| PERG News: April 2021 |
In this Issue:
Cinematography World
Friday, April 23, 2021
PERG Terms & Conditions Agreement Update
PERG has updated the AICP/PERG Terms and Conditions (PDF) with three additional provisions (12, 13, and 14) regarding Rights, Remedies, and Confidentiality.
If you are using the old AICP/PERG Terms and Conditions we ask that you stop using it and replace it with the updated version as soon as possible to avoid market confusion.
The three new provisions are protections that production companies commonly require to be added as addendums to the rental agreement. The decision to address these customer concerns was prompted by large studios attaching addendums to the rental house standard terms and conditions. The wording of the addendums was overly broad and, in many instances, asked rental companies to confirm rights that a rental house would have no way of verifying or confirming to be accurate. By writing these terms into the rental agreement, the rental company can be certain that it is stating what it knows to be true and within the control of the rental company. Doing so also helps preempt language being added by the customer in a redlining process, which can force terms that are less favorable to the rental company.
The new provisions were written by ESTA’s attorney and were then reviewed be AICP legal counsel before being voted and approved on by the PERG Council.
The Rights provision is designed to make it clear that the rental company will have no ownership in the intellectual property rights created using the rented equipment.
The Remedies provision is intended to state clearly that the rental company may not bring an action in equity to enjoin the owner of the material from airing their works until legal matters involving the rental company are resolved. The rental company may only bring a contract action against the production company for breach of contract.
The Confidentiality provision is designed to take steps to protect the production’s “confidential information.” The primary “information” that production companies want to remain confidential is the digital content on storage devices. In reality, the rental company should not be in possession of the producer’s confidential information as the content should be removed from the storage devices prior to the return of the equipment (see PERG Data Security page to download the Recorded Content Disclaimer and Media Handling Guidelines).
The AICP/PERG equipment rental agreement is published by AICP and ESTA to facilitate their respective members’ efforts to engage in the business of equipment rentals. The form agreement is provided merely to provide a sample of the types of provisions that a member may find desirable to protect its legal rights. No member is required to use the form agreement, or any provision contained in the agreement. Each member should make its own unilateral determination of whether the form agreement, or any portion of the agreement, meets its business and legal needs, considering the marketplace it serves and the applicable laws of its jurisdiction.
PERG Software Survey
So far, over 90 companies have responded to the PERG Rental Software survey, giving us a window into eleven different commercial rental software solutions, plus responses from companies that developed their own proprietary systems. In any given year, some PERG members are looking to transition to a different rental software system that they hope will better fulfill their needs. Although PERG members don’t all face these decisions at once, every member faces it at some point, and the process of shopping for, learning, and using rental software is time consuming and often frustrating. It can be hard to know if a given software solution is really going to be worth the operational setback during the transition and whether it will be worth the cost.
Wouldn’t it be helpful to get straight answers from a person who knows the software backwards and forwards, from a rental company like yours? The PERG Council wants to find out if we can leverage the collective expertise of our members to provide our industry with better resources.
To test the waters, PERG conducted a survey of rental companies to find out what software they are using and identify power users who are willing to meet and share information back and forth. The short, seven-minute survey measures rental companies’ satisfaction levels with primary software functions as well as some more specialized features. The survey asks what kinds of events, meetings, or message boards members would be most interested to participate in.
The results of the survey will be emailed to companies that participate. For those who have already taken the survey, the interim results will be delivered on Wednesday, April 28th. Rental companies that have not already responded to the survey can still do so (TAKE 7-minute SURVEY). When it comes to data, more is better. The survey remains open until end of day Friday, May 7th.
PERG Coffee Break: Benefits of Equipment Leasing vs. Traditional Financing
April 28, 2021 at 10 am Pacific, 11 am Mountain, 12 pm Central, 1 pm Eastern
Join us for an informative PERG Coffee Break about equipment finance and leasing solutions for rental companies. Equipment finance experts Kim King, CLFP (National Equipment Finance Association) and Toni Rios (DYNAMIC) will share insights on the direct benefits of leasing for rental companies in our industry. A brief presentation will be followed by audience Q&A, so bring your equipment finance questions and share a cup of coffee with us!
