Archive for May, 2009
Wednesday, May 20th, 2009
I make it a point to check out the PHOTO+VIDEO section of Craig’s List from time to time and it’s a pretty scary place. The first thing I notice, being a rental firm, is the number of private individuals offering to rent their equipment.
Oddly enough, they charge either way too much, or way too little. Either is cause for serious concern. People (and companies) know full well that offering to rent anything to the public in this section of Craig’s List is against the CL policies. The PHOTO+VIDEO section is designed for individuals to SELL their privately-owned photographic, video and other related personal property. It is not for the rental of equipment, studio space or the sale of pornography, yet those items appear on a daily basis, typically occupying up to a quarter of the section. Craig’s List staffers don’t seem to have the time or inclination to police the site for these obvious violations of the User’s Agreement.
While rare, people are actually being robbed and killed through their personal contact with a CL poster. Just browse the listing for complaints. Bait-and-switch, broken or obviously stolen equipment, fake posting just for kicks, and one of my favorites – the poster who tells you it’s a “professional” item. I know pro gear – and that’s not it.
Equally hilarious are posters that tell you how new and unused an item is, even though it was discontinued ten years ago, and they want more than the old retail price. Did they think we would forget? A Picasso may gain value with age, an Azden wireless will not.
If you dare to try to rent something from a CL Mystery Poster, and I can’t well recommend it, be aware that they are most likely uninsured, have no way to help you in the event of equipment failure (which can wipe-out the day’s shoot as you go looking for replacement gear evaporating your “deal” and possibly getting you fired), they will tell you that you broke it and must now pay for it, the package is deficit in accessories and other necessary items (so you need to go somewhere else to make the stuff work anyway). And then there’s the guy’s who wants to go out with the gear as a bundled package including labor for an extremely low price, often less than the rental items themselves at a real& legitimate rental dealer.
He may be a master of his craft, lighting, grip, DP, camera operator, etc., but if that is the case, why isn’t he (or she) working on “real” projects? I think you already know th the answer. You’re better off with swine flu.
I have even heard tell that some of these ultra-freelancer’s will somehow be injured on the set, won’t even notify you or the Producer for weeks later, and hit you up for Workman’s Comp for a year or two. No workman’s comp you say? You just gave this guy your house, car, and future earnings. The amount of the claim could be in the millions. Time to hire a lawyer or two.
There are many legitimate rental and sales dealers that post for sale items on Craig’s List. But this is of concern as well, if they are willing to violate the Terms & Conditions of posting items under the guise of an individual, a clear violation, how trusting should you be?
Trying to stay under the radar is often times a compromise of law. No business permit, no State Seller’s Permit, no insurance, no FEIN, not even a location. Sure they may sometimes charge less, they work out of their parent’s garage. Just a phone number – and it’s a cell phone.
Do you really want to expose yourself to this, expose yourself to risk by picking up gear from a guy’s apartment livingroom, the smell of dog’s and yesterday’s socks, and something un-identifiable burning in the kitchen? Now that I’ve scared you near to death, do everyone a favor and rent your equipment from a real rental firm.
Even if not HSR, pick a real brick-and-mortar operation that has resources and resource in the event of catastrophe. Remember, if the worst should happen and you as Producer is called upon to testify to something, and it comes out that you picked your crew (or part of it) from a Craig’s List posting, you may not meet the minimum threshold of responcibility and would be liable for whatever may come.
Boo.
Tags: castastrophe, death, Freelance, livingroom, rip-off
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Tuesday, May 19th, 2009
A boastfull assertion one might say, yet completely accurate. By that, I mean when you rent an item, or group of items, we anticipate your need and applications (we actually ask you) and create a coordinated package that takes into account the fact that when you get to the set, it rarely resembles what you thought it would be. Having been on 100’s of sets, I can assure you that if your package doesn’t have completeness and the ability to make interface changes, you will be in a world of hurt. By way of example, at HSR, we give you enough batteries to shoot all day (10 hours) and ofter times provide alternative powering options and dual-bay chargers. If that means we have to give you four batteries, so be it. Some rental firms give you 1 battery. Good luck. At HSR you get two 16Gb (or larger) SxS or P2 cards free and included with your EX1/3 or HVX/HPX rental. Ever try to shoot with 1 8Gb P2 card. Some rental companies seem to think that’s enough. We don’t. Some companies give out a low-ball quote and then ask if you want any memory cards, which are billed separately at an often times high rate. Goodby deal. Is this car available without a steering wheel?
