Meet the women who provide the cars for 'Stranger Things'

Based in Atlanta, Y'allywood Film Cars bills itself as the first woman-owned and -operated picture car company. It might not be a household name, but it has been helping to create some of the most popular television and film projects of the past few years. Most notably, Y'allywood provided many of the vintage rides seen in Netflix's "Stranger Things." Atlanta Magazine recently ran a profile on the company and its owner.

As the film business has grown in Georgia, and in Atlanta specifically, so too has the need for period-correct cars to place in movies and TV shows. Beth Aylward, the founder of Y'allywood, hopes to fill the gaps. With Aylward, the other two pillars of the company are Jeana Lopeman and Stacy Frasure.

As a member of the Screen Actors Guild, Aylward has worked in the business for several years and appeared as an extra in several TV shows such as "Seinfeld," "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and "Married with Children." Through her experiences, she saw room for improvement in the picture car industry, especially in the way cars' owners are treated. This excerpt from the story lays out the main issues: 

At that time in L.A., she says, booking for picture cars almost always went through extras casting companies — folks were booked as “extras with cars” according to Aylward, and union drivers and extras typically received a good rate for the use of their vehicle — anywhere between $200 and $400 per day.

 

When she moved to Atlanta in 2005, however, it was a different story. The film industry hadn’t fully made its way east yet, and there wasn’t much work to be found. As the industry grew, she made connections with other picture car owners on various productions and learned many were going through extras casting for car calls — and weren’t getting booked for what Aylward considered a fair amount. Their “car bumps” were lower than the union rates Aylward had been used to in L.A. Aylward also said there weren’t generally extra pay bumps given for precision driving — a type of skilled driving that isn’t quite flying through the air or getting into a high-speed collision like a stunt driver, but that does require experience and training.

With Y'allywood, Aylward wants to ensure people are treated well and paid adequately. Now, production companies can directly link with car owners without going through the hoops for hiring extras. For more information about the company, which has booked cars for more than 40 productions so far, and a look at its stock of vehicles (it's not just old cars) visit Atlanta Magazine and yallywoodfilmcars.com.