If you can’t make it for the livestream, catch up with us on YouTube. You’ll find all past PERG Coffee Breaks and Happy Hour events.
Dynamic Discoveries - COVID-19 Impacts on the Camera Rental House Market
Rental Houses in Markets That Recovered Quickly Benefited
As the production industry continues to grow globally, markets outside of the US who recovered quickly from Covid saw work flock to their regions, allowing rental companies located in those markets to get back to work far quicker than their US competitors. The Canadian film market saw a large uptick in production much faster than the US production market did. Vancouver and Toronto soaked up work from Los Angeles and New York, who lagged behind as Covid’s constraint restricted early production in those markets. Once the US markets began opening back up, markets like New Orleans and Atlanta led the way as Covid restrictions lessened.
Big Budget Productions Lifted Larger Rental Companies in the Short Term
Productions that were well-financed ended up starting to shoot faster than smaller productions. With the stakes at all-time-highs, speed, security, and efficiency moved to the forefront of the production process. This meant that the larger rental companies who typically serviced features filled early demand and won jobs, while the smaller productions such as commercial and short-films, and therefore smaller rental companies, saw less demand earlier into the pandemic.
Rental companies refocused 2020’s CapEx budgets towards paying wages of key employees, fixed expenses that were difficult to re-negotiate (insurance, rent), and paying down vendor balances to keep accounts in good standing. These decisions were made all while customers stopped payments and new revenue was difficult to find. This burden has impacted 2021’s purchasing abilities and has opened the door to competition against smaller companies who were nimbler through the crisis.
2020’s Challenges Have Created Supply Issues for 2021
While the camera rental house community is particularly resilient, 2020’s challenges forced business owners and managers to make difficult decisions that may have lasting impacts on how they run their businesses. Rental houses are now facing a “bullwhip” return in demand but have found themselves unable to secure supply in the same capacity that they previously could. This is a direct result of 3 driving factors:
1. Manufacturers are forced to operate with reduced capacity, in turn producing fewer units, and are faced with shipping delays. This has caused production cycles and sales processes to slow down significantly.
2. Traditional resellers are stocking less equipment than they did pre-covid. Many manufacturers have clamped down on credit terms, creating back orders that are compounded with the delays in execution from their own challenges stated above.
3. Credit requirements have become tighter from traditional capital sources to rental companies (equipment finance companies, private capital sources) which took away their purchasing power.
Rental houses have looked towards alternative solutions to acquire equipment. DYNAMIC has taken steps to evolve its business to better help those clients, so that they always have affordable supply to meet demand.
Hunger for Content Leads to A Brighter Path Forward
After witnessing the resilience of the global market and demand for content pushing through from major TV streaming services, there is no doubt that the remainder of 2021 brings about hopefulness. In every economy throughout all of history, there is a bumpiness in progress rather than a steady climb. So often, the point of despair happens right before the upturn to the wave of success. As a tight-knit camera rental community, it’s our time to push ahead, together, and make it through to the next wave of evolution for film and television production.
Dynamic Discoveries is courtesy Dynamic Rentals, 4131 Vanowen Pl, Burbank Ca 91505, 818-636-1775, newsletter@dynamicrentals.com.
DYNAMIC continues to build our LTR (long-term rental), LTL (long-term leasing) and sub-rental business. Our strategic partnership with CODEX allows us to provide CODEX’s Emmy Award winning workflow solutions and MediaVault storage. Dynamically delivered - worldwide, on an on-demand basis.
Up until now, there hasn’t been a reliable channel to rent standardized production and post production storage. The result of this partnership means that we are now able to offer CODEX MediaVaults, providing networked attached storage (NAS) via long-term rentals or leasing options to our rental house clients, studios and post houses.
Multiple CODEX Media Docks and Media Stations have also been added to our inventory for rental, along with multiple 8TB Transfer Drives for high-speed back-up and cloning of the original camera data. This workflow equipment enables productions to not only take advantage of a complete solution from capture to delivery on an opex basis but also to leverage the 2:1 reduction in storage footprint that CODEX’s High Density Encoding (HDE) enables with ARRI ALEXA workflows. The CODEX workflow provides an end-to-end workflow solution that can be deployed on set, near set and into post.
