The bulk of the stock, however, consists of work by established Southern California artists. Almost all pieces are there on consignment. When necessary, additional pieces are readily accessible from artists and collectors. Standard procedure for Art Directions film rentals is for set designers to pick out significantly more pieces than will actually appear on sets, transport them to the filming locations, select the several that work best, and return the rest. Rentals rarely last longer than two weeks.
Artists generally receive about half of the rental fees.
They rarely take on true emerging artists, but have done so. As for artists who live outside of the Southern California area, Sultan says that unless they are able to transport and store a significant number of works on the West Coast or already have an established presence there, costs of getting involved with Art Directions are prohibitive. Pattee Stayrook, owner of Art O-Rama in Santa Monica, focuses her art rental and sales operations primarily on the film industry. Originally an art director at a Santa Monica gallery, she was inspired by a set decorator to get into this end of the business and is now a consultant representing approximately 200 artists. Stayrook has built her business by making cold-calls to set and production designers and reports placing art in a number of productions including feature films and music videos.