Rental Companies--Love 'em or Hate 'em

B

BlackBearStudioSYstems

Member
Hi All--
Wanted to get some feedback on experiences/thoughts about renting dollies, jibs and track from rental companies. The topic came up in another thread and got me thinking about how independent filmmakers feel about renting.
It would be great to get some feedback, as I'm heading the project to get products from Black Bear Studio Systems into rental houses across the country in the coming months.
Thanks all--
John King
Operations Manager
Black Bear Studio Systems
Innovative. Filmmaking. Equipment.
www.blackbearstudiosystems.com
 
I rent everything, all the time. My business is built around rental companies, I get access to higher paying clientèle and make more money.

good luck with your venture.
 
I'm all about the rental companies as well. My lighting needs change as much as the stories I help tell. Thus being able to custom order my package per film is a great advantage. Having insurance is the key. Everyone is safe, confident, and good to go.

-ryan
 
There are certain types of equipment that I have inhouse that are either used very frequently or are not availible for rental (I have about 250K inventory). Everything else I try to rent as every customer has different needs.

For example owning a F-35/HPX3700 would be too expensive or I do not need to own a dolly as I dont use it very frequently. One client might ask for a 5 foot jib, the other will want a technocrane. Having a very expensive piece of gear and making payments for it every month is riskier than having it sit at a rental house and get it only when needed.

Having the ability to cater to high and low with rentals gives me the option to:

-rent out my existing gear
-offer any camera package the client needs
-not turn away anybody because I dont have access to expensive gear.
 
The rental houses that we use are vital for our business, as a new company, we cant afford to buy kit so if we rent it, we get really high quality cameras and sound kit at a reasonable price that we can just pass onto the client. At the minute we get insurance for the kit that we use for the amount of time that we use it.

As long at the kit is well maintained and everything that we need it included, then we are happy!



Tom.
 
In my experience, renting makes sense for exactly what Emre mentions, items that are not used for every shoot. Renting also makes sense if you have clients who demand higher quality, you can rent the latest and greatest, whether that is a RED One, 3700, F35, etc. OTOH, I own all of my own gear and certain items like grip and lighting, have been outstanding investments and have paid for themselves many times over.

Other items I own, like my PortaJib, honestly, I rarely use them, therefore they were not a great investment. If I had it to do over again, I would rent a jib for the exact reason Emre describes. I have a PortaJib Traveler, great for tabletop and indoor shoots with low ceilings. But I can't tell you how many shoots I do where what we really need is a 20-30' jib, not a 5' jib.

I am hoping to sell a series next year. Depending on the budget I can sell it at and the amount of episodes we are signed for, I am debating about renting versus buying 2/3" cameras. I own a 170, a Canon 5D MKII, DVX100A, all cheap cameras. But when it comes to using $20k to $50k camera packages, renting makes more sense, unless you sell a big series and need the cameras every day for months in a row. But if we sell a 13 episode run, we will probably shoot that in about 2-3 months, it will make more sense to just rent for shoot days.

A good rental house can be an invaluable partner, especially when travelling or when you are in remote circumstances. Since the demise of tape cameras, it does seem that cameras have become more reliable though.

I guess in the end, it all depends on what kind of material you are shooting, how long at a time you are in production for, how demanding your clients are and what kinds of budgets you deal with. If you deal with low budgets, renting may not make sense. If you deal in medium or high budgets, I think renting is a great way to go. I do both.

Dan
 
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I live in a major American Metropolitan area. Our rental house (only one major one) has 9-5 Mon-Fri hours. A friend of mine in Israel told me the they have 3 24 hour rental houses in his town. I know proper planning is essential, but imagine being able to get spare bulbs or extra needed gear at 3 AM.
 
"Don't be gentle, it's a rental"

My local rental house is very flexible (though it seems not as flexible as those in Israel). Hours 8-7
Monday - Saturday and 9-6 Sundays. However, if you need them in earlier they'll show up.

Also, they are very supportive of those starting out. They have an "insurance waiver" if you don't
have insurance. Great for students. Of course, God help you if you drop that HPX-500!
 
I was thinking about this again and it occurred to me the following irony. "rental houses, love'em or hate'em."... If you hate them, you probably like to purchase your own equipment and then, in most cases will try to rent it out when not using it, thus yourself becoming a small rental house. Just thought that was funny.
 
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