Contact us at workflow@dynamicrentals.com or visit dynamicrentals.com/workflow to learn more.
The ASC Awards, Virtually
All dressed up and no place to go, except virtually. This is what the ASC clubhouse looked like on April 18th for the 35th Annual ASC Awards ceremony—the celebration of the 100th anniversary of the American Society of Cinematographers—which, for the first time, took place online. Attendees mingled among the virtual tables of a Mario Brothers-like Clubhouse landscape, “sitting down” with friends and colleagues from their own office, living room, or workplace. Screen grabs are courtesy of PERG council member Stosh Durbacz (Fujifilm).
PERG members Stosh Durbacz (Fujifilm), Ben Yee (The Camera Department), Bianca Halpern (BECiNE), and Matthew Duclos (Duclos Lenses) with George Willis CSC ASC, and Robert Primes ASC.
PERG members Stosh Durbacz (Fujifilm) and Anna Schmidt (Dynamic) with technology guru Gary Adcock, Susan Saranchuk (Executive Officer at Canadian Society of Cinematographers), Francois Gauthier (ARRI Canada).
PERG congratulates this year’s distinguished honorees and award winners. PERG recognizes the generosity of the many PERG members that sponsor the ASC awards every year.
This year’s distinguished honorees were:
ASC Board of Governors Award: Sofia Coppola
Michael Chapman & Allen Daviau Student Heritage Award:
Michael Chapman Graduate Category: Ai Chung, A Young Tough
Allen Daviau Undergraduate Category: Elias Ginsberg, Milk Teeth
Haskell Wexler Student Documentary Award: Melanie Grams, Driven
Feature Film
Erik Messerschmidt, ASC for “Mank” (winner)
Phedon Papamichael, ASC, GSC for “The Trial of the Chicago 7”
Joshua James Richards for “Nomadland”
Newton Thomas Sigel, ASC for “Cherry”
Dariusz Wolski, ASC for “News of the World”
Spotlight
Katelin Arizmendi for “Swallow”
Aurélien Marra for “Two of Us” (winner)
Andrey Naydenov for “Dear Comrades!”
Documentary
Michael Dweck and Gregory Kershaw for “The Truffle Hunters” (winner)
Viktor Kosakovskiy and Egil Håskjold Larsen for “Gunda”
Gianfranco Rosi for “Notturno”
Motion Picture, Limited Series, or Pilot Made for Television
Martin Ahlgren, ASC for “The Plot Against America,” “Part 6”
Anette Haellmigk for “The Great,” “The Great”
Pete Konczal for “Fargo,” “The Birthplace of Civilization”
Steven Meizler for “The Queen’s Gambit,” “End Game” (winner)
Gregory Middleton, ASC, CSC for “Watchmen,” “This Extraordinary Being”
Episode of a One-Hour Television Series – Commercial
Marshall Adams, ASC for “Better Call Saul,” “Bagman”
Carlos Catalán for “Killing Eve,” “Meetings Have Biscuits”
François Dagenais, CSC for “Project Blue Book,” “Area 51”
Jon Joffin, ASC for “Motherland: Fort Salem,” “Up is Down” (winner)
C. Kim Miles, ASC, CSC, MySC for “Project Blue Book,” “Operation Mainbrace”
Episode of a One-Hour Television Series – Non-Commercial
David Franco for “Perry Mason,” “Chapter 2”
Ken Glassing for “Lucifer,” “It Never Ends Well for the Chicken”
Adriano Goldman, ASC, ABC, BSC for “The Crown,” “Fairytale”
David Greene, ASC, CSC for “Impulse,” “The Moroi”
M. David Mullen, ASC for “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” “It’s Comedy or Cabbage”
Fabian Wagner, ASC, BSC for “The Crown,” “Imbroglio” (winner)
Episode of a Half-Hour Television Series
Ava Berkofsky for “Insecure,” “Lowkey Lost”
Greig Fraser, ASC, ACS for “The Mandalorian,” “Chapter 1: The Mandalorian”
Baz Idoine for “The Mandalorian,” “Chapter 13: The Jedi” (winner)
Matthew Jensen, ASC for “The Mandalorian,” “Chapter 15: The Believer”
Jas Shelton for “Homecoming,” “Giant”
Cinematography World (Free subscription for PERG members)
Cinematography World is offering PERG members a FREE annual subscription to the magazine! To get yours, just fill out this form.
