How Fake Movie Money Gets Made!

After browsing the back stacks of The Earl Hays Press and uncovering a library of printed fake money, Adam returns to dive into the origins and history of Hollywood's use of fake money with prop historian Michael Corrie @PropsToHistory! Michael and Adam examine the ways movies can show printed bills on screen, how they must differentiate from the real thing, and how The Earl Hays Press makes these props!

Shot and edited by Joey Fameli
Music by Jinglepunks

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Intro bumper by Abe Dieckman

Thanks for watching!

#adamsavage #props

[ResurrectedBrush]

The Secret Service really is no joke when it comes to counterfeiting. I grew up in and around a family owned print shop. I'd go to work with my mom during the summers and when I was old enough I worked. Our two primary printing presses were AB Dick 360's, which at the time (don't know if they still are) were one of the most popular printing presses in the world for counterfeiting -- because of the relative ease of use, size of plates they took, and printing accuracy.

ANYWAY, one of our biggest clients was a regional bank and they wanted to do a promotion printed on paper stock that was basically the same/similar linen paper used for currency (but without the imbedded blue and red fibers and I don't know if it was the exact ratio of linen and cotton... but it was meant to have the same feel). Secret Service agents accompanied the delivery of the paper and literally stood guard during the entire printing process. They gave guidelines for how much of the paper had to be "ruined" by being covered by ink and what colors of ink were allowed (nothing in the artwork could resemble money in any way) and they confiscated every single scrap, test print, etc. They VERY closely monitored the plate making process to ensure that ONLY the approved artwork was on any of the plates that got anywhere near the press the paper was being used on.

I'm not sure what the rules are today regarding using the linen paper for non-money purposes, or even if it was or wasn't frowned upon at the time and only allowed because a bank was the client. But it was a very interesting few days in that particular Sir Speedy print shop...

[darrenhemingway]

Fake notes for film production is not just an issue for the US. There was a big story in the UK when the BBC got into trouble over a Dr Who episode, the money had David Tennent rather than the Queen on it.

[Deltaflot]

Apparently in GoodFellas, Robert Deniro didn't like the feel of the fake money, so the Prop Master basically took out thousands of dollars of his own money from the bank to use in the film, and he made darn sure he got every bill back when they weredone using it.

[brycevo]

I would buy fake pesos as a reference to the classic movies. I always wondered why the prop money in old movies looked odd. This history is so awesome

[ladyhawken]

I could listen to these two gentlemen for hours! Both individually and together.

[stevenjones]

The Secret Service didn't get anti-counterfeiting 'by default' as Adam claims. It is the very reason they were founded. Protecting the first family came later.

[kathrynmoore]

lol, I worked at a graphics company and we had a visit from the secret service because our retail sticker was on a can of speedball printing ink that they found when they arrested a counterfeiter. And it’s true, they are all serious and absolutely not ready for humor. They made us close the store down and we all were questioned thoroughly. We were closed almost the whole day and not allowed to leave until they were done with their investigation. Luckily they realized we weren’t involved. It’s an experience I will never forget!

[puirYorick]

A one-time co-worker said he got robbed by a bank ATM that dispensed fake money to him on payday. When he stopped at the liquor store, his $20 bill was declared fake, as were several others. The private security van company contracted to service those machines was involved in a few shenanigans around that era. Counterfeit money is NOT a victimless crime. Regular people end up losing their money down the line.

[matthewhood]

Always glad to see Michael Corrie on the channel. He Adam have so much knowledge AND joy.

[lynchkid]

Sadly enough, one of the senior citizens around here actually got tricked into selling his car to someone for about $10, 000 worth of theater prop money.

He discovered it about 30 minutes after he signed the title over, due to being vision impaired. The way he discovered it was when a restaurant rejected his money because it said "theater prop money" where the seal of the United States Treasury is supposed to be.

Thankfully, there are solutions for situations like this. And if it ever happens to you, contact local law enforcement and your local department of licensing to report it. The paperwork is a pain, but you can file it as a stolen vehicle.

[helloiamchuck]

I was surprised that the counterfeiting scene from ""To Live and Die in LA" didn't come up in discussion. They had a real counterfeiter
actually make real counterfeit 20 dollar bills using an offset printing process, and they showed everything, right up to using poker chips and rags in a dryer to age the fake bills and add the red and blue threads. IIRC, there was much paranoia during the filming of the scene because they were skirting legality pretty closely and didn't want to get raided by the Secret Service.

[paulpixphotos]

I did an art project a few years back on real money, with the presidents wearing covid masks and I wanted to scan it an make a poster, but photoshop has a money detection filter and wouldn't let me open the image to enlarge and make a print. was so frustrating.

[Thorg]

The secret service showed up at my junior high school once back in the 90s, because some students in a drafting class had printed a bunch of poor quality fake $20 bills and had actually tried to use them to do things like order pizza or buy snacks at the gas station. I doubt the students faced any harsh punishment since they were minors and weren't making high value bills, but the secret service takes the counterfeiting thing pretty seriously.

[CaptainMarvelsSon]

A few people I know who work at banks say that they receive several pieces of prop money every year, mainly through gas stations, vendors, and people who have to deal with a constant flow of people that they don't have time to check smaller bills carefully.

[nerdingforfunprops]

A print company I worked at years ago had a visit by the CID. They were checking all local printers because someone had been printing money but had sent the guillotine off cuts to the paper recycling mill, which had the trim area on it. FYI it wasn't

[spacepiratecaptainrush]

fun little anecdote, for TV filmed in Canada (Toronto, Vancouver etc.) they just use Canadian money, because it can't be mistaken for US currency (our money is very colourful) and we don't have the same regulations about not using the real stuff as a prop. There is an episode of Stargate Atlantis where Canadian fives change hands very predominantly and it gives me a little bit of a giggle knowing why.

[dylonpress]

There was a stand that had counterfeit money and real money and the guy told me to guess which ones were fake and which ones were real. The best way i could think of telling them apart was to smell them. Money has a very unique smell and it would be difficult to recreate that smell on counterfeit money because you would have to have a lot of people hold it touch it throw it in therir wallets ect. I could tell which ones were fake and which ones were real. He was very impressed to say the least and told me he thought of everything else to make it look perfectly real but never thought about the smell. I walked away $50 richer that day😂. That would've made a very good episode on Mythbusters

[SocksAndPuppets]

This is honestly fascinating, one of the best videos on this channel I've ever seen. I was engrossed the whole time.

[renterp]

As a senior in high school I was in my 4th year of Auto Cad/ Mechanical Desktop. In between working on actual class work I measured and redrew an exact replica of our school’s Lunch ticket. Down to the miniature emblem included in the School name. It was perfect. It took some effort to find paper the same shade as the school lunch tickets, but lets put it this way. Myself and 2 of my closest friends didnt buy any lunch tickets our senior year. Hahaha. Sorry Mr. Bell. Haha

[jakebrown]

Michael Corrie was an absolute delight to listen to, would love to see him come back for future prop episodes!