PERG News

Monday, May 20, 2024

PERG Newsletter: May 2024

| PERG News: May 2024 |

In This Issue:

The AICP and PERG put on One Heck of a Party
On May 9, the AICP and PERG hosted the annual Spring Mixer at Versatile Studios in Los Angeles. Over 200 people RSVP’d for the party. Read more...

PERG Rental House Breakfast at Cine Gear
All PERG members should have received an invitation for the Rental House Breakfast at Cine Gear. If you have not received the invitation, and would like to attend, please contact perg@esta.org. Read more...

Basic Training for Entry-Level Rental Employees
When an entry-level employee starts work at a rental company, so much of the knowledge and skill essential to the smooth running of the operation is learned via on-the-job training. Read more...

Hallahan Group Offers Customer Vetting for Rental Companies
The latest rent to steal equipment schemes are becoming near impossible for rental houses to detect on their own without the assistance from professionals equipped to separate the real from fake and fraudulent identifications. Read more...

PERG General Membership Meeting at NAB
On April 15th, PERG held its General Membership Meeting at NAB. The meeting, which was held in the Cine Central area of Central Hall of the LVCC, was attended by over 100 people. Read more...

Red Flags on Certificates of Insurance
On April 30, PERG hosted a Coffee Break on the topic of fraudulent certificates of insurance. During the presentation Scott Taylor, President of Taylor & Taylor Associates spoke about the trends in fraud and best practices for vetting customers that you don't know. Read more...

The AICP and PERG put on One Heck of a Party

| PERG News: May 2024 |

On May 9, the AICP and PERG hosted the annual Spring Mixer at Versatile Studios in Los Angeles. Over 200 people RSVP’d for the party—principals from productions companies, freelance commercial producers, representatives from insurance underwriters and brokers and financial services, and of course rental company personnel from all over Los Angeles. The event is an opportunity for PERG rental companies to see the customers they service every day, and vice versa, and share some food and drink and a good time. See event photos below.

PERG Chair, Bianca Halpern (BECiNE), and Paul Royalty (Litegear) were the masters of ceremony. Sean French (Versatile Studios) made remarks on the behalf of the AICP. This year’s fun turned up to 11 with some amazing raffle prizes. Eight companies donated raffle prizes: ASTERA, Cast & Crew, Illumination Dynamics, Rental Tracker, Sher Gelb, Versatile Studios, Wrapbook, and Warner Bros. Studio.

Thanks to our sponsors for supporting the event.

PERG Rental House Breakfast at Cine Gear

| PERG News: May 2024 |

All PERG members should have received an invitation for the Rental House Breakfast at Cine Gear. If you have not received the invitation, and would like to attend, please contact perg@esta.org.

The Breakfast is held on Saturday, June 8, before the show opens. The venue is close to Warner Bros, where Cine Gear is taking place this year. The event is a great opportunity to see friends and colleagues, to speak with vendors outside the constraints of the show floor, and to enjoy at good breakfast.

We look forward to seeing you!

Basic Training for Entry-Level Rental Employees

| PERG News: May 2024 |

When an entry-level employee starts work at a rental company, so much of the knowledge and skill essential to the smooth running of the operation is learned via on-the-job training. By “training” I don’t mean that you go in a classroom and someone says, “let’s go over this organizational diagram together so you understand what everyone does here,” or “I’m going to present to you a three-part lecture on how to design an Ethernet network for lighting,” or “I’m going to show you a power point on how to prep a multi-camera package.” More often, people first learn necessary skills informally by being assigned a job that is adjacent to someone else who has experience, watching and gleaning the knowledge by whatever the person will tell them, and by osmosis. A new employee has virtually no visibility into the bigger picture. When I worked for a lighting rental company in Chicago, fresh out of film school, I was completely unaware of what went on outside my own department. PERG’s EWI Program offers an opportunity to develop resources that all members can take advantage of, to give new employees a broader view of our industry and technology.