Does your rental camcorder have a microphone mount? If it does, we provide a microphone, often times a Sennheiser K6ME64 or 66. Most rental companies provide nothing, some even take the mic-mount off. For shame. HSR provides, as a matter of routine, all the necessary interface cables. Composite, stereo audio, USB, Firewire, HDMI, YPbPr and HD-SDI. We know you won’t be using every cable, indeed, you may not even use a one of the, but nonetheless, they are there. What about an owner;’s manual? I’m glad you asked. Every device, from simple to aadvanced, goes out with an Owner’s Manual. This has always been our policy. Whether on CD-ROM or paper, it’s there. Here’s something really cool. If your’e reading this, your already on our site. When done with the Blogging, back up to our main page and in the upper right side is a MANUALS category. Click on it and BOOM !! Over 250 complete .pdf owners manuals, able to be printed or downloaded. Heck, I have manuals for equipment I don’t even own up there. You will find a manual for everything we carry, however. And of course, there is no charge. So in conclusion, HSR gives you a larger more complete rental package, we charge you less, we have more favorable rental terms and policies, and, yes, Our Package is Bigger than their Package.
Tags: Manuals, Package
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Tuesday, May 19th, 2009
Forgive my play on Bill Shakespeare’s immortal words, but it it an important question. When and where to use a Depth-of-Field adapter can be the difference between a sellable project, or a better class ranking. Let’s face it, two otherwise identical projects, shot exactly the same with the same camera, lighting, sound, talent, everything, but one person properly used a DOF (Letus) adapter and the other person did not. Well, unless it’s for the adult entertainment industry, or a behind-the-scenes project, the DOF user wins. The elegant focus controls afforded by a Letus adapter give a filmic impression and the big-ticket feel. No longer are you limited to a front-of-lens wide angle or telephoto adapter. It wouldn’t give you DOF control anyway (unless you used a long tele and backed up to the next town). If everything in the frame is in focus, as 1/4, 1/3, 1/2 and even 2/3in. chipsets tend to create, the lok is flat and not very impressive. But a DOF adapter can open up you choices in lenes, focal lengths and apertures. Here at HSR, I carry 20mm Primes all the way up to 500mm with ten stops in between. Even a few zooms. Where possible, I have Karl at Cinetech press-fit aluminum film-pitch gears on them so they come follow-focus ready. Both my Nikon Nikkor sets as well as my Can SSC’s. Now you can pick whatever you want and need. Gone are the limitations of yore. If Shakespeare had a EX1, a Letus with a few prime’s, he’d be a filmmaker not a playright. Who will you be???
Tags: DOF, Letus, Nikon, Shakespeare
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Tuesday, May 19th, 2009
How do you differentiate between a real rental firm and a sales organization that rents equipment? Indeed, there is a difference. Recently, several customers have told me that they have encountered several rental companies, especially the “newbees”, that are charging sales tax on their rental. How could this be? After all, renters just want to rent, not own.
Why are renters being charged tax? At HSR you are never charged tax on rental. It all goes back to our beloved State of California Board of Equalization. Here’s the deal: If a company purchases equipment for resale, they use their State seller’s permit and avoid taxes. When they sell the item, sales tax is assessed to the buyer and that amount is forwarded through the Board of Equalization eventually finding its way the California General Fund. If, however, a company pays the sales tax upfront on their purchase (like HSR does) then the customer is not assessed a sales tax. Yes, it costs HSR more to buy equipment and inventoy it, but it save the rental customer money.
Now that the sales taxation rate has skyed to 9.75%, a company that charges tax on rental can blow your rental budget by about 10%. That means you aren’t getting something you wanted or needed because your equipment budget was just lowered by 10%. Real rental companies realize this and just pay the tax. It’s the right thing to do. I have even heard that some rental firms will quote you and won’t tell you of the 10% hike until you are checking out.
Surprise !!!
“We ordered $1500.00 in rental gear and now the bill is $1638.75 ???” Like I said, surprise. That’s not a game we choose to play - and you shouldn’t either. Rental-tax-charging companies should be more upfront, and admit they really want to sell you the equipment - not rent it. Sales are clean, bing, bang, boom and away you go, salespersons commissions intact.
But in rental, a commission program is virtually impossible to implement. Believe me, I’ve tried various programs to commission rentals over my fifteen years and it just don’t work. The ironic thing is, if the rental firm (recall: sales firm in sheeps clothing) payed the sales tax at the time they purchased the equipment, they could recover (repatriate) the entire amount when they sell the once-rental item. The Sales Tax Report has a section on the top of Page 2 just for that. If they did it the right way, customers wouldn’t have to pay tax on rental, and they would get their paid tax back.
I guess it comes down to a lack of experience that newbees will need to work through. If you must rent an item elsewhere (and frankly I can’t reccommend it) ask if they charge tax on rentals. If they do, ask if they would reduce the rental amount by the tax rate. We here at Hollywood Studio Rentals just feel you deserve more that undisclosed tax trickery.
