Prop Man: From John Wick to Silver Linings Playbook, from Boardwalk Empire to Parks and Recreation by Ross MacDonald and Steven Heller
By definition, a prop is any item that an actor handles or touches on-screen. A letter opener brandished by the Dowager Countess of Grantham is a prop, but the desk she places it on is classed as set decoration. Curiously, only the latter is worthy of an Oscar; the former, to the chagrin of many a propmaster, is not. Why this prejudice? Why no props for props?
Perhaps it is because props are expected to be overlooked. They are items that further the drama but, if done right, never disrupt it. On the rare occasions that movie props enter the public eye, it is usually for the wrong reasons—as when Alec Baldwin accidentally killed a cinematographer with a prop gun loaded with actual bullets.