PERG’s 2024 EWI Coordinator, Alison Cupples, has a lot of experience mentoring young people, serving as a board member for Women in Film, New England. She also knows rental, having worked for 15 years as a Sales Account manager, and managing a branch office at High Output in Boston. As part of managing PERG’s Equitable Workforce Initiative, Alison will be working with PERG members to develop virtual training sessions that will be of universal interest to rental companies for their new employees. All PERG members will be notified when training sessions are scheduled, just as PERG has done with its popular Coffee Breaks, and employees from any member company are welcome to join the sessions.

One of the first sessions Alison is working on takes a 30,000-foot view of the landscape of a rental house. Trainees will hear from veteran rental owners and managers about the staff roles including the salesperson—the client liaison, translating the client’s needs into operational duties, acting as a consult as much as taking the client’s order, shop management, inventory management, accounting, marketing, and so on. Trainees will have an inside look at the rental company’s important relationships with the equipment manufacturers. By inviting the trainees to think about the bigger project of supporting productions, and everything that goes into it, the EWI program aims to help our members shape more informed, more valuable employees, and to spark an interest in rental as a long-term career.

Other EWI educational sessions will also focus on modern cinema technology. PERG is working with manufacturers to develop educational sessions on a wide variety of basic training, from color theory and lighting control to cameras and lenses to understanding the demands faced by the crew on set, and how the rental company supports them.

Many entry level employees apply for positions at a rental company because it is somewhere they can gain skills and knowledge about the equipment. Even someone with a college degree in filmmaking has not necessarily had much exposure to professional level equipment and filmmaking techniques. When I was in my twenties, entering the industry, the most knowledgeable and professional camera assistants I knew, who were young like me, had worked for a year or two at Panavision or one of the other respected rental companies. That was a real leg up. Working day in and day out with the equipment and servicing the 1st ACs who came in to prep their cameras, an entry-level person was soon set straight on the correct way to handle precious items and the experience vastly expanded their knowledge of the wide array of specialized equipment one must know to work in the industry.

The PERG EWI program, which is sponsored by Netflix, creates opportunities for people from underrepresented groups who have a strong desire the enter the motion picture/television industry. The 2024 program is currently accepting applications from rental companies that have positions to fill and from job seekers. The program reimburses the rental companies for all costs of wages and benefits for the first six months of employment. In exchange, the rental companies that volunteer to participate in the program provide the worker with a wide variety of training and experience and give the employee the 30,000-foot view of the rental industry that they need. For more information.

Hallahan Group Offers Customer Vetting for Rental Companies

| PERG News: May 2024 |

The latest rent to steal equipment schemes are becoming near impossible for rental houses to detect on their own without the assistance from professionals equipped to separate the real from fake and fraudulent identifications. The thieves have gone so far as to create a fake website using the name of a real production company that is no longer in operation and create fake certificates of insurance. The fake certificates of insurance contain telephone numbers and email addresses that direct any outreach from the rental house to the thieves versus the legitimate insurance broker.

The Hallahan Group Inc. is a private investigation firm that is headed by Glen Hallahan and John Moran. Glen was the commanding officer of the NYPD Fraudulent Accident Investigation Squad. John was a Detective Seargent of the NYPD-FBI Joint Healthcare Fraud Task Force. Glen says, “We believe this investigative tool is one of the options a motion picture equipment rental company can use to vet unknown customers.” For $99.00 HGI will conduct a search with the goal to determine if the renter is who they claim to be, and that they are in fact a real person.

Below is the link to the HGI website and link to submit a new inquiry:

https://hginy.com/

Investigative Services – The Hallahan Group Inc - The process is as simple as uploading the customer’s application, photo ID, etc. through the referral form and request Investigate Other service.

Alternatively, you can contact them using Contact – The Hallahan Group Inc or email mailto:info@hginy.com

If sending a contact email, please be sure to mark Urgent – New Customer Investigation.

The expected turnaround is the next business day.

PERG General Membership Meeting at NAB

| PERG News: May 2024 |

On April 15th, PERG held its General Membership Meeting at NAB. The meeting, which was held in the Cine Central area of Central Hall of the LVCC, was attended by over 100 people.

