Production Tips

If you are renting a Standard or High definition camera, a remote television production truck, or just looking for a video crew, please check out these tips.

5 Tips on Renting Production Equipment

The president of PERA offers suggestions for saving money, achieving creative goals and living happily ever after.

"Most productions rent equipment."

No veteran of the entertainment industry would disagree with the above statement. As executive director of the Production Equipment Rental Association – PERA – the ranking trade association for advancement of production rental companies – I want to share some tips that can facilitate better working relations between rental and production companies.

Our focus is on rental suppliers who are full-service, full-time, for-profit businesses with inventory, sales professionals, and service technicians.

Examples are film and high-end video cameras (imaging devices), lighting and grip equipment, support equipment, audio equipment and specialty items like camera mounts.

We do not include part-time or personal rental companies that offer equipment for rent as part of an employment agreement with the production company. Although these suppliers are a vital part of our industry, they do not necessarily have the same concerns as full-time, for-profit technology-oriented businesses.

Why Rent?
If you rent equipment because it’s cheaper than buying, you are clearly executive material. Any further discussion about cost comparisons or the internal rate of return on renting vs. leasing will be left to quiet, late afternoon conversations with your accountant.

A second reason – "renting is the only way you can get specific equipment" – is followed by "the service is great" and "it’s more convenient."

Another valid but often overlooked reason for renting is that location shooting puts such enormous demands on the equipment that you prefer putting someone else’s hardware at risk.

It’s safe to say almost all features, movies-of-the-week, commercials, music videos and episodic TV rent their gear to networks, local stations, independent videographers and corporate productions.

"An Event such as the O.J. Simpson trial or the World Cup Soccer match requires the networks and local stations to rent gear," according to Bob Wexler, president of Wexler Video, Inc. in L.A.

Despite the fact that mobile broadcast companies, networks and local studios usually own equipment, Wexler Says, "if the event is large enough, a lot of our inventory – and our competitor’s inventory – will go out.

The Olympics Rule
This leads to the Atlanta Olympics Rule of Lending: The small, independent producer is going to have a hard time finding equipment at a great price in a town that’s overbooked.

If you are dedicated to renting equipment cheaply, schedule your shoot for a less busy period. If you cannot reschedule, pay the asking price and tell your friends that even though you didn’t get a great deal, you rented anyway because it was more convenient.

Before you book equipment, you need to determine what you want. You and the crew probably will hold meetings to discuss the whole package.

If there are some choices to be made, contact any of our industry’s outstanding rental managers and sales professionals. These people spend more time with equipment than all but a handful of the most dedicated technicians. Their advice will save you time and money.

The Rental Process
Now that you are ready to get down to business, there are some logical steps:
1) Call Some Rental Companies.
"The first time you speak with a rental company you should try to get a sense of their capabilities and the services the offer," says Steve Katz, a rental executive with Victor Duncan Inc. "Ask a company about the equipment inventory, the service hours and policies, and whether or not they sell equipment and expendables."

Katz says if a rental company tells you it just did a big picture, ask if the company supplied the whole package or just the add-ons.

2) Get a written quote.
After initial discussions, the rental company provides a written quote. Negotiations between rental companies and the producer and/or production manager can be reminiscent of a World Wrestling Federation match: It’s not unusual for all involved to feel like they’ve been body slammed a few times.

At least from the point of view of the rental house, the outcome of the negotiation is not really in much doubt. The winner-and-still-wearing-the championship-negotiating-belt is almost always the producer.

Before you decide to drop kick me, face the following facts:
It’s a buyer’s market; the customer is always right; there’s more iron on the street than business to support it; there are more choices available to customers than ever before; and you’re not going to do the deal unless you get good equipment at a good price.

But remember the standard business school caveat – there’s price, and then there’s cost. In terms of our industry, this means renting from a reputable supplier you trust and testing the equipment thoroughly before starting to shoot. The so-called "great price" will come back to haunt you if the equipment fails and results in costly downtime.

Before you roll the equipment out the door, there are a few more issues to be worked out with the rental company.

3) Credit.
Be up-front about your credits and trade references. If you provide the rental company with an idea of your equipment budget, it can give you an idea of the package it can offer.

The first time you deal with a particular company, expect to pay some or all rental charges in advance. Further down the line you’ll be expected to follow the agreed-to-payment schedule as you would with all your vendors and workers.

During a recent trip to the United Kingdom, I met with local rental companies and asked, "How do they know if the American on the other end of the phone is who they say they are?"

John Faux of Sammy’s of London indicated that he likes to see a fax on company letterhead. "A written request for equipment on company letterhead give the rental companies a chance to find out if you are who you say you are,’ he says.

In the case of video equipment rentals, Brian Rose of Optex often asks unknown videographers what firm they work for and the name of their supervisor.

"We got calls from some news crews whose equipment has failed or who have arrived on location missing a piece of equipment," Rose says. "We want to help and be respectful, but first we’ve got to be sure of the circumstances. A quick call to the supervisor resolves a lot of issues.

Every rental company receives calls for equipment from people they do not know. While no one wants to turn away profitable business, no one wants to send out thousands of dollars worth of equipment without some sense of security.

