the fun. Obviously, with the internet, it’s easier than ever to search all over the world, but sometimes you have to rethink how you are searching for something, or expand your ideas and look at things slightly differently in order to find exactly what you need.’
Lydia’s work typically starts about three months before a film or TV show starts shooting. ‘I start with reading the script. The story is the most important thing. The initial tasks for me are to begin to establish a visual language with the production designer and the director for the look of the film. Once the language between the three of us is established, my team can start developing each individual set and getting material samples. After that, we begin talking about dressing actual locations that we are going to shoot in.’
There is a difference between set design and props. Items that are in the background and not touched by actors are ‘set’, whereas things that are picked up, used or held are ‘props’.
According to Lydia, authenticity is very important these days and there are some things that just can’t be imitated. ‘I love to find vintage and antique pieces. I use the real thing whenever I can,’ she enthuses.
‘I think the quality of using pieces with real age and real patina is felt by the viewer. The higher resolution of our TV screens now means that all the qualities inherent to the finish of these pieces are very visible, too,’ she points out.
When the details haven’t been carefully considered, and antiques from the wrong era have been used, or – even worse – poor reproductions, it infuriates those in the know.
‘It niggles me terribly if things are wrong,’ says Louise Phillips, owner of Elaine Phillips Antiques and Chairman of BADA, who supplied some props for the BBC’s recent adaptation of Great Expectations.
‘Even if they are not in the antiques industry, people notice if things aren’t quite right,’ she says. ‘If you put reproduction furniture into a period drama, it just jars.’
Mark J West, specialist dealer in antique glass, who loaned antique glasses to the props team for the BBC’s series Gentleman Jack, agrees.
‘It’s reassuring when they get the glasses right because the BBC spends thousands of pounds on the costumes and the set, but they often seem to get the glasses wrong,’ he says.
‘The props team for Game of Thrones had copies of antique glasses made especially. There’s a company in Oxfordshire that does this – but the BBC generally can’t be bothered. They just go to Peter Jones,’ he jokes.
Salianne Collier admits to ‘nitpicking’ and ‘screaming at the screen’ when watching Bridgerton, much to her daughter’s chagrin. ‘Supplying props has changed how I watch TV and films,’ she admits.
‘It’s spoilt it, in a way, because I find it difficult to watch as entertainment now, without looking too closely at the details. I watch period productions and cringe when I see something that’s 50 years out, or from the 1960s instead of the 1860s!’
For Salianne, sourcing antiques from the correct era for TV and film has ‘scratched an itch’, but it’s not always plain sailing, as sometimes authenticity is overruled.
‘If we get asked for an item that hasn’t been invented yet in the era the show is set – but the director wants it to go in – then it will go in anyway,’ she explains.
‘Paramount is very particular when it comes to authenticity. Disney is, too. But some companies have a more relaxed approach. It’s not a documentary after all, it’s fiction – so sometimes there is some leeway.’
For set decorator and interior designer Lydia Marks, sourcing the right lighting from the correct era is crucial. ‘Vintage lighting is something I cannot live without,’ she says.
‘The sculptural component of a beautiful lamp base along with the way light filters through the fabric of an original lampshade can elevate an entire set.’
All too often, the lighting is wrong. ‘Lighting is one of my bugbears,’ says Louise Phillips. ‘If items are used from the wrong period, it does stand out. The correct antique lighting is essential, and that’s something we can help people with,’ she says, adding that she sold a pair of wall sconces and some small brass lanterns to the BBC for Great Expectations.
When care is taken to get things right, it’s noticed and appreciated by those in the know. ‘In Peaky Blinders, there was a scene set in a servants’ kitchen – the chairs were right, the pewter was right – it created a complete picture of those times,’ says Louise.
‘The glasses for Poldark are generally right,’ concedes Mark West, who prefers to loan rather than sell antiques to the TV and film trade. ‘It’s money for old rope really,’ he jokes.
‘They pay a percentage of the price per month and, if they hold the things for three months, I get 30 per cent of the price and I get the goods back afterwards.’
Salianne mostly sells their antique props but there are some items that are not for sale. ‘Telephones are hire only,’ she explains.
‘It’s really difficult to find good period telephones. We sold a few in the early days, then really struggled to get any more. Big suites of matching glassware and big dinner services are worth holding on to, too.’
The Gentleman Jack team bought one set of glasses from Mark – the family drinking glasses – in case they needed them for another series.
In these days of long-running period drama TV series, with multiple ‘seasons’ and hundreds of episodes – such as Downton Abbey and Mad Men – it’s become more important for props teams to keep hold of important items for possible future use, just in case.
Sometimes, once the props have been used, Salianne Collier does a ‘buy back’ deal, but if there is even the faintest possibility of another series, the props will be stored – potentially for years.
‘It’s crazy really,’ she says. ‘After filming, props could be shipped in a container from Budapest or wherever back to California, where they will sit in a hangar. They don’t seem to reuse things much for other shows. You’d think that if there was another 1890s production, they’d dip into the same props, but it doesn’t work like that.’
For Salianne, it’s always exciting to see pieces her team has provided on the big screen. ‘I took my grandchildren to see Beauty and the Beast at the cinema, and I kept shouting out whenever a prop appeared that we’d supplied,’ she laughs. ‘I think I spoilt the experience for them!’
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