Pick the scene. We’ll tell you what the camera actually needs.

Six jobs prop money gets hired for. The little stage is a stand-in. The stacks you put in front of a real lens are at CasaNarco.

Make it rain. Slow motion is a lie detector. Paper that is too thick, too small, or printed like a party favor falls like confetti. Keep the straps on the table for the cutaway, and let loose bills do the air.

• MV-14

  Make it rain

  Slow motion is a lie detector. Paper that is too thick, too small, or printed like a party favor falls like confetti. Keep the straps on the table for the cutaway, and let loose bills do the air.

• HT-03

  The duffel hits the floor

  The wide sells the volume. The insert sells the print. You do not need every sheet in the bag to be a hero. You need the ones turned toward camera to be. That is the whole trick, and it is the legal one.

• TH-01

  The thumbnail pile

  A thumbnail is a poster that has to load on a phone. One sharp stack beats a mountain of mush. Creators use it for finance videos, unboxings, and the cold open where somebody counts.

• PP-88

  Wrong decade, right money

  Crisp new hundreds in a 1980s office is a continuity error with a price tag. Aged prop money is for stories that already happened. New series is for the penthouse that was staged this morning.

• TR-09

  The training table

  Film schools, loss-prevention classes, and camera tests all need something that handles like cash and spends like paper. Label the exercise. Treat it like a prop, because that is what it is.

• DS-1M

  The million-dollar doorstop

  Not every stack is a plot point. Some of them hold a door and make a guest stop walking. A million on camera, used as decor and a punchline, still has to be prop money. The laugh does not change the rule.