If you opt for the print edition option, Cinematography World will respond to you with a code and link to continue your subscription and confirm the postage fees. This offer is available for ESTA members only.
Cinematography World is a new publication with a global perspective on cinematography. The magazine’s editor, cinematographer Ron Prince, formerly of British Cinematographer, explains how his publication aims to encompass more of the cinematography eco system, with greater attention to industry partners. “In terms of the word “world” we will be not only be more geographically diverse in our coverage, but also that we will cover more of the people and organizations who collaborate together with cinematographers on productions. We all know that production is a team effort, and we want to champion and celebrate the team players.”
Cinematography World will deliver six printed editions per year and is also available in digital format. The print edition is complemented by an online version featuring additional exclusive content and a monthly newsletter.
PERG Council—A Call for Nominations
Would you like to help decide the future for PERG? PERG members are encouraged to make nominations or nominate themselves. Nominations are accepted through the end of the third quarter. The next term begins in January.
What is the benefit of serving on the PERG Council?
Make a difference to the industry. Give back. Help spearhead action on issues that are important to everyone. Make a lot of new professional connections. Represent the distinct interests of companies like yours. Have fun!
What does the Council do?
The PERG Council is the advisory body that decides the direction of the PERG group and represents PERG members’ concerns and desires in Council meetings. The PERG Council is responsible for developing our annual events, meetings, and parties; and our initiatives like RENTAL GUARD, the AICP/PERG sample T&C document, Data Security Best Practices documents, Lithium-Ion Battery Shipping documents, industry surveys, and so on.
What is the commitment for Council members?
The PERG Council are volunteers. The term of office for the Council is three years, with an option to continue after that time. Monthly council meetings are by video conference. In-person meetings are held when possible (like at trade shows), but council members can always join by video conference or phone.
How is the PERG Council different than the ESTA Board of Directors?
The ESTA Board of Directors governs the overall international trade association and are elected to office by the entire ESTA voting membership. The PERG Council is only concerned with matters related uniquely to PERG members—the motion picture/TV/commercial rental companies—which is a special interest group within ESTA. PERG Council members are appointed by a vote of the Council, in accordance with PERG Governance Guidelines.
What kind of people are on the Council?
The Council is made up mainly of principals and owners of lighting and camera rental companies. The council also includes a limited number of representatives from manufacturing and professional service companies.
Do I have to be on the Council for my voice to be heard?
Every member has a voice in the organization. Any member who has suggestions, ideas, comments, and criticisms is encouraged to speak to a Council member or the PERG manager. In general, the PERG Council members act as representatives for the general membership. But any member can take a leadership role in PERG initiatives and participate in associated Council meetings. Member involvement and feedback is one of the most important and appreciated driving forces of the organization.
What is the intended makeup of the Council?
At any given time, there are at least 9, and as many as 16, Council members. PERG maintains guidelines for its governance that include criteria for the selection of Council members. To achieve a balance of individuals and interests committed to furthering the goals of PERG, the Council considers geographic diversity, representation of camera and lighting companies, diversity of gender, age, etc.
Candidates must hold decision-making authority within their organizations. They must be able to express opinions and vote in Council meetings without higher authorization from someone in their company.
Who should I talk to if I’m interested in being on the Council?
If you are interested in serving or nominating someone to serve, speak to a Council member or the PERG Manager.
Who are these wonderful people you call the PERG Council?
Carly Barber, Illumination Dynamics
John Cini, High Output Inc
Lawrence Daufenbach, Daufenbach Camera
Stosh Durbacz, FUJIFILM North America Corp.
Derek Hammer, Hammer Lighting and Grip
Chris Konash, Panavision
Anna Mayo, MP&E (Chair)
Alex Pakarian, The Camera Division
Paul Royalty, Litegear
Sally Spaderna, Koerner Camera Systems
Scott Taylor, Taylor & Taylor Associates
Wednesday, March 10, 2021
PERG Newsletter: March 2021
| PERG News: March 2021 |
In this Issue:
PERG Council—A Call for Nominations
Would you like to help decide the future for PERG? PERG members are encouraged to make nominations or nominate themselves. Nominations are accepted through the end of the third quarter. The next term begins in January.