What it comes down to perhaps is “Do you want to be a rental house or not ?” We do.
Oh, and by the way, HSR doesn’t sell anything except true rental value. No tax here.
Tags: budget, Sales tax
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Tuesday, May 19th, 2009
How is it, you may ask, that almost every rental firm says they have the lowest prices? It would seem to defy logic, unless everyone has and quotes the same price, which they don’t. It all comes down to the expense structure of the rental company (or any company for that matter).
Let’s say a particular company has fifty employees. Each employee has been around ten or more years and averages $25.00 per hour, full time. If you do the math, 50 employees x 8 hours per day x $25 per hour x 10 work days per pay period. That totals $100,000 in payroll every two weeks. To pay the employees (only) that company needs to generate over a tenth-of-a-million dollars in profit (not volume) every two weeks.
Even if they made $100 on each item, they would have to rent 1,000 of them. Fat chance. A company of that size must charge you more for the same or similar rental items than a smaller firm (like HSR) to simply survive. At HSR, we say the light early, and made the appropriate changes in the company to insure long-lasting profitability and survival. In fact, our changes were so effective, that we have been able to bring in many new products in sufficient quantities to cover the market needs (AKA Letus products).
Yes, we moved to a smaller location, and it definitely has a warehouse look feel, but do you need to rent your gear from a jewelery store? If you decide to - you’re ‘gonna pay. Even in a simplified environment, we have all the cool stuff. A special room for camera set-up and focus/test, large front counter to issue and return equipment to, modern computer and point-of-sales systems, and all the truly necessary infrastructure to provide exceptional service. We don’t, however, have leather chairs and a cappuccino machine. We don’t really give away swag, but if you want a cold water, we carry Sparketts.
What it all comes down to is answering your needs with the newest gear at the lowest prices, liberal and understanding company policies and a cheery, knowledgeable rental representative. If you have rented here before, you know that the “way we roll” (Sorry).
Back to the lowest price thing. Have you ever gone to a competitors web site only to find a huge list of gear, but no prices? Who has the time to call in for every individual price? If you don’t see prices – beware, they can quote anything. Un-priced sites surely slow down the making-a-budget project. With HSR it’s all there, published and easy to access. All of our rate card are .pdf downloadable and printable so you cane build your budget from a hard copy document. Easy, Fast. Accurate. Has someone else quoted a lower price? That would be surprising but could happen. HSR has a printed and published rate low price guarantee. How that works is outlined on the Low Price Guarantee document found elsewhere in this site.
Basically, if you are quoted a lower price, let us know. If it’s verified, we will beat it by 10%. The are some exceptions and restrictions (like the guys on Craig’s List that work out of the back of their van or from their coffee table). What it comes down to is this. We charge less because we can. We have less overhead, and since most of our gear is new, it’s covered by manufacturer’s warranties, so on-going maintenance costs are ultra-minimized.
Less can be more. More savings, more new products, more customer attention.
Tags: Discount, Guarantee, Lowest Price
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Friday, May 15th, 2009
Hi there - Robert here.
Many of you have noticed that HSR has increased our Letus products inventory by many fold. Our inventory now numbers 10 systems, from Extreme’s to Elite’s all the way up the Ultimate. We are now a Letus Authorized dealer, the biggest this side of the Mississippi River !!! I bought not only the DOF adapters, but all the cool trimmings such as the Version 2 risers, PL-mounts, EF/EOS mounts, optimization kits for EX1 and HVX200, and more. Yes, we still custom build risers for specific packages, but the V2 fits a whole bunch of camcorders and its overall construction and materials is first rate.
But with the large number of adapters, I have had to up the number of lenses - everyone takes 3 to 7 pieces. That means I need 70 lenses, each cleaned, collumated and equipped with a film-pitch gear. Ooouch !! The Nikon’s are running $400 - $600 each (though I still rent most for $25.00.) as the popularity of DOF adapters has sky-rocketed the EBay and KEH prices and the competition has now drawn in high-level productions, and still photographers as well. Worry not - I’m buying up EXC+ Nikon’s when ever and where ever I can find them to meet the demands. As an option, take a look at the Canon FD-mount SSC’s. SSC stands for “Super Spectral Coating”, it’s Canon’s response to the enhancing coatings that Nikon has (and is) using. Current Canon EF/EOS family of lenses are a bit “dryer” and much like how Zeiss’ look. I will go into optical coatings at a later time.
Well, that’s my first blog entry. I will try to more wordy in the future.
More to come.
Tags: Canon, Letus, Nikon
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