Dustin Supencheck Posted August 23, 2022 Report Share Posted August 23, 2022 I'm just starting out. I have my first gig this week (wish me luck!) and I'm now realizing I need to work out some of the administrative parts of being a Steadicam owner and operator. I haven't owned any significant pieces of gear until now so I haven't dealt with a lot of the organization and paperwork that comes with that and I was hoping y'all would grace me with your wisdom. 1. Inventory. I made a Google Sheets document itemizing all my gear. Is there a better format for this? Something like I see from camera rental houses? 2. Do you have production sign some sort of rental agreement with an itemized list on every job? If so, any advice on what that should look like? Any and all wisdom when it comes to the gear rental side of being an operator would be greatly appreciated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dustin Supencheck Posted August 23, 2022 Author Report Share Posted August 23, 2022 Additionally, do y'all charge a rental every day that your rig is working or do you do 3 day weeks like other camera gear. Thank you, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members Maxwel Fisher Posted August 24, 2022 Premium Members Report Share Posted August 24, 2022 (edited) @Dustin Supencheck, Google sheets is fine. Excel or Numbers also works. Anything that allows you to neatly list your gear and its full cost. Make sure to keep it constantly updated. You should get in the habit of asking production to supply you a certificate of insurance (like they would for any gear house) with you or your company as the payee. You send them a copy of the itemized list you created and they send you a certificate. You should also try and get your own steadicam insurance policy. Do a weekly rate (or daily if you're a day player and your rig comes and goes with you), but it's totally up to you how you negotiate. If your rig is on a production, it can't be used on another whether or not it's working, so make sure you get paid for it. Also, if you dig around in the forum you'll find that a lot of productions will put up a fight on paying a loan out for the kit rental (If you want the kit paid directly to you on your normal pay stub then disregard this bit). I think there is also some grey area on production insurance and your kit being paid as a box rental, so make sure you do your research there. Hopefully someone else will chime in, but I believe some of this has been discussed before under the Legal/Business Practice section. Edited August 24, 2022 by Maxwel Fisher Clarification Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dustin Supencheck Posted August 24, 2022 Author Report Share Posted August 24, 2022 Thanks @Maxwel Fisher, I'll be sure to look deeper into the forum. I'm not exactly the most business savvy so I appreciate your input. Just trying to make my rentals as streamlined as possible. Cheers, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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