If you've driven around California, you've seen the ubiquity of hybrids, particularly the Prius, but when it's translated to the big screen, something about the picture... changes. Where do all the hybrids go?

 

I wonder . . . did you see me?

 

Good question to ask my friend's little brother. He works in LA for one of the companies that supply cars and drivers (including stunt drivers) to all the TV and movie production companies. He is a stunt driver/aspiring actor. He used to manage Richard Petty's race track operations in Florida.

My guess would be that he will tell me that beyond manufacturer, in cases of corporate sponsorship of specific productions (Ford, Chevy, Toyota, GM, etc.), specifics are not usually required regarding car models.

The bad news is I doubt I will see him again until maybe next Christmas!

 

With our luck, we'd have:

• Director: John De Bello
• Writers: Costa Dillon, J. Stephen Peace, Rick Rockwell
• Cast: David Miller, George Wilson, Sharon Taylor, J. Stephen Peace ...

Yes, this is the director and cast of:

 

Actually I recently viewed a movie with Dane Cook, "Good Luck Chuck" I believe. The girl he was hooking up with (Jessica Alba) had a Prius. In the movie she had a dead battery in a parking garage and he was attempting a jump start.

 

It may not be big screen, but the TV show Numb3rs features a Prius as the vehicle of choice for one of the main characters. I've even heard the typical HSD whine when they show the car being driven in some scenes. The car was even forced off the road on one episode and no one got electrocuted either!

Constrast that to a show like CSI:Miami where it takes a convoy of 3 Hummers to get 3 people to a crime scene.

 

There was a thread on this site about three years ago collecting all the hybrid sightings on tv and in movies.

There were quite a few... and the Prius got mad center stage in the TV shows Weeds about a year ago.

 

A little effort can promote these, I am wishing to see hybrids on big screen.

 

You won't be seeing hybrids on the big screen or on TV anytime soon in any numbers.

I finally caught up with my friend's "little" brother (he's in his fifties) over lunch after a memorial service for his brother's wife who recently passed away. I asked him why we don't see hybrids in the movies.

The reason is because nowadays all cars in TV and movies are on screen only as a result of product placement deals struck between the cars companies and the producers of these productions. There are no Prius's in the movies for the exact same reason there are very few other kinds of advertisements for Prius's; Toyota is selling every Prius it can make faster than they can be delivered to their waiting new owners. No advertising is deemed necessary to sell these cars. As long as this situation is the case, there will be very few appearances by Prius's on the big screen.

Interestingly, the money being made by the production companies on these product placement deals has caught the attention of the actors union. The actors want a cut of the action. If for example, Robert DeNiro, while in a movie, walks into a restaurant and orders a Coke, or steps into the parking garage to get behind the wheel of a Ford, the actors union wants him to be eligible for a cut of money made for this implicit product endorsement. Currently, all the money goes to the producers, the actors get nothing.

So, there you now have the answer.

 

"If for example, Robert DeNiro, while in a movie, walks into a restaurant and orders a Coke, or steps into the parking garage to get behind the wheel of a Ford, the actors union wants him to be eligible for a cut of money made for this implicit product endorsement. "

They may have a point. For instance, after Steve McQueen appeared with the Mustang in "Bullit", that became and years later still is, a major endorsment.