What will *you* rent it for?

[Jeff Brue]

I'd like to just start off saying that I work for a Camera Rental facility in LA, The Camera House. I'm the Post supervisor of the Division set up to deal with Stwo. That being said I was out on the FX Guide test shoot last week, and something became abundantly clear when we showed up. Only a rental House has all the gear it takes to actually get a production through. Owner operators I'm sorry no we will probably not be renting out a set of ND's to you for 3 days. Those ND's will be busy on our film camera inventory and our own Red's. The same goes for our Cooke lenses, tripods, heads, gear heads, and follow focus. If we have them we'll rent them but gear like that goes on our cameras first.

Its been interesting seeing from a Post end the reality of getting cameras production ready, and what WILL happen to them on shoots. My favorite story is when I walked into Shipping and receving to see a shoot that had come back from the Carribean, they were not kind to the gear. It's little things like having backup bodies that can be shipped next day when you drop yours in the Ocean, that producers will eventually not want to take the risk on.

 

[Joe Aurili]

I am no rental house, but I'm willing to rent out my red #43. It will be longer term (months). I am only renting out the red and parts available from red. The situation I am targeting is someone that wants to buy a red, and put in an order, but it will be months down the line before delivery. If they rent my red package they can use it right away, and the other parts such as NDs, tripod, matte box, etc. can all be purchased now and used now, and used later when their red order comes in.

 

[Jaime Vallés]

I am no rental house, but I'm willing to rent out my red #43. It will be longer term (months). I am only renting out the red and parts available from red. The situation I am targeting is someone that wants to buy a red, and put in an order, but it will be months down the line before delivery. If they rent my red package they can use it right away, and the other parts such as NDs, tripod, matte box, etc. can all be purchased now and used now, and used later when their red order comes in.

Bingo. I'll be using my RED once I finish the screenplay I'm working on. Until then, It's long term rentals for my #791. I'll post once I have my page set up with prices, etc.

 

[Evin Grant]

Jeff, I don't think anyone here wants rental houses to go away. (I was just talking with Rufus about this on Friday) In fact I think the more cameras out there the more we need you guys to augment and allow us to scale up our productions. I find more and more my cameras are only one or two of many on a shoot. And of course almost nobody here except Jim can afford a set of S4s or Master Primes. It's going to be a very intersting ride for all of us.

 

[Mike Prevette]

I agree and have never wanted rental houses to go away. I don't intend on competing with them at all, and will always deffer to them in the right situation. That being said they need to learn to change their business model. In the past they have made all their money of accessories and Batts. So whats different now? all they have to do is not worry about the cameras so much? i know the small rental shops have been making a killing with p2 cards just renting extras to productions. it will be very interesting seeing how things shake out.

_mike

 

[chuck colburn]

Rental houses maintain equipment in proper working order.
So one feels comfortable about optical configurations and other stuff.

 

[Dexter Gregoire]

Hey Jaime,
What kind of story are you going with next?
Are you writing by yourself or with a partner?

 

[Chris Parker]

Owner operators I'm sorry no we will probably not be renting out a set of ND's to you for 3 days. Those ND's will be busy on our film camera inventory and our own Red's. The same goes for our Cooke lenses, tripods, heads, gear heads, and follow focus. If we have them we'll rent them but gear like that goes on our cameras first.

Its been interesting seeing from a Post end the reality of getting cameras production ready, and what WILL happen to them on shoots. My favorite story is when I walked into Shipping and receving to see a shoot that had come back from the Carribean, they were not kind to the gear. It's little things like having backup bodies that can be shipped next day when you drop yours in the Ocean, that producers will eventually not want to take the risk on.

Well, then someone should just start up an 'accessories only' rental house. Damn. you could make a killing off that. If I were a rental house manager, I wouldn't be scoffing at all the potential business coming up from RED owners who DON'T have a complete package. I would put more accessories in my inventory and rent the hell out of them to all these new customers.

And as for replacing a RED a client drops in the ocean. Well, I reckon by only using this website, ANYONE could get a RED replacement shipped to them next day courier. Just make a post under the RED for hire section and one may even be in the courier on the same day. The independent owner/operator would have to eat the cost of the sub-rental though, but at least the client stays happy.

By the way, you know if STwo is gonna make anything for the RED?

 

[Joel Kaye]

If I were a rental house manager, I wouldn't be scoffing at all the potential business coming up from RED owners who DON'T have a complete package. I would put more accessories in my inventory and rent the hell out of them to all these new customers.

You'd think that plan would a lot wiser than telling people to get lost. There are going some rental houses that make a lot of new friends and others that'll be like the "Soup Nazi" I guess. Whatever... it's Hollyweird after all.

 

[Jeff Brue]

(sigh)
Not tryingto be arrogant...I was at the Red booth at 9 AM the first monday of NAB when specs were announced. I love the idea of the camera, and the possibilities it opens up (and from our test shoot the imagery). That being said I moved to Hollywood from Vegas about 9 months ago, and have been experianced in all data workflow since then with clients from Nike to Coca Cola to Microsoft to David Fincher. Its not easy guys, there's a lot of resistance. Just wait until someone hires you for a day shoot, you give them their footage on a firewire drive and then 3 hours later you get a panicked call because they never told you their editor only has a 7 year old avid.

As far as rental houses goes there's a lot of other backend stuff. What happens when you put out a request in Red for Hire ? Do you do a backgound check ? Do you call up the insurance company ? Otherwise gentleman I have plenty of stories I've heard of packages just being walked away with.

In regards to an accessories only rental facility...Well the thing is that it's film inventory. From what I've heard there are approximately 750 reds being dropped into LA within the next year. Thats a lot of cameras. This isn't stuff you can just buy off the shelf it takes 3-4 months to order it and years often to build up an inventory. From what I've heard the waiting list for a set of Cookes is a year and a half. Really I tend to think that the company in town this is going to hit most is Panavision with their huge stock of F-900's and genesis's . The Red doesn't have a Panavision mount afterall.

Lastly, Evin no we're not going away. It still suprises me day in day out how many clients need to still be guided through everything, as with anything its so often about who you know and building a reputation around yourself and your company.

Also if anyone under reservation 200-300 and is interested in consigning their camera for projects in LA feel free to PM me.

 

[Jaime Vallés]

Hey Jaime,
What kind of story are you going with next?
Are you writing by yourself or with a partner?

Dexter,

I can't go into details yet, but it'll be a dramatic suspense thriller. The look of the film will be very well served by RED, I believe. Plus, there will be several effects with greenscreen where the Redcode RAW footage should do wonders, based on the few tests that have been published so far. And it's being written by both my brother and I, same as our last one. We work really well as a team.

Fun stuff. :gun:

 

[Cory Schulthies]

If all of us, set a higher price, and be a little anit - competitive then we could all make more money, and I doubt the Securities and Exchange Comission will even notice.

Renting will make RED even more affordable, but I'm more excited to actually shoot with it than let some one else shoot with it. I'm sure the first rental will feel like watching a girlfriend go on a date with another guy.