PERG Chair, Bianca Halpern (BECiNE) welcomed the guests and opened her remarks by acknowledging the challenges of 2023-2024. “We were all understanding of each other's struggles and the camaraderie helped navigate through the times.” Raising her glass she continued, “Cheers to that and to the better times ahead.”

Bianca voiced a feeling that is common in the rental community, that there needs to be greater awareness among crew and customers of the value and challenges of rental companies. “Professional rental companies are foundational to every production community. Providing proper rental equipment requires long-term commitments, regular maintenance, long lead times to obtain vital items, and large financial expenditures to keep up with the latest advances in technology—these things are only available through an established rental company. Education is key, but it is just a first step, and we hope that every rental company will be part of the conversation as we provide a forum for the community around this issue.”

Bianca gave a shout out to PERG’s Coffee Breaks and User Group meetings. “PERG has hosted a lot of great educational sessions this past year. Including with Sony, ARRI, Astera, Small HD, Flanders Scientific, ProdPro, CORE, and Anton Bauer. For the past nine months PERG has coordinated User Group meetings in partnership with Rental Works, which have proved hugely helpful, and generated insightful discussion among our members that use that software. We’d love to do the same for any other rental software for which our members have the same need.”

Next in the meeting, Bianca introduced Alison Cupples, who has taken over as the new EWI Coordinator for ESTA. Alison announced that Netflix, the program sponsor, and ESTA have signed an agreement, and we are taking applications for the 2024 program. This is excellent timing as many companies will be hiring in the coming months. Since the announcement at NAB Alison has reached out to every PERG member individually to invite them to participate in the program and claim one of the eight grants that are available. For more information, please contact perg@esta.org.

Scott Taylor told the assembly about the most recent trend in COI fraud. Renters have presented doctored or fabricated Certificates of Insurance, even providing fake carrier phone numbers. (See Coffee Break – Red Flags on COIs and Best Practice for Customer Vetting.)

To close the evening Paul Royalty spoke on behalf of the Behind the Scenes Charity.

PERG Chair, Bianca Halpern (BECiNE)

PERG EWI Coordinator, Alison Cupples

Guests at PERG General Membership Meeting at NAB

Red Flags on Certificates of Insurance

| PERG News: May 2024 |

On April 30, PERG hosted a Coffee Break on the topic of fraudulent certificates of insurance. During the presentation Scott Taylor, President of Taylor & Taylor Associates spoke about the trends in fraud and best practices for vetting customers that you don't know. Amy Saenz, Claims Manager at Taylor & Taylor Associates, provided valuable insights about how a knowledgeable person can spot a fraudulent document by knowing what one should expect.

Glen Hallahan, Claims and Adjustment Consultant and Contractor at Hallahan Group, Inc. explained his company’s service to help rental companies vet new customers and verify that the person is who they say they are. (See Hallahan Group Offers Customer Vetting for Rental Companies, in this issue.)

Friday, March 29, 2024

PERG Newsletter: March 2024

| PERG News: March 2024 |

In This Issue:

PERG General Membership Meeting at NAB

You are invited to the PERG General Membership Meeting at NAB

Monday, April 15, 4-6 pm at CineCentral, in Central Hall at the Las Vegas Convention Center.

We look forward to seeing friends and associates from rental companies around the world. Come join us for refreshments and 75% socializing, 25% exciting PERG announcements! Register

PERG Equitable Workforce Initiative 2024 to Launch at NAB

NAB Sponsorship Information
Plan to visit all the PERG sponsors during NAB. And for those who don't exhibit, they'll all be at the PERG General Membership Meeting. We look forward to seeing you! Read more...

Join Sony at NAB 2024 - PERG Member Booth Tours and More

Enjoy a special tour with reserved Sony Cinema representatives and benefit from the company of other PERG members. Spots are limited. Read more...

