Jonathan Stevenson
Well-known member
This weekend, I DP'd a short film on Red M and RPP's. It was amazing, everything looked awesome and reminded me that the M sensor is still an incredible achievement. Anyway, we had a scare on Thursday before our shoot started Friday...
The private owner that was renting the camera to our production called me about 24 hours before our pickup time Friday morning. He told me there was a production company in town that was having an emergency and needed to rent a red. They were offering him nearly double what we were paying for the rental. (We were paying *slightly* below his standard day rate, FYI). Not only did he try to ask me for more money for the weekend rental, but he also asked for cash. After discussing this with him for a bit, I was able to convince him that we would be writing him a check for the amount we had agreed upon originally, considering we had booked the camera with him over a month ago. Friday, upon picking up the camera, this owner was extremely short with me, claiming that we "owed him big time" and were "totally screwing him over" because he could've potentially made much more on a last minute rental that weekend. However, we were able to get the camera and shoot the movie.
Had he pulled the rental on us, our shoot would've been completely ruined. We had a SFX makeup girl flown in and would've never gotten her back. Our location we secured was a one time deal, we'd already paid insurance, actors, crew, craft. Basically, had the rental been pulled, our entire budget would've gotten completely wasted on nothing.
Now, had the private owner called me 3 weeks before our shoot saying, "I have a better offer," fine. I get it. We would've had ample time to secure another rental and found a Plan B. But 24 hours before? I think as a renter, you have a duty to commit to your rental agreements, just as the production company commits to the terms of the rental. And what torqued me the most was that the renter acted as if he was doing us a favor by not canceling our rental and ruining our shoot; that we "owed him" for allowing us to complete a production we'd worked so hard to pull together. Now, YES we were paying a rate that was slightly lower than his standard rate, so I'm willing to admit that I can understand where the renter was coming from, but still, 24 hours notice seems unreasonable.
I've been in freelance for about 5 years now. I've had to turn down some very good offers because I was already booked on another job. To me, that's just the world of freelance. You win some, you lose some, and that's why you charge the big bucks- because there's no guarantees on when the next gig will come your way. And to me, the MOST important aspect of freelance is being reliable. Reliability will ALWAYS get you a good referral. I will definitely never be renting from this particular owner again, simply because he has proven himself to be completely unreliable. I will gladly pay a higher rental rate for a more reliable renter.
Now, believe me, I understand life isn't fair. And that's why I'm posting here. I want to know from you guys- Is this really the way the rental business works? Though it may be dickish, is it pretty "standard practice" to cancel a rental on someone at the last minute for a better rate? If that's the case, thank you. I will take it with stride and just make sure to have a backup plan for next time, because I'm simply not as well versed in the camera rental world to know if this is the way things really work. I would love everyone's input here! Thank you for your time.
(Here's a RAW screenshot from the footage from yesterday. It's a horror short about organ theft! :001_cool
The private owner that was renting the camera to our production called me about 24 hours before our pickup time Friday morning. He told me there was a production company in town that was having an emergency and needed to rent a red. They were offering him nearly double what we were paying for the rental. (We were paying *slightly* below his standard day rate, FYI). Not only did he try to ask me for more money for the weekend rental, but he also asked for cash. After discussing this with him for a bit, I was able to convince him that we would be writing him a check for the amount we had agreed upon originally, considering we had booked the camera with him over a month ago. Friday, upon picking up the camera, this owner was extremely short with me, claiming that we "owed him big time" and were "totally screwing him over" because he could've potentially made much more on a last minute rental that weekend. However, we were able to get the camera and shoot the movie.
Had he pulled the rental on us, our shoot would've been completely ruined. We had a SFX makeup girl flown in and would've never gotten her back. Our location we secured was a one time deal, we'd already paid insurance, actors, crew, craft. Basically, had the rental been pulled, our entire budget would've gotten completely wasted on nothing.
Now, had the private owner called me 3 weeks before our shoot saying, "I have a better offer," fine. I get it. We would've had ample time to secure another rental and found a Plan B. But 24 hours before? I think as a renter, you have a duty to commit to your rental agreements, just as the production company commits to the terms of the rental. And what torqued me the most was that the renter acted as if he was doing us a favor by not canceling our rental and ruining our shoot; that we "owed him" for allowing us to complete a production we'd worked so hard to pull together. Now, YES we were paying a rate that was slightly lower than his standard rate, so I'm willing to admit that I can understand where the renter was coming from, but still, 24 hours notice seems unreasonable.
I've been in freelance for about 5 years now. I've had to turn down some very good offers because I was already booked on another job. To me, that's just the world of freelance. You win some, you lose some, and that's why you charge the big bucks- because there's no guarantees on when the next gig will come your way. And to me, the MOST important aspect of freelance is being reliable. Reliability will ALWAYS get you a good referral. I will definitely never be renting from this particular owner again, simply because he has proven himself to be completely unreliable. I will gladly pay a higher rental rate for a more reliable renter.
Now, believe me, I understand life isn't fair. And that's why I'm posting here. I want to know from you guys- Is this really the way the rental business works? Though it may be dickish, is it pretty "standard practice" to cancel a rental on someone at the last minute for a better rate? If that's the case, thank you. I will take it with stride and just make sure to have a backup plan for next time, because I'm simply not as well versed in the camera rental world to know if this is the way things really work. I would love everyone's input here! Thank you for your time.
(Here's a RAW screenshot from the footage from yesterday. It's a horror short about organ theft! :001_cool