What is the benefit of serving on the PERG Council?
Give back. Make friends. Have a front row seat. Make a difference to the industry. Help spearhead action on issues that are important to everyone. Make a lot of new professional connections. Represent the distinct interests of companies like yours. Have fun!
What does the Council do?
The PERG Council is the advisory body that decides the direction of the PERG group and represents PERG members’ concerns and desires in Council meetings. The PERG Council is responsible for developing our annual events, meetings, and parties; and our initiatives like RENTAL GUARD, the AICP/PERG sample T&C document, Data Security Best Practices documents, Lithium Ion Battery Shipping documents, industry surveys, and so on.
What is the commitment for Council members?
The PERG Council are volunteers. The Council has four scheduled meeting annually to which Council Members travel at their own expense. The term of office for the Council is three years, with an option to continue after that time.
How is the PERG Council different than the ESTA Board of Directors?
The ESTA Board of Directors governs the overall international trade association and are elected to office by the entire ESTA voting membership. The PERG Council is only concerned with matters related uniquely to PERG members—the motion picture/TV/commercial rental companies—which is a special interest group within ESTA. Council members are appointed in accordance with PERG’s rules of governance.
What kind of people are on the Council?
The Council is made up mainly of principals and owners of lighting and camera rental companies. The council also includes a limited number of representatives from manufacturing and professional service companies.
Do I have to be on the Council for my voice to be heard?
Every member has a voice in the organization. Any member who has suggestions, ideas, comments, and criticisms is encouraged to speak to a Council member or the PERG manager. The door is always open. Member involvement and feedback is one of the most important and appreciated driving forces of the organization. The PERG Council members act as representatives for the general membership.
What is the intended makeup of the Council?
At any given time, there are at least 9, and as many as 17, Council members. PERG maintains guidelines for its governance that include criteria for the selection of Council members. To achieve a balance of individuals and interests committed to furthering the goals of PERG, the Council considers the following:
- Geographic diversity of members
- Representation of both camera and lighting companies
- Gender and age diversity
- Candidates must be committed to attending meetings and other PERG events
- Candidates must hold decision-making authority within their organizations. They must be able to express opinions and vote in Council meetings without higher authorization from someone in their company.
- Candidates must be willing to serve on a task group(s)
Who should I talk to if I’m interested in being on the Council?
If you are interested in serving or nominating someone to serve, speak to a Council member or the PERG Manager.
Who are these wonderful people you call the PERG Council?
Carly Barber, Illumination Dynamics
John Cini, High Output Inc
Lawrence Daufenbach, Daufenbach Camera
Stosh Durbacz, FUJIFILM North America Corp.
Derek Hammer, Hammer Lighting and Grip
Chris Konash, Panavision
Anna Mayo, MP&E (Chair)
Alex Pakarian, The Camera Division
Paul Royalty, Litegear
Sally Spaderna, Koerner Camera Systems
Scott Taylor, Taylor & Taylor Associates
New Subrental Tool for PERG Members
Thursday, March 18th
12 p.m. Eastern | 11 a.m. Central | 10 a.m. Mountain | 9 a.m. Pacific
Join fellow PERG members for a live demonstration of the new Subrental Availability Request feature of RENTAL GUARD. The tool enables members to leverage the PERG network to quickly locate hard-to-find subrental items. The feature is intended to help save your staff time and enable you to receive requests from other members to sub-rent gear. It is free and available exclusively for PERG members.
Come check out the demo and see how to configure your account settings to start receiving the subrental requests you want.
Cinematography World (Free subscription for PERG members)
Cinematography World is offering PERG members a FREE annual subscription to the magazine!
To get yours, just fill out this form.
If you opt for the print edition option, Cinematography World will respond to you with a code and link to continue your subscription and confirm the postage fees. To ensure you receive CW002, please sign up for your subscription as soon as possible. This offer is available for ESTA members only.
