Elaine Hensley and Scott Moore
Nestled in an industrial park near the Nashville International Airport is a 3,200-square-foot warehouse brimming with hundreds of thousands of sundry items, stored away by category. Shelves packed with religious items like menorahs, crucifixes and holy texts are just a few feet away from another section housing medals, trophies and sports memorabilia. There are park benches, vintage and modern lamps, rugs, fans, surfboards, jukeboxes, candles, incense, pet costumes, street signs, holiday decorations and all manner of glimmering knickknacks. A shelf at the back of the warehouse is home to a pair of bins labeled in Sharpie “PROP MISC. DRUGS” and “PROP COCAINE.”
This is Art Dogs Props, the prop house run by entertainment-industry veterans Elaine Hensley and Scott Moore. For more than a quarter-century, the two have worked in production design and art direction on music videos, commercials, photo shoots, TV series, feature films and more. In the ’90s, as they amassed more and more specialty props and furnishings for their own gigs, they — along with a third partner, with whom they’ve since parted ways — realized they could split a storage facility for their curated collections. Ultimately, they began to rent out their wares to other folks in the industry.
Hensley says in the early days, their bread and butter was “music videos — by the beaucoup.”
“Three or four a week,” adds Moore. “And photo shoots. Not so many commercials back then, I would say. What’s interesting for us now — it’s branched into online stuff. For Instagram, for TikTok, for streaming projects.”
These days, music videos account for about a third of Art Dogs’ business, and commercials are another third. And the final piece of the puzzle? “Here lately, tons and tons of interviews,” says Hensley — for TV shows, web series and promotional materials.
“During COVID,” says Moore, “the Carrie Underwoods, the top stars were going in studios and shooting performances and interviews for Jimmy Fallon, The Late Show, the Today show, all those things.”
About two years ago, Art Dogs moved from its location in Wedgewood-Houston’s Houston Station to its current spot at the western edge of Donelson in a process that Hensley characterizes as both exciting and grueling. They’re currently in the process of doing inventory, and while they don’t have every single item cataloged, they have more than a few.
“We probably do have 20,000 photographs on our phone that are categorized,” says Moore. “We have all of our sofas, all of our rugs, all of our lamps.”
Higher-end furniture pieces are among the most popular items they rent out, and people like their collection of taxidermy. (An especially popular taxidermy piece features a pair of stuffed squirrels in a canoe — when the Scene asks what the squirrels are named, Hensley says “Scott and Elaine,” of course.) But neon signage is probably their most-rented of all. On a wall near the loading bay of the warehouse are a few dozen custom-made neon pieces. Some sport all-caps slogans like “COLD BEER,” “COUNTRY MUSIC,” “BURGERS” and “HONKY TONK,” while others are in the shape of guitars, martini glasses, bowling balls or cowboy boots.
To avoid trademark issues, most productions avoid filming signage with slogans like “Drink Coors Light” or “Enjoy Jack Daniel’s” when they’re on location. You’ve probably noticed that food and drink in films and TV shows are often “Greeked out” — meaning trademarked logos are covered over with generic labels. Hence the popularity of Art Dogs’ extensive collection of generic but glorious neon pieces.
Unfortunately for random Nashvillians who might like to sort through Art Dogs’ massive, expertly curated collection, the space is open by appointment only, and there’s a rental minimum. Moore and Hensley simply stay too busy with their own projects to keep it open for walk-in perusing, and they do a sort of consulting to art-department folks who might have a general idea of what they’re after but need some guidance.
“You know, there’s plenty of projects,” says Hensley, who has an Emmy for something she shot with Monday Night Football a couple decades back. “Someone’s always looking for a prop. It’s definitely increasing, especially since COVID has slowed down. … Because of our experience and everything, we do consider this helping people.”
Hensley and Moore note that out-of-towners seem to enjoy shooting in Nashville not only for aesthetic reasons and, shall we say, after-hours entertainment opportunities — but also for just how agreeable the city’s production folks are.
“It’s a tight-knit community here,” says Moore. “The whole film community is. And we all have our little niches — there’s the movie people, there’s the commercial people. We all work together.”
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