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  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

what are your thoughts on this

A

aree shonteff

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Hi red users put my red epic x in a rentail house big one and they have had my camera for approx 1 month i went to get it back as i wanted to do some filming myself and this company wants to tell me at the end of every month the days rented out??i thought ok got a call tonught of them as i still have the epic and they want it for a week rentail i said thats ok how meny days will be charged out they said 3 i said ok i asked how the month went and they told me they have rented it one time since it has been with them i asked was it a long rent they said 1 day so far but the hour counter says 56.6 hours how is this possible as only 24 hours in the day any thoughts would be kindly welcome i though shooting 1 to 3 hours a day was good going
 
It was probably rented out for a weekend, and thus only charged a 1 day rate. As far as the 3 day charge for a whole week goes, most houses either bill 3 or 4 days for a week. The weekend rental probably put up to 40 hours on the clock and the rest of the time was most likely done during the supervised check out and the return inspection of the camera. I would think that camera would rent out more frequently than a week and a weekend in a month, but coming into late spring/summer those rentals should become more frequent.
 
I've seen this before, you're getting screwed. Either don't park it there or negotiate better.

You have to remember something huge, the rental house actually makes money by you parking it there even if they don't send it out a single time. Why? Because, it is expected (however untrue this may be in practice) that a rental house maintains backups ready at all times. By you freely parking it there, they can rent out all their cams and keep yours on the shelf, only to be used in a true emergency. So then they pay you for 1 day at the end of the month, but they got 30 days of very real value as a ready backup camera. It was worth real $ every single time one of their cams went out, because they got to make money knowing their ass was covered in an instant.

Disclaimer, the two rental houses I have subleased to have been awesome and extremely ethical. The one I've heard of was a friend from out of state (I'm serious, the same thing happened to him that happened to you).
 
I ran rental companies ALL my life in this BIZ and the only way to make any money on your kit is by leasing to a Rental house and to have a fixed minimum payment per month. Plus a g/tee'd % of other rentals over and above the minimum.
If a Rental house wont pay you 4 days minimum at full price On Bank Standing Order, then take it away.
Another way which I used with South Africa was to say, you have [say 4 units] add mine 1 unit. Then Divide the total rentals of all 5 by 5 per month, and thats your cut. It worked well for both parties.
You should also always ask for copies of the rental sheets and check the numbers, as it is possible to white card your camera and it never appears on the accounts. Does the camera have built in run times you can extract?
However; IMHO you wont cover your outlay EVER by doing it the way you are at present running your biz. Because thats what it is a BIZ!
Cheers
Tonycovell@talktalk.net.
Disclaimer. I have no idea who you are working with. Just talking experience.
 
you can see in the metadata/run hours how much they shot with it..make a pay by hour deal;)
 
thanks guys very useful information Tony when you say this (If a Rental house wont pay you 4 days minimum at full price On Bank Standing Order, then take it away.)are you saying if your camera lives at a rentail house then the 4 days full price should be paid even if the camera has not been rented out like a guarenteed min payment per calender month.
 
What was the day rate you where promised?
I think a camera that is only used one day a month then it is a camera that you are better of not having. Or you need to deduct your rental price to a 1/5 or such. But I bet that the rental house you work with does not wnat to do so because they got their shelfs filled with older tech cameras that they still need to bank on so then handing out epic or scarlet for a lower price does not seem right to them.

Epics and scarlets are great camera but at least here in scandinavia the rental prices are low. You get a full package with client monitors, FF, tripods, filters etc is about 500USD/day. Then the actual camera is not the big cost of the package, in fact the tripod is probably more expansive. Some rental houses has the "get epic for free" offer so if you rent lights etc you get the camera included for up to 3 days...


And even though those cameras are great they will drop like rocks in demand. Since the camera developments are getting more rapid buy the day. I think it's vice to calculate that you need to have the camera paid of in less than 6 months. If not you do better renting. Since having your own camera is a great advantage but it also comes with some risk, when the camera fails your client will look at you... not towards the rental house. etc.
 
Björn £400 a day approx on a 60/40 split i get 60% they get 40% they charge out £650 a day
 
the money side im ok with but to rack up 56 hours on a 1 day rent i cant get my head round that even if it went out on a friday eve lets say a bank holiday weekend to you would have the kit for 3 days and be shooting nearly 20 hours a day that is what has me thinking am i being screwed
 
aree shonteff said:
the money side im ok with but to rack up 56 hours on a 1 day rent i cant get my head round that even if it went out on a friday eve lets say a bank holiday weekend to you would have the kit for 3 days and be shooting nearly 20 hours a day that is what has me thinking am i being screwed
Click to expand...

What you feel is probably right.. i.e They rented out your camera bit more than they are telling you.. but also, most likely, you got your part of the income.

In other words they might have used your camera as a "favor", like if you rent all those lamps you can get the epic for one days rent.... or such.

There is no really good way around it. One that can work is to contract with them and have the camera at your place and then you deliver it for the days they need it...

If it only rents one day per month it's no need to be on their shelf. It would do better on your sofa table at home.
 
yes I am as they are either busy or not. You are risking your camera by renting to unknown shooters and many of them in the UK, sadly are pretty rough with kit.
The rent they have to pay will fine tune the companies mind when renting your camera out as they know they have a bill that needs to be covered every month.
Otherwise it just sits there being used as a stop gap.
Cheers
Tony Covell
 
+1 to what others have said, you're probably getting screwed. I'm not really basing that off the hour count, but that should be irrelevant anyway. When you place your equipment with a rental house, or anyone for that matter, who will be using or sub-renting it, you should be getting a regular payment you have negotiated in advance that they are contractually obligated to.
 
Parking such a valuable commodity in someone else's hands and hoping they will be honest with you shows a lot of faith in humanity. I don't know if that is good for you or not, as in this regard I am an atheist.

Edit: I guess that is not entirely true. I have faith that if you give a person the opportunity to fuck you over for their own gain, they will in most cases. Maybe I'm agnostic.
 
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