By Robert Goldrich
The Association of Independent Commercial Producers (AICP) and PLASA’s Production Equipment Rental Group (PERG) teamed to host a Cinco de Mayo party on April 30 at the Culver Hotel in Culver City, Calif. While the scheduling was chronologically off, the intent was right on target.
AICP and PERG have been co-hosting an Oktoberfest event in New York for the past couple of years and it has proven to be a great occasion for rental houses and production companies to get together in a relaxed social setting. So the two groups decided to try to create the same dynamic in the Los Angeles market with a spring event; hence, the Cinco de Mayo celebration.
“This underscores how the two organizations are working together to better the marketplace,” said Harry Box, manager of PERG. “I remember hearing a production equipment rental house executive noting that until the first Oktoberfest he hadn’t met the head of a production company that he had been doing business with for 20 years. Those kind of meetings are important to our business and the community at large. By bringing these people together face to face, we’re building relationships.”
SHOOT first met Box right before a fateful joint exploratory meeting between representatives of AICP and PERG in June 2011. That dialogue sparked a coming together which just three months later yielded a document containing standard terms and conditions for the rental of motion picture camera, sound and lighting equipment. The final document–which is still in use with a tweak or two–represented a significant improvement over what had been the norm of coping with numerous different agreements drafted by individual rental houses, which necessitated careful scrutiny by production company execs who often would delete or amend certain clauses. In contrast to those assorted often one-sided agreements favoring equipment rental firm interests, the newly reached uniform pact–which factors in protection for both the production house and the equipment rental company–provided a measure of predictability and fairness as to how claims and concerns involving the use of rented equipment should and would be settled.
Beyond that breakthrough document, a foundation between the two organizations was built for future dialogue in a cooperative spirit, noted Box. Since then, AICP and PERG have worked in partnership to deal with such issues as equipment theft and the shipping of lithium batteries, as well as working to jointly develop best practices documents on how to handle stored media that hasn’t been properly erased on rented recording equipment.
Box observed that there is inherently a bond between production companies and their equipment vendors. From collectively solving production problems to just making budgets work, there is a synergy to making each others business thrive.
A TV as big as a bed? With the holidays approaching, stores stock more supersize sets
For some television viewers, size apparently does matter.
Forget the 65-inch TVs that were considered bigger than average a decade ago. In time for the holidays, manufacturers and retailers are rolling out more XXL screens measuring more than 8 feet across. That's wider than a standard three-seat sofa or a king-size bed.
Supersize televisions only accounted for 1.7% of revenue from all TV set sales in the U.S. during the first nine months of the year, according to market research firm Circana. But companies preparing for shoppers to go big for Christmas, Hanukkah and Kwanzaa have reason to think the growing ultra category will be a bright spot in an otherwise tepid television market, according to analysts.
The 38.1 million televisions sold with a width of at least 97 inches between January and September represented a tenfold increase from the same period last year, Circana said. Best Buy, the nation's largest consumer electronics chain, doubled the assortment of hefty TVs — the 19 models range in price from $2,000 to $25,000 — and introduced displays in roughly 70% of its stores.
"It's really taken off this year," Blake Hampton, Best Buy's senior vice president of merchandising, said.
Analysts credit the emerging demand to improved technology and much lower prices. So far this year, the average price for TVs spanning at least 97 inches was $3,113 compared to $6,662 last year, according to Circana. South Korean electronics manufacturer Samsung introduced its first 98-inch TV in 2019 with a hefty price tag of $99,000; it now has four versions starting at $4,000, the company said.
Anthony Ash, a 42-year-old owner of a wood pallet and recycling business, recently bought a 98-inch Sony for his 14,000-square-foot house in... Read More