Crunch Time - Need Rental Recommendation

[Sad Max]

For a friend shooting his current project here in Los Angeles. He's in need of a "great" camera (by which he means something in the class of a RED, preferably a RED of one flavor or another) for a five-day shoot, for under $1000 rental (presumably including insurance).

Any suggestions?

 

[Ryan Patrick O'Hara]

If you are doing a 5-day shoot in a row, that can count as a 'week', in which most LA rental houses charge 3-day-week rate. You're not going to find insurance and a camera for that rate, likely. You can however, likely find a low-rate R1 owner who will go with the camera and be a 1st or something for maybe that much and waive insurance. That is a tough price to ask. If you have production insurance, it would be much easier. Be prepared to not have professional accessories like high quality mattebox, follow focus, lenses, and support. You'll likely not be seeing the name Arri, Oconnor or Zeiss much. More like Bogen, Nikon, and RedRock.

It's not going to be easy... if you have insurance, I'd be happy to point you to a couple rental houses in LA which give the best rates I know of... but for what you are looking for... CraigsList seems to be the most appropriate place to start looking.