Rental House Monopolies

[Anonymous]

WHY ARE KEYS NOT ALLOWED TO RUN PACKAGES OF GEAR ON COMMERCIALS IN TORONTO? RENTAL HOUSES CAN NEVER GUARANTEE THE PERFORMANCE, STOCK OR CONDITION OF GEAR AND RARELY PROVIDE 24/7 SERVICE & SUPPLY WITHOUT A WHOPPING SURCHARGE.  WITH WHITES ON THE CUSP OF SECTION 13, WILL PRODUCTION COMPANIES FINALLY STAND BEHIND THE KEYS WHO BUST ASS FOR THEM AND RENT CREW GEAR, OR WILL TORONTO EARN THE TITLE "BOLLYWOOD WEST" INSTEAD OF "HOLLYWOOD NORTH".[/b]                    

[Anonymous]

Good Question!

I was recently on a job where someone had a piece of gear which was absolutely necessary to protect the camera from about 10,000 dollars worth of damage. No one had thought of this in advance, but as a professional, they happened to have what was needed in my truck.

Production made a huge deal about renting it and finally said that they could do it "just this once" if they said the payment was for a gas receipt.


The only plausible explanation I have heard for this Toronto weirdness is that the production co's get kickbacks from the rental houses for a percentage of their gear rentals. If they rent properly maintained, tested and working gear from Crew they lose this.

What's an hour waiting for a replacement 18K when you get 1% of your rental back for free!!! Woohoo

In LA where keys own their own gear, there is such pride in it, and everything is so well cared for. It is a professional embarrassment to pull something off of YOUR truck and have it not work. Here it's a shrug of the shoulders and a walkie call to the PM.

I know that I would supply some excellent and unique gear that could save productions time and money each day, if only they would pay for it. They expect us to bring a ton of stuff for free and I am sick of it.                    

[Anonymous]

Yes, I have heard this issue discussed by keys many times. There are many a senior technician working in this city who had their own packages before the big companies took over - that was the only way you could get a package here then.

There's a DP I know who had purchased his own Kino-flo kits. PM's wouldn't want to pay for them cuz they said that the package truck from X-company has them on it.

So the DP struck a deal with them - he said that as soon as a Kino off the truck did not fully fire-up all of its tubes, he would bring out one of his personal Kino's - at which point production would pay for it. On most shoots, the PM would eventually give in after realizing that nearly all the Kino's coming off the truck were faulty.

The other problem is the undercutting of the rental houses. They will often say "rent our trucks and we'll give you a set of Cooke S4's and an uprgraded camera package at X-price" - sweetening the deal to a point where no owner/operator can compete.

This is definately a major factor seperating us from our american film cousins. We lack that pride in ownership of our own craft. It's like being a carpenter who is given a new tool box and workshop on every job.  

I think that to change this trend - keys should even consider banding together with their best boys/girls to start putting together small packages that can grow. As my anectdote illustrates - once you can prove to the beancounters that gear from keys is a better thing - that is half the battle.

Oh, and make sure that your trucks have cool paint jobs - I saw that in New York on a crew once - cuz style points count!