Awareness of 3rd Party Equipment on Rentals

Heads of production will routinely agree that professional motion picture camera and lighting equipment rental companies are an integral part of the production process. These companies help our directors realize their visions and deliver finished spots to advertising agencies and brands on time without incident. Read more...

RENTAL GUARD Bug Fixes

Evolution of Renting with Intent to Steal

The following update is provided by Taylor & Taylor. There have been several phases in the evolution of how criminals rent-to-steal. Read more...

PERG Sponsorship 2024

Despite the downturn in business, PERG is intent on holding all our usual annual events, but we need your support. Sponsorship opportunities are still available for the following events. Read more...

Coffee Break Survey

We need your input for future PERG Coffee Breaks. Watch for our upcoming PERG survey and let us know who you would like to have a coffee break with! Read more...

Online Auction Event

Get ready for an exclusive online auction event! Join us for a timed online auction featuring over 850 lots of premium digital cameras, lenses, audio equipment, speakers, projectors, consoles, and gear accessories sourced from PRG's top-of-the-line inventory located in Las Vegas. Read more...

PERG Equitable Workforce Initiative 2024 to Launch at NAB

| PERG News: March 2024 |

PERG is excited to announce that Netflix has renewed sponsorship of PERG’s unique program aimed at creating more diverse new talent pipelines into the rental side of the entertainment industry. Equitable Workforce Initiative (EWI) 2024 officially launches on April 15th at the General Membership Meeting at NAB. Interested rental companies and job seekers can apply starting TODAY!

We are also thrilled that ESTA has hired Alison Cupples to be the EWI Program Coordinator. Alison has over 15 years of experience in motion picture equipment rental. As a Board member of WIFVNE (Women in Film and Video New England) since 2020, Alison has been helping to develop mentorship and shadowing programs, as well as training resources for all levels of experience in the entertainment industry.

Alison Cupples

Eight grants are available. Rental companies that are hiring should consider hiring an EWI applicant. The goal of the program is to identify candidates from underrepresented groups who have a strong desire to enter the motion picture rental industry and help rental companies hire them into entry-level positions. The EWI grant pays the employee’s wages and benefits for the first six months of employment. The employer agrees to provide documented training that prepares employees for a career in equipment rental and production generally. The long-term goal is to seed leadership positions in the camera and lighting rental industry. Please contact us at ewi@esta.org.

NAB Sponsor Information

| PERG News: March 2024 |

Plan to visit all the PERG sponsors during NAB. And for those who don't exhibit, they'll all be at the PERG General Membership Meeting. We look forward to seeing you!

Arri Inc. Booth C6325

Astera Booth C4744

Duclos

Litegear Booth C6147

Unify your Color Space with Spectrum Technology from LiteGear

Whether pixel mapping with large format pixels, generating DMX personalities for video, applying buttery smooth dimming, effortlessly communicating with your networked devices, or adding the latest features to your workflow, you are in control when using the Spectrum family of products.

NFP

Panavision

Taylor & Taylor Associates

Sony Booth C8201

Join SONY at NAB 2024

| PERG News: March 2024 |

Guided small-group Sony booth tours for PERG members

Enjoy a special tour with reserved Sony Cinema representatives and benefit from the company of other PERG members. Spots are limited. Please RSVP for one of the following times:

Sunday April 14, 12 pm
Monday April 15, 2 pm
Tuesday April 16, 2 pm

REGISTER

From the FX3 rig used to capture ‘The Creator’ to the new BURANO digital cinema camera, Sony has so much to share at this year’s NAB 2024. This year, we have so much to show! Here’s some of the highlights:

Virtual Production: See our incredible new LED wall, the VERONA, used in cinematic and broadcast multicam virtual productions on our stage.
All-New Cinema Set: Get hands on with specialty rigs featuring our entire cinema line in a specially designed cinema set, which highlights our cameras exceptional low light sensitivity.
Sunday, April 14 at TBD: Go behind the scenes of Apple TV’s hit mini-series ‘Masters of the Air.’ Set during World War II, this series follows the aerial crews of bomber planes as they battle five miles above ground and behind enemy lines. Learn how this production used the Sony VENICE, VENICE Rialto and Virtual Production to bring this epic series to life.
Monday, April 15 at 10am: Go behind the scenes of the Super Bowl Halftime Show with the Funicular Goats to see how they used 13 Sony VENICE cameras and the FR7 to capture the biggest entertainment show in sports. Learn more about how this trend if taking over live events.

