Phoenix native Steve Joyner once sold computers...now he helps create dreams on screen!

Q: What does a property master do on a film?
Steve Joyner: The property master on the film is in charge of all the props—basically the things that the actors hold and the things that they do. We have a wide range of responsibilities, you know, it could be anything from a hi-tech computer to making sure that the horse has the right saddle on it.

Q: What college did you go to?
Steve: Arizona State University. I'm an electrical engineer.

Q: How did you get into this?
Steve: I was working at a computer store way back when personal computers were brand-new. The store where I worked rented a bunch of computers to a small movie and a week later they came back and said, "You know, we don't have any people who can run these computers and make sure they're working on set. Can we hire you away for a week?" My boss was willing to let me go for a couple of weeks. I went out there and worked with them and met a lot of the local people. From that one little movie, which was called Campus Man, I met people in the local film community. They then hired me to do bit work on commercials, or if they needed a hi-tech prop or something unusual made. I met more and more people and then I finally moved to Los Angeles and began doing it full-time.

Q: Now you work with the art directors and the director to discuss exactly what you need. Do you work with storyboards?
Steve: Yes. A lot of times storyboards, at least on the Spy Kids movies, particularly Spy Kids 2, Robert [Rodriguez] works closely with Mark Beard, the storyboard artist. Mark and Robert actually have this system where they could draw on the computer screen in color—the pen goes right on the screen. In real time, Robert can sort of rough out the designs and from there we go and work with our department to build a lot of the props. I mean, on Spy Kids 2, the submarines, the helicopter, etc.—they were all designed that way. Once Robert sketched them out with a storyboard, we used that as an official blueprint to build the actual props.

Q: Is it also your responsibility to go and get the linens, the books, and other stuff that would be in Alexa's bedroom?
Steve: That's a really great question, because that really delineates the difference between the property master and what's called the set decorator. The set decorator would bring the bed, the bookcases, what's on the bookcases, the linens, the curtains, the carpet in the room.

The art director works with the painters to paint the room the right color, and to put the windows in, the glass, the doors, the door hardware, that kind of thing. The prop master would then focus on the key things....Say Alexa was reading a book in bed—we would bring the book. The book typically is custom-made unless it's something known off the shelf. But if it has to do with the story—"Alexa finds this treasure map in a book"—we make the book, we bind the book, we do the artwork for the inside of the book and actually integrate it so it looks like a real book. So those are some of the differences.

Q: What is the biggest project that you have worked on?
Steve: Definitely all the Spy Kids movies were the biggest, because everything was unique. On Spy Kids 1 we had the airplane and the spy plane, which were basically built from sketches. We built five of them for different actions.

Q: What happens to all those wonderful props after a movie is finished?
Steve: Remember at the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark where the ark disappears into a large government warehouse, which just goes on forever? Well, Robert here has taken over a portion of the jet hangars of a closed airport here in Austin. The things he likes to keep are stored in this hangar—it's enormous; you could park a jet plane in it, and it's full of different things. There are crated-up props and different pieces of sets and set dressings and things that were built for him. So he has a collection going—all these relics from different movies. It's kind of a neat thing.

Q: How long have you been working on Spy Kids 3D?
Steve: Probably since November 2002.This was a very fast one. We were on Spy Kids 1 for close to a year and Spy Kids 2 for close to eight months. So I spend a lot of time in Austin!

Q: So we have one silly question—who is your favorite superhero?
Steve: The Silver Surfer. He doesn't get a lot of shouts out and he's a good guy. I just thought it was cool that he could go anywhere he wanted on that surfboard, and what could be better than surfing in the cosmos? It was a beautiful image. It was always intriguing.