Cinematography World is a new publication with a global perspective on cinematography. The magazine’s editor, cinematographer Ron Prince, formerly of British Cinematographer, writes “Cinematography World embraces the global community of cinematographers and their collaborators involved in the art and craft of visual storytelling.”
PERG has already enjoyed the publication’s sense of collaboration. In January, Cinematography World reached out to PERG asking to how things are going in the trenches at rental companies. PERG spoke with five member companies to take the pulse and ponder the future, contributing to Michael Goldman’s piece titled The Industry Lens.
Price explains how his publication aims to encompass more of the cinematography eco system, with greater attention to industry partners. “In terms of the word “world” we will be not only be more geographically diverse in our coverage, but also that we will cover more of the people and organizations who collaborate together with cinematographers on productions. We all know that production is a team effort, and we want to champion and celebrate the team players.”
Cinematography World will deliver six printed editions per year and is also available in digital format. The print edition is complemented by an online version featuring additional exclusive content and a monthly newsletter.
In his editorial column, Price writes “Please feel free to get in touch. Please keep sending us your news and let us know about the interesting, exciting and innovative projects you are working on, that you hold dear to your heart. And we will do our very best to give you, or your organization, the credit you deserve.”
NETFLIX D&I Outreach
Many of today’s studios and ad agencies have implemented policies to use some portion of their buying power to foster the growth of small businesses that are owned or run by underrepresented groups such as women, African Americans, Latinx, LGBTQ+. NETFLIX reached out the PERG with the message that they are working to identify vendors that might fall into these categories. If your company is owned by a person in an underrepresented group, or if top positions are held by people in those groups, NETFLIX would like to know that. NETFLIX produces shows of all sizes from documentaries up to feature films, so regardless of your company size, this could represent an opportunity.
To convey this information, reach out to the NETFLIX operations department. (Contact Harry Box if you need contact information). Identify yourself as a PERG member, and say that you are responding to the D&I Outreach information in the PERG newsletter.
Pandemic’s Impact on Rental Companies
In conjunction with Michael Goldman’s piece in Cinematography World, PERG reached out to a handful of PERG members to help assess the ways the pandemic has affected rental companies. What follows are some of my notes from those conversations. (Michael’s piece included interviews with additional people as well as great photos that represent this moment in time, so please check out his piece too).
With business completely dead for two months, in aggregate, members reported revenues down 50% relative to 2020. In the 4th quarter generally revenues were 70-80% of previous year. In many markets, early recovery of the commercial market helped. By mid-June things started to come back in New York, driven primarily by commercials in July and August. The Independent Association of Commercial Producers, AICP, were extremely proactive in their response to the crisis. No small amount of credit goes to Matt Miller and his staff. By late August early September commercial business was back to normal volume.
Industry-wide efforts to gather and publish guidance—PERG’s Safe Return to Work Guidelines in April, and the Industry White Paper in June, as well as AICP’s guidelines put our industry on track to get productions restarted as soon as possible.
But aside from the obvious overall impact on volume of business, there have been other lessons from the shutdown. Erik Schietinger (TCS, New York) described the hard meetings that were held discussing layoffs and furloughs in the early days of the crisis. “The biggest lesson for us has been the value of our employees. As a company, we feel fortunate to have the talent that we have. You cannot snap your fingers and bring together a crew like this. You have to take long view. With the PPP loan and other help we were able to get through the worst of it. In the end, we only furloughed people for eight days in April and laid off two people, one of whom we were able to hire back.”
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| DGA staff of video shoot at High Output’s Charles River Studios. |
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| Pictured from left to right: Jeremy Stark, Aliza Ouellette, and Jason Kaplan of High Output’s Production Department producing a high profile streaming fundraiser, live-switching 6 zoom video feeds. |
Rental companies have had to be innovative in the ways they provide customer support, and maybe some of those innovations will stick after social distancing and mask-wearing become things of the past. Production companies established protocols that prohibited outsiders from coming on set—eliminating crossover. This was better for everyone. In fact, Chris Konash (Panavision, New York) relates for tech to make a set visit, it has to be approved all the way up at the executive level. Instead, he says, techs provided one-on-one service by talking the AC through it using Facetime, Zoom or Teams. These services have proved helpful for meetings with DPs and others, but in the end, people often want to come in and hold the equipment in their hands.
