How to Make Friends and Influence People...

[Finner]

You can state what you want Mitch but I have first hand faced Panavisions "Will not rent to Red shoot's" policy. I have been told this by a Panavision manager. I would tend to think that You Mitch would know more about Abel Cine's policies then a Panavision employee and hence would feel a Panavision manager would probably know more about their policies then you would.

 

[Noah Kadner]

You can state what you want Mitch but I have first hand faced Panavisions "Will not rent to Red shoot's" policy.

It may well be the work of some local rogue office managers but no way in that is "official policy". What a silly non-issue.

Noah

 

[Finner]

It is not a rogue manager when it has been Faced by red owners in Toronto, Vancouver and Calgary.

It is by no means a non issue when I have had to rent from Clairmont Vancouver because of this Panavision policy.

 

[David Mullen ASC]

The person I asked at Panavision about these continuing rumors a few months ago said that there was no specific anti-RED rental policy in place -- he said the same thing that Jeff Allen said.

But I tried to rent an Arricam package from Panavision Vancouver a few months ago and they gave me a Panaflex package instead because they said their inventory of Arri cameras and PL-mount lenses wasn't big enough to support our production. They had the items, but not all the items I needed for my production. My impression was that they couldn't support a lot of Arri / PL-mount productions, I think part of the problem was that they didn't have enough 3-perf Arri cameras to cover my feature. After I got a tour of the facility, my impression was that it was a rather piecemeal Arri camera / PL-mount lens collection they had there inherited from some other company, and though a few features were using it, it was more commonly used for commercial shoots using 435's.

I'm doing two RED features now with lenses from The Camera House. I didn't even think of going to Panavision here in Los Angeles, not for PL-mount lenses.

 

[David M]

I think we need confirmation from the President of Panavision, Bob Beitcher (Woodland Hills) on what Panavision's policy is or is not on sub rentals on Red Projects.

To have the Marketing Department in one Panavision office allow rentals while another office denies a request for glass and accessories for Red Project is confusing and counter productive.

If there is a policy, the policy is not uniform throughout Panavision Land.

I believe everyone has had unique experiences while trying to rent lenses or accessories for Red Projects - some positive and others negative.

Cheers

Well, here's his email address, and he does actually answer emails. (This is a JPEG graphic so Bob won't get spammed by data miners)

 

[Mitch Gross]

You can state what you want Mitch but I have first hand faced Panavisions "Will not rent to Red shoot's" policy. I have been told this by a Panavision manager. I would tend to think that You Mitch would know more about Abel Cine's policies then a Panavision employee and hence would feel a Panavision manager would probably know more about their policies then you would.

You're certainly correct that I would know Abel Cine Tech policies best - I help set them. But I was meeting with two Panavision employees - two people who were very high up the food chain and were intimately knowledgable about not only the question at hand but this thread in particular -- and they told me that there is no grey area to this policy. The only question is availability, which is an issue for everyone all the time. If it is available for rent, it is available for RED owners. If you want to rent the damn stuff just to sit it on your desk and admire then you can.

 

[Mark L. Pederson]

If it is available for rent, it is available for RED owners.

This was the official word I got as well.

 

[Mark L. Pederson]

Just a quick note to say that Abel is happy to rent glass and anything else in our inventory to anybody.

And for the record - Abel has, and continues, to provide Offhollywood with fantastic service and rates on Red jobs every week. Now ... if I can just convince them to buy even MORE Cooke S4s ....

 

[Francis Kenny]

What a company does publicly, and what it does privately, are sometimes different. Those with an issue with Panavision must understand that Panavision is a privately owned corporation (87% of the controlling stock) and it can choose to rent, sell, buy to whomever it pleases. One reason we use Panavision is that they have a "camera system". Parts and pieces all fit together to make our lives easier. They are also in the business of promoting their own products. Genesis is their product. I am sure that there is much truth to both sides of this story. But it is a non issue. Panavision does not have to publicly come out with a statement regarding their rental policy. Why should they? Read between the lines.