Production offices often struggle to find wrap gifts that feel personal and stay useful once the shoot ends. Crew t-shirts tend to arrive in the wrong sizes, branded bottles leak inside kit bags, and framed unit photos hardly ever leave the closet they were put in.
It is important to find gifts that a crew member reaches for on the next job. Something that earns space in a kit bag travels from show to show, and the production’s name travels with it. Here are a couple of gift ideas to consider.
Pick a Pen the Script Supervisor Won’t Lose
Film sets still run on a surprising amount of paper. For instance:
- A script supervisor marks continuity by hand
- The first AD annotates a call sheet
- The art department scribbles on a mood board
- Half the camera crew writes on tape
A pen that dies halfway through a take is a small irritation that everyone remembers. You can resolve it by choosing custom pens, as crew members are more likely to hold on to a gift that fits into a habit they already have. However, not every custom pen earns that place, and the cheap one fails in predictable ways, like:
- Thin plastic barrels crack
- Budget refills skip on cold mornings
- Weak clips bend within a week
If you want the best custom pens for gifting, opt for a soft-touch barrel, which is a lightly rubberized coating that helps a pen slip less in a cold hand. Specify a proper ballpoint or gel refill so it keeps writing through a night shoot. It’s a good idea to choose laser engraving over a printed logo, as an engraved mark stays legible on a pen someone handles every day.
When ordering, do your research to select the best supplier. Go with the one with low minimums, like 50 units, as this suits a small crew better. Check how long it will take to receive your order, as some styles may ship inside three days while others may take longer. Be sure to confirm if the supplier can engrave the show title and season instead of a production company logo alone.
Choose an Insulated Bottle That Survives a Night Shoot
An insulated bottle makes a great gift because film crews spend so much of their working lives outdoors and in cold weather. Night exteriors run through the small hours, base camp is often a field, and a Canadian shoot can leave a unit outside in minus fifteen for a week.
Anyone working those hours learns quickly which flask still holds hot coffee at four in the morning, and that is the one they carry onto every job afterward. However it’s not a good idea to put your money on cheap bottles, as they let a crew down in two predictable ways:
- A single-wall metal bottle loses heat within the hour
- A poorly sealed lid soaks everything else in a set bag on the first van ride
- You should go with the finest quality bottles, which can be done by keeping the following points in mind:
- Look for vacuum insulation between two walls to ensure the temperature stays steady.
- Get a screw lid instead of a push-fit one, as the thread holds the contents in when someone throws the bag into a truck
- Ask for a powder-coated finish instead of a gloss one, because powder coating can take a lot of beating without showing signs of wear.
Another good idea is to order custom bottles, so you can have your logo designed on the side. Keep it to a single color, so it won’t scratch off within a season.
Endnote
A wrap gift is the last thing a production says to the people who built it. If you choose it with some thought, it stays in a kit bag for years and reminds the crew that the show valued them.