Although early on, at the beginning of the shutdown, the idea of a “remote prep” was floated briefly. ACs hated the idea. Unions hated the idea. Rental houses quickly gave up on that and instead took steps to make visitors safe in their facilities.
Erik Schietinger (TCS, New York) says “The biggest thing we did was put tablets into the prep bays. It turned out to be hugely beneficial in more ways than we’d planned. We did it to allow the prep tech to be socially distanced, so they don’t have to stand there talking directly with the ACs, but it had other benefits because we could include the rental managers on the chat.” It improved communication and made it less likely details could be lost or errors made. “That’s something we are going to stick with going forward.” Schietinger reflects, “The pandemic has taught us to be more agile.”
The Koerner Pacific Northwest Lens Summit in Portland is a favorite event for lens tech training and for ACs and DPs to ogle products from two dozen optical and accessory vendors. In 2020 the summit had to be held virtually. While hugely disappointing not to be able to host people in person at their facility, Sally Spaderna (Koerner Camera, Portland) says, “It opened door for people to attend from countries all over the globe, lens techs from Russia . . . people who otherwise would never have come.”
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| Camera prep at Koerner Camera (Photo by Maurice Morales) |
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| Matt Gromley, AC "Testing an alternative-retro-after-market macro lens gag." (Photo by Kari Fouts, Koerner Camera Systems) |
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| Reception desk at Koerner Camera, Portland, complete with sign-in sheet, gloves, and clean and used pens, touchless hand sanitizer, thermometer and pulse oximeter. (Photo by Kari Fouts, Koerner Camera Systems) |
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| Covid-safe camera prep with DP Corey Rood." (Photo by Michael Koerner, Koerner Camera Systems) |
One of the most effective measures taken by many rental houses was to have a strict schedule for clients coming to the facility. A key component (something that came out of the PERG Protocols) was the use of a Health Questionnaire that crew fill out ahead of time. It establishes that people are healthy, but it also gives the rental house a clear head count and schedule for visitors. If you know how many people are coming in you can accommodate larger crews in separate “feature” prep rooms. Andy Shipsides (ARRI Rental, Los Angeles) relates “We've really improved efficiency. Before we were very loose about people coming and going from the building. Now everyone is set up with appointments. It got us thinking about being more purposeful in our interactions with clients.”
Sally Spaderna reflected on a change she has made in her interactions with clients. “I take more time to talk to people on the phone. In the past it was just work. Now, I will take the time to ask ‘how are things going in your state.’” The pandemic has isolated people, she says. “I have established relationships with all kinds of people including other rental companies, chatting about all kinds of things—PPE orders, COVID-related shutdowns, the US versus Canada, the weather, politics . . . I have taken the time to have that human connection. People really wanted to talk and I think I needed that too.”
Some people wondered if the increase in content bound for distribution via streaming services (and likely viewing on small screens) could start a shift towards lower resolution capture equipment. Chris Konash says “We have not seen a change in habits for capture equipment based on the intended display format. Plenty are asking for large format cameras and lenses. They still have to protect for future distribution.” Sally Sapderna says the same. “We see a lot of large format. The Mini LF is hugely popular, along with large format lenses. Venice is very popular, which may have to do with its capability when you lack light.”
“It is dangerous to bring up small screens around cinematographers.” Erik Schietinger says wryly. “It is a desecration of their craft. But I don’t see the higher-end market shifting. Over the past ten years, how many times have you heard that this new technology—the Go Pro, the iPhone, whatever—is going to change the way movies are made? Cinematographers are always going to preserve the quality of the image. I had a cinematographer shooting something for Instragram who needed to shoot in a vertical format and wanted to test cameras shooting sideways. So, in that way he is adapting to how things are going to be viewed, but that does not change his decision about what kind of lenses he uses.”
Primarily rental houses are supporting a lot more monitors and monitoring systems on set. You have more use of portable camera-top encoders and rack-mounted encoders for IP video applications. An encoder enables Wi-Fi transmission of the signal that can be watched on anyone’s phone or transmitted over the Internet. For security reasons, many productions do not send unencrypted signals over the internet, so that does not work for everyone. Crowding around the monitor is well worn tradition that has obvious advantages for communicating when several people need to give input. For now that is suspended, and even after the pandemic, the freedom of ease of access to the image is likely to continue this trend.