We are thrilled to be working with our friends in the rental community.

Awareness of 3rd Party Equipment on Rentals

| PERG News: March 2024 |

The following article is to be published in the AICP newsletter.

Production could not function properly if the professional rental house did not exist, and we had to rely on a group of individuals piecing together equipment from multiple sources. Where would the equipment be checked out to make sure all items were working and to the specifications of equipment ordered? Who could we call if equipment malfunctioned on set, and we needed an immediate replacement? How could we be certain that the equipment was serviced according to manufacturer’s maintenance schedules? Who would be ultimately liable if defective equipment injured a third party or caused property damage? With the biggest liability concerns coming from power and generators, power cables, cables, LITHIUM BATTERIES, and vehicles.

This article is designed to raise awareness of the increasing percentage of equipment being placed on jobs that are owned by third parties other than the equipment rental company. In essence as the percentage of gear rises which the rental house earns no income it threatens the economic viability of those businesses. In many cases, the percentage of third-party gear is unsustainable.

You might ask yourself why is this of concern to a television commercial production company? The short answer is all the items that require maintenance, long-term commitments, have long lead times or require a large financial expenditure are only available through an established rental company. A few examples of those items without which a production could not function are generators, anamorphic or full frame lenses, and camera dollies.

Collectively television production companies and other users of motion picture equipment are counting on people supplying equipment to our productions to get the business model right so that professional rental companies are around for many years to come. We can be a part of these difficult but necessary conversations. It is in our ultimate own self-interest to make sure the gear we need to shoot our projects is available to us into the foreseeable future. The alternative to the professional rental company being the foundation within the respective communities is unthinkable and would make work more difficult and/or expensive for everyone.

Harry Box, PERG Manager

RENTAL Guard Bug Fixes

| PERG News: March 2024 |

We want to make you aware of a software limitation in RENTAL GUARD and what we are doing about it. Over the past several months some rental companies experienced problems reporting thefts to RENTAL GUARD. The problem is due to the server timing out before the person is able to complete the report. This issue has been addressed temporarily by extending the time before the server times out. A more permanent fix will be completed later this year.

We are sorry for the frustration that this issue has caused some of our members. We make the following recommendations.

Complete the report in one go, and in less than 120 minutes. Do not leave the browser open pending submittal of the theft report. This will result in a complete loss of all the data you have entered.
Have the necessary materials ready before you start the report including a description of the event, list of equipment, insurance contact information, and police contact (if applicable).
Double check that all the required fields were filled out. If you do not have certain required information, like the value of the lost item, enter “NA” in that field.
If you still encounter problems, send us all the information to the PERG Manager and we will get the report submitted within 24 hours.

We have had several reports of doctored certificates of insurance (please see Evolution of Renting with Intent to Steal, in this Newsletter). We strongly urge all RENTAL GUARD users to submit a Questionable Customer Alert any time you turn down a client due to suspicion of criminal intent. Shutting the door on theft-by-rental incidents is our only path to decreasing these attacks.

RENTAL GUARD is the central industry-wide depository for theft information. Regardless of what other channels you use, we strongly urge all rental companies to use RENTAL GUARD for:

Watch list (names associated with suspected or actual criminal activity)
Theft reports (your best chance of recovering gear and preventing it from being resold)
Report Questionable Customers
Make Inquiries about New Customers

Evolution of Renting with Intent to Steal

| PERG News: March 2024 |

The following update is provided by Taylor & Taylor

There have been several phases in the evolution of how criminals rent-to-steal.

