Greeking 101: What It Is, Why Productions Do It, and How to Do It Right

You've got a hero prop covered in trademarks, a kitchen set full of cereal boxes, and a legal department that wants none of it on camera. Welcome to greeking. This guide covers what it is, why productions do it, the four ways to get it done, and the one mistake that turns a clearance fix into a clearance problem.

What "greeking" actually means

Greeking is the set-decoration practice of obscuring, altering, or replacing real-world brand names, logos, and trademarks on anything that appears on camera. The name comes from the old typesetting phrase "it's all Greek to me" — designers once filled layouts with pseudo-Greek placeholder text, and the term migrated to the art department, where making a Coke can not read as a Coke can became "greeking the can."

If you've ever noticed a character drinking from a beer bottle with a label you can't quite place, typing on a laptop whose glowing logo is a circle instead of an apple, or walking past a delivery truck for a company that doesn't exist — you've seen greeking done well. When it's done badly, you notice the gaffer tape.

Why productions greek

Three reasons, in descending order of how much they'll ruin your week:

• Trademark and clearance risk. A recognizable brand on screen — especially in an unflattering context — invites cease-and-desists and lawsuits. Your production's E&O (errors & omissions) insurance carrier expects unlicensed marks to be cleared or covered, and an uncleared logo in a key scene can hold up delivery.
• Nobody rides for free. If a brand wants screen time, that's product placement, and someone pays for it. Art departments greek everything that isn't a paid placement so the placements that are paid stay valuable.
• Story control. A real brand carries real associations. A fictional or neutralized brand keeps the audience inside your story instead of wondering whether the airline paid for the shot.

(Standard disclaimer: this is production craft advice, not legal advice — your clearance coordinator and production counsel make the calls on what needs covering.)

What has to be greeked

More than most people expect. A typical walk-through of a location set flags:

• Packaging — food, beverage, pharmacy, cleaning products, anything in a kitchen, bathroom, or bodega
• Electronics — laptop lids, phone backs, TV bezels, headphones, small appliances
• Wardrobe — logo tees, branded sneakers, hat crests
• Vehicles — badges, dealer plates and plate frames, bumper stickers
• Signage and environment — storefronts, posters, vending machines, delivery boxes
• Print and paper — magazines, shopping bags, coffee cups (the big one)

The four ways to greek — and what each costs you

1. Remove, turn, or swap

The cheapest greek is the one you don't do: turn the label away from camera, pull the branded item, or swap in a generic. Works until the director wants the label side, the prop is scripted, or continuity locks you in.

2. Tape, paint, and scuffing

Camera tape and a paint pen will kill a logo fast — and look exactly like tape and paint in 4K. Acceptable deep in the background; risky anywhere near focus. Adhesive residue on rentals is its own conversation with the prop house.

3. Greeking stickers

Purpose-made sticker graphics sized for common packaging and props: fictional logos, neutral patterns, color blocks, and label replacements that read as "a brand" without being one. Fast to apply, clean to remove, consistent across multiples, and photographed-in-place for continuity. This is the workhorse method for episodic schedules — a stocked kit greeks a kitchen set in minutes, not hours. (It's also what we make: browse color pages, creative pages, and fictional logo stickers.)

4. Custom fictional brands

For hero props and featured packaging, the art department designs a full fictional brand — "Heisler Beer" and "Morley cigarettes" are famous rental-house examples. Highest quality, highest cost, longest lead time. Standard for props the camera lingers on; overkill for the 40 boxes in the pantry behind the actor.

5. Fix it in post (reluctantly)

Digital paint-outs work — at VFX day-rates, per shot, multiplied by every take and angle the logo appears in. Post supervisors would like you to know that a $4 sticker applied on set is the cheapest visual effect in the industry. Save the paint-out budget for the logos nobody caught.

The trap: uncleared "greeking" graphics

Here's the mistake that catches even experienced crews: covering a real trademark with an unlicensed graphic just trades one clearance problem for another. That funny fake logo someone found online? It has a creator, and possibly a rights-holder. Random stock art, a PA's design, or a sticker from who-knows-where can all put you right back in legal review.

The fix is to use graphics that are pre-cleared for on-screen use — art that's licensed, documented, and safe to hand to your clearance coordinator with a straight face. That's the entire reason Greek-Kit exists: every page in the Ultimate Greek-Kit is licensed and royalty-free for film, TV, and commercial production, so the sticker that covers the trademark never becomes its own problem.

A practical on-set greeking workflow

1. Walk the set with the shot list. Greek to camera, not to completeness — what does the lens actually see at this coverage?
2. Triage by proximity to focus. Hero props get custom or premium treatment; mid-ground gets stickers; deep background can take tape and turns.
3. Standardize your kit. Stock common sizes for bottles, cans, boxes, and electronics so multiples match. A folio and cutting tools keep pages organized and application fast.
4. Photograph everything you greek. Continuity will thank you when the scene picks up in three weeks.
5. Log it. A one-line note per greeked item (what, where, which graphic) makes your clearance report painless.
6. Strike clean. Residue-free removal protects rentals and location relationships.

Quick answers

Do background brands always need greeking? Policy varies by production, network, and insurer — many err toward greeking anything legible. Ask your clearance coordinator early, not on shoot day.

Is "incidental use" a safe harbor? Sometimes, in some contexts, in some jurisdictions — which is exactly why crews don't gamble delivery on it. Covering it is cheaper than litigating it.

Why not just blur it in post? Blurs read as blurs — they pull the audience out of the scene and still cost VFX time. On-set greeking is invisible when done right.

What's the fastest way to greek a full kitchen set? A stocked sticker kit and two PAs. Sort pages by category ahead of the day — retail and packaging graphics for the pantry, color blocks for bottles and jars.

The short version

Greek everything the camera can read that you don't have a deal for. Use the cheapest method the shot allows, but never cover a real trademark with an uncleared graphic — pre-licensed greeking stickers exist so the fix can't become the problem. Your future self in the delivery-requirements meeting will be grateful.

Greek-Kit makes the first fully licensed, royalty-free greeking sticker system for film, TV, and commercials — 102 pages of pre-cleared graphics. Start with the Ultimate Greek-Kit or browse all collections. Questions? See the production FAQ.

More from the Greeking Handbook: VFX Tracking Markers Explained covers the tracking-marker side of the craft, and Greek-Kit vs. GreekDots vs. DIY compares the kit against dot sheets and DIY printing.