The following is a preview of a column in the spring issue of Protocol, The Journal of the Entertainment Technology Industry.
Do you wish there was more training available for your lighting and grip service technicians? That was one of the questions PERG asked in our survey of rental companies last fall, and the answer was a resounding “yes!” Well, the good news is that service technicians will have an unprecedented opportunity to get that training this summer. PERG is once again teaming up with Filmscape Chicago to provide service technician training in conjunction with the tradeshow. Filmscape’s PERG Rental Days training, as we are calling it, takes place Thursday-Saturday, June 22-24. The public Filmscape tradeshow is the Saturday and Sunday, June 24-25.
Tentative Grip/Electric courses include a two-day advanced ARRI service class covering the Skypanel series and M-series HMI heads, an advanced class on lighting control networks given by Ratpac Controls, an Astera QC and service course, and an advanced lighting and grip stand repair course from American Grip. For those who don’t take the two-day ARRI training, there’s a ton of other options available including classes from Kino Flo, Hubbell, Luminex, Creamsource, Litegear, Chimera, and Ragtime. Filmscape’s PERG Rental Days training comes on the heels of the extremely well-received Duclos Lens Tech Training, powered by PERG, and produced by Filmscape in February 2023 (see related article in this issue).
According to PERG’s Service and Technical Training Survey, 62% of grip and lighting companies said there are service tasks that they would like to be able to perform inhouse that would require additional training. 90% said that the availability of training was a moderate to significant obstacle to expanding their capabilities, with 60% classifying the obstacle as significant. The survey found there was broad interest in topics like lighting control networks, servicing HMIs, servicing LEDs, general electrical theory, deep product feature orientation for the more complex LED lights, and similar topics.
Most grip and lighting rental companies (roughly 90% of them) reported that they could save moderate to significant downtime by being able to perform more advanced service tasks and that they would save on shipping costs sending equipment for repair. For more than half of the respondents solving this issue would represent a significant benefit to their company. Despite the benefit however, cost and travel were big roadblocks. Only 26% responded that they would be willing to pay travel expenses for their employees to attend training anywhere in the US and an additional 16% said they would pay for travel if it were within 1000 miles of their business. About 58% would only send employees for training if it were provided locally.
For those feeling reticent, consider this. Filmscape’s PERG Rental Days training represents probably the best value a rental company looking for training could hope for. It offers the opportunity to complete sought-after training from multiple manufacturers, hosted all in one place, and in conjunction with a chill, congenial mid-west trade show that offers a wide variety of other public educational sessions besides the ones reserved for rental companies. The training takes place in the center of the country at a major airline hub, and we are working to establish hotel deals for PERG members.
We are grateful to manufacturers who have come onboard and are sending their technicians who can provide the depth of training that is required. There is an undeniable need to establish annual training opportunities of this type to support rental company service technicians on an ongoing basis. That’s why PERG and Filmscape are making an investment in this event. PERG Rental Days is fee-based training. Proceeds go entirely to Filmscape to help ensure this kind of event is viable in the future. We think that lighting and grip rental companies will see a return on their investment from this opportunity and encourage you to send your techs to join us in Chicago this summer!
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