One small company in the Midwest maintains a "you’ve got to talk to Ferris" policy. When a caller asks for a last minute, rush rental late on a Friday afternoon, he or she must speak to Ferris.

If Ferris recognizes the voice, the order gets booked and goes out. If he doesn’t, he politely declines the rental and provides the phone numbers of competitors who are comfortable with a higher level of risk.

4) The rental contract.
Each company has it’s own printed set of terms and conditions. Review the terms and conditions before you sign the letter of agreement or rental contract. There are a few secrets.

Most successful rental executive read their competitor’s terms and conditions and can guess with a fair degree of certainty what the competition will do in a given situation. Our association promotes the idea of uniform, basic terms and conditions throughout the industry as opposed to trying to play one company off against another.

5) Get insurance.
In the opinion of many, insurance is a necessary evil of doing business. Insurance is not such a bad idea, actually, when you realize you are completely responsible for the care, custody, and control of tens of hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of equipment.

Generally, you can cover your assets by purchasing insurance coverage and providing the rental company with a certificate of insurance. Some rental companies will sell limited, short-term insurance coverage for their property to insurance-less customers with the cost as an add-on to the rental total.

Some brokers sell short-term policies as well. Since most people do not fully understand insurance policy exclusions, nor do they have the time or inclination to become insurance experts, our advice is to purchase blanket insurance from a reputable specialist grounded in the entertainment industry. You wouldn’t hire a criminal attorney to handle your divorce.

According to Barbara Brennan of Cinema Services in Las Vegas, "If you call us from out of town and tell us that you are coming in to do a large production, you lose some credibility if you don’t have your own insurance coverage."

Our industry has many excellent, reputable insurance brokers and underwriters who specialize in entertainment industry coverage. They understand the needs of the rental suppliers and con tailor coverage to meet these requirements while working within your budget.

Good Relations
If your career is in film and TV production, it pays to keep good relations with the rental equipment companies. Most rental companies were founded by former production technicians – cinematographer, videographers, gaffers and grips. These are people who understand the conditions in the field firsthand, but now prefer the comfort of sleeping home to the rigors of location work.

Doug Pentek, a gaffer and former president of Hollywood Rentals, says, "When our rental company is hired, we become part of the production team. It’s our job to work closely with the producer/production manager and the crew."

This relationship breaks down when the renal company is treated as a commodity broker rather than a technology service provider. We are promoting increased professionalism among our members and we ask you to be mindful of the moral aspects of your business dealings.

A savvy rental executive is alerted to the possibility of problems by the following tactics: the practice of offering a "take it or leave it" price for equipment, trying to change the payment terms during the shoot and ignoring the responsibility for missing and damaged equipment.

Any of these situations does little to further your reputation or our industry. Negotiate hard, body slam the rental manager if you have to, but once you make your deal, if the rental house is living up to its end of the bargain, you owe it to your career and the profession to live up to yours.

Finally, here’s a tip on how to recognize a rental company that will be active and an industry leader a few years down the road: A successful rental company is one that reinvests profits in new equipment, updates and modernizes existing equipment and grows and improves its service facilities. In a recent survey, almost all of our members indicated they planned to increase their inventories by more than 10 percent.

If rental companies could add to their bottom lines by some soft of magic, some of the money would go to raises and some would go to taxes, but the bulk could go into the facility, technology and service – all the ingredients needed for top-notch rentals.

Depth of field: Losing focus
I know, there is so much to be concerned with on your "average" shoot, so why would you want something else to think about. But in a business where you're only as good as your last shoot, every edge you can have, and use, helps. A simple tool that is at your disposal, on every project, is "depth of field".

Controlling your depth of field can provide "free" production value and offer an extra degree of creative control to any project. It's easy to do when you know the facts. Depth of field is determined by three factors; aperture or iris, focal length of the lens and subject to camera distance. First off the iris. As you might already know, the larger the iris opening (smaller the number) the less depth of field you will have. Keep this in mind the next time you find yourself doing an interview smack up against a boring background or a distracting one, for that matter. To help with this goal you'll need to balance your lighting to the background. There's usually no need to blast away at an unsuspecting talent, especially with today's light sensitive cameras. You may be surprised how low you can go.

Another factor effecting depth of field is the focal length of the lens. Simply put, how telephoto can you afford to be. The longer the lens the more the background is thrown out of focus. Of course the longer the lens, the tighter the shot will be, and that brings us to the last factor, subject to camera distance.

The closer an object; animal, mineral or vegetable, the less depth of field you'll have to work with. You've probably come across this "problem" while doing table-top or macro work. Any, or all three of these devices are at your disposal on any job, and the best thing is they're free! All you need to do is think a little bit and plan ahead. Before long it's second nature. No more competing with uncontrollable backgrounds, and you'll be working with a tool feature film DP's have been using for years, selective focus.

Good Luck! Scott

X-tra Tip: When shooting outdoors, use the highest level of neutral density on the filter wheel as possible. If you have an older model camera with limited N.D. choices, filters for the front of the lens are easily rented or purchased.