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| Edwin Lee, North American Service Manager with Fujinon’s new Premista 80-250 zoom at Fujifilm-Optical Device Service Headquarters in Wayne, New Jersey.
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A cottage industry has sprung up to handle live transmission to clients from set. New products like Teradek’s CUBE, SLICE and T-rax provide High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) and H.264 codecs that offer good image quality for IP video applications. The wireless video tech has become an independent crew position with wireless station that has it all, including solving challenges like connecting to the internet in remote locations and integrating with streaming platforms like Facebook live.
Mark Wofford (PC&E, Atlanta) who runs two sound stages as well as camera and lighting rental, says that many of the commercial clients and agencies have grown more comfortable with monitoring production remotely, and they have seen the cost savings from not having to travel. This is something that might change the norm for commercials.
Glenn Vanderlinden (Insight Equipment, New York) relates that in many ways the pandemic accelerated use of remote tools that were already widely using, like lighting control networks, LED lighting, and remote operated camera heads. Glenn sees the impact the pandemic has made onset and feels for the production crews. “What I hear is that working this way is more stressful for the crew. Daily testing and constant mask wearing, it is a hard way to work. In shooting, there are always obstacles. I think our industry, the way people have been acting, we’re going to hold out. In this business, if they give us a challenge, we are going to figure out how to do it.”
Generally, companies are optimistic about the second half of 2021. There is a high demand for streaming content and many people are saying it may be as busy as we have ever seen it. People also sorely miss the movie theaters.
Enjoy PERG Coffee Breaks on YouTube
In lieu of PERG’s customary in-person events, we’re holding online events to bring members together and hear from experts on topics of interest. All PERG members will receive invitation to attend the events in person, but if you miss one, they will soon be available on the ESTA YouTube channel.
- It’s More than Just Gear (Oct 8th, 2020)
- CARES Act PPP Update (Jan 28th, 2021)
- Vaccines and Legal Questions (Feb 2nd, 2021)
- Protecting you Battery Investment (Feb 23rd, 2021)
PERG looks forward to hosting a variety of online events in 2021. Possible events that are under development include:
- Demo of RENTAL GUARD’S New Subrental Feature [link to registration page]
- News and updates from CineGear, NAB, and maybe even IBC.
- Mental Health Coping Tools for Entertainment Workers
- Forward-looking discussions about production methods and technology
- Diversity and Inclusion – a trending action of major employers
- The future of rental software
If there’s a topic you’d like PERG to create an event around, let us know. We’d love to hear from you.
Toolbox Talks for Mental Health—A New Initiative of Behind the Scenes
The Behind the Scenes Mental Health Initiative wants language about mental health and respectful workplaces to become a part of every toolbox talk or safety briefing because psychological safety is as important as physical safety.
It’s not always an easy subject to talk about though, so to make it easier for those delivering these talks we are suggesting topics and providing sample language that can be used as is or tailored to fit individual needs. Find out more at btshelp.org/toolboxtalks.
It is important to acknowledge the mental and physical stressors and challenges faced by all of us in the entertainment industry and offer your team tools to help them better manage and respond to these challenges. We know that the last months in particular have been very stressful and returning to work is bringing a new set of concerns for everyone. Many people are struggling with anxiety, grief, feeling overwhelmed, inability to concentrate, changes in appetite or sleep, changes in drinking or substance use patterns, or other issues affecting daily functioning.
In addition to the sample language provided under each topic, we also offer a selection of brief pre-scripted talks. This information is meant to be incorporated into existing safety or toolbox talks and is not meant to replace other safety briefings.
For those needing to gain management approval to incorporate language about mental health into their talks, we offer some key reasons why it is important to talk about mental health and psychological safety in the workplace.
Behind the Scenes has collaborated with other concerned organizations and individuals to create the Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Initiative. A series of tools and resources has been developed to not only help you but also assist you in helping your colleagues, friends and family. Find links to additional tools and resources and information about the initiative at btshelp.org/mentalhealth.
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