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Renting your camera
I apologize in advance for this not being totally a Varicam question but, it is ‘about’ a Varicam 😉
I am interested in renting out my camera to help pay the bills when I’m not using it. Thing is, I know nothing about the rental game. Anyone here that rents their camera out from time to time want to give me some advice ?
I am specfically interested in what documentation you require before agreeing to rent to someone. What forms you use and how you protect yourself against loss. The insurance agent I talked to seemed to think there was no coverage availible for theft only damage. This has scared me a bit.
I would love to only rent to people I know but, all my friends are too cheap and just wait till I’ve had too much to drink and talk me into helping them for free.
Be happy for any advice people may have thru private email or posts.
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5 Replies
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First of all, stop drinking.
SW
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What would be the point of living then ?
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Great reply, Steve
You never seem to amaze me.Ray Palmer, Engineer
Salt River Project
Phoenix, AZ
602-236-8224 office
There are three types of people in this world, those that can count and those that can’t. -
I know some people with whom I’d trust my life, but not my VariCam!
I’ve rented my camera only once, to a great guy and a terrific shooter; he treated it with great care and returned it in pristine condition. Even so, I am very reluctant to rent it out again.
In this business, a job can pop up in an eye blink; being without a camera forces you to either rent or do the unthinkable – turn down work.
Perhaps you could consider packaging the camera and yourself as either operator or camera assistant; that way you could be in control and on the spot to say something like, “no, you can’t submerge the camera in the swimming pool or tie it with twine to the hood of a bouncing dune buggy.” This also avoids the almost irresistible temptation some have to explore the depths of the engineering menus requiring a trip to Japan to reset.
Good shooting!
Leo
Director/CinematographerSoutheast USA
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Leo,
I’m so “on-board” the Varicam train that I now have three units in my fleet; so I sort of have to rent them out to other folks, usually camerapeople I know or who are referred to me. I’ve been in this type of boutique rental business for a long time now, mostly with Ikegami Beta camcorders and Joker HMI lights, so I’ve developed a method, based on trusting my feelings whether I’ll rent to a particualar party or not. I usually ask about the type of show, what they’ll be shooting, how big the crew is, etc. If I get any sense that the production company is ill financed, slipshod or that I’ll have trouble collecting the rental bill, then I just don’t do it.
In addition I have a rental agreement which I boilerplated from one of the big rental houses that I make the client sign and in addition I always require a proper insurance certificate for liability in the amount of one million dollars and equipment insurance to the value of the rental; so far I haven’t had any insumountable problems using these safeguards.
Also, on occassion, I subrent through another established rental house, but traditionally they only pay about 60% of the discounted price on a three day week, so I net about 42% of book price daily or 1.3x book for a week. For a Varicam body, that’s only about $650/week, so I don’t cherish this type of business and neither should anyone else who thinks these type of rentals will pay for their camera. the best scenario continues to be foe an owner/operator who can generate several days of business per week or more!
JS
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