By: Michelle Gross
If the world of sustainable upcycling were compared to big budget movie hits, Film Biz Prop Shop is this year’s up and coming rag tag indie. Founded by Eva Radke, 40, the self-proclaimed “Queen of Reuse,” in 2008, Film Biz, a not-for profit operating out of an 11,000 square foot warehouse in Gowanus, Brooklyn, maintains a ‘take no prisoners attitude’ on their mission to repurpose materials destined for the dumpster, and turn them into usable everyday items.
“I saw that there was an egregious, ugly underbelly to the industry that I love most which was an enormous amount of waste, so I took it upon myself to make that change,” Radke said.
Film Biz hosted Lights, Camera, Auction, last Thursday, an event run by a compendium of volunteers and apprentices, in an effort to raise what Radke described as a “winters nest egg.” Auctioneer Al Baker of County Style Auctions, hosted the evenings festivities, as items ranging in prices from a $20 Native American bust to a $400 original chalk-board went up for grabs. “It’s not garbage its opportunity,” Radke said. “We live in Brooklyn, one of the most progressive places in the world, and people see the importance of sustainable use in these materials.”
A former art department coordinator, and eternal lover of all things film, Radke grew up on the sets and soundstages of movies since the age of 19. Now, 20 years later, after years of watching beautiful props and production items tossed carelessly into dumpster after dumpster, Radke took matters into her own hands.
“What started out as a listserv of only 30 close friends in the art department in 2007, now has almost 1000 people. It helps people get jobs, it diverts a ton of waste, and what were realizing is that reuse, saves people money,” Radke said.
The Auction, which grossed over $6,800 in profit, will donate 60% of the money to various charities throughout Brooklyn, including a women’s shelter in Park Slope, Blissful Bedrooms- a volunteer based not for profit supporting children with disabilities, the Sean Casey Animal Rescue Shelter and a Senior Center in Fort Greene, Brooklyn.
“A lot of these materials can change lives. Gym equipment that we donated would have been just put inside a dumpster, is now fortifying the muscles and bones of our seniors,” Radke said.