“Customers” initially would purchase short-term production insurance for equipment rentals only to never return with the equipment. Short-term insurance became a red flag.
“Customers” then began purchasing annual production insurance for equipment rentals, only to never return the equipment.
“Customers” would buy annual production insurance and claim that the equipment was stolen from them while out on rental. Unlike the earlier generations above, these folks would stay in touch with the rental house, file a police report, and take pictures of the damaged vehicle to show visible signs of entry.
Recently, “customers” have created their own certificates of insurance with fictitious information that may include the broker, production company, insurance carrier and/or policy numbers. The broker or carrier phone numbers listed on some of the certificates will direct you to the thief who will then answer the call and confirm the information on the certificate of insurance is accurate.

Steps to Take When Vetting New Customers

Know your customer or someone who can attest to them being a member of the production community.
KEEP A WATCH ON RENTAL GUARD TO SEE THEFT PATTERNS
AND SUSPICIOUS CUSTOMER ALERTS.
Reach out to other equipment vendors from whom the customer has rented equipment in the past. Do not rely on their references to another production company or person. Use the New Customer Inquiry on RENTAL GUARD and PERG (or other) Slack channels.
Proceed with caution when verifying COIs. Some thieves have taken to creating fraudulent websites for insurance programs and brokers that contain phone numbers and email addresses that will send your communications directly to them. Attempting to verify a certificate of insurance that contains such fraudulent information will only lead you to a “friendly” co-conspirator for confirmation.
Confirm the existence of the corporate entity with the Department of State. This record will also show you the date of first filing. Beware of entities with recent filings unless they are a known entity to your business.
Verify the project exists on which the equipment is intended to be used. Film permits and stage rentals can be verified by independent third parties.
Use Google Earth or a similar website to verify the location of the production company. In many instances the location address provided has turned out to be a storefront P.O. Box service and in one instance it was a vacant lot.
Verify the date a broker or production website was created. One method to do this would be to open the source code with "CTRL+U" (Windows) or "Command+U" (Mac). Look for "date" or "published". Verify the website SSL certificate. A new website should be a red flag.
Get a bank reference and confirm how long the account has been in existence with the bank representative. Again, be wary of co-conspirators verifying an account or credit card.
Never allow a first-time renter to send a courier to pick up the gear regardless of the circumstances.
Get two pieces of corroborating identification from the person renting the gear such as a driver’s license and passport. Take copies of these documents. Some thieves create fake forms of identification or use stolen identities.
Be wary of renters using different email addresses to communicate with you or on the rental paperwork.
Ask the names of local crew members working on the job. If none, have them hire a local crew person known to you and put that person in charge of the gear.
Search the names of the person(s) renting, picking up, providing identification, name of the production company – see how many listings, what type of info is on-line? Is there one hit? Are there any similar names that pop up?
How does the renter promote their company to obtain work?

You can download a PDF of this information here.

PERG Sponsorship 2024

| PERG News: March 2024 |

Despite the downturn in business, PERG is intent on holding all our usual annual events, but we need your support. Sponsorship opportunities are still available for the following events.

AICP/PERG Cinco de Mayo Party. May 9. This event, co-hosted by the AICP and PERG, brings key Los Angeles commercial production companies together with PERG members for great evening with Cinco-de-Mayo-themed food, wine, and beer.
PERG Breakfast at Cine Gear. Saturday June 8. A relaxed, full-menu breakfast with exhibitors, rental houses, and colleagues before the show opens. The venue is subject to change depending on where Cine Gear is held.
AICP/PERG Oktoberfest. Date TBD. This is a very popular annual event, co-hosted with the AICP, has capacity attendance each year. The German-themed event features great food, Oktoberfest beer, and wine. In previous years, this year the event has been enhanced by an informative town hall or forum taking place the morning of the party.
PERG Coffee Breaks. Throughout the year PERG will continue to host regular online events. Events that may be of long-term interest are posted on ESTA’s YouTube channel. Type “PERG Coffee Breaks” into the YouTube Search window.

Please contact the PERG Manager for more information about sponsorship!