Articulating the state of the equipment nation and a generally applicable principle, Panavision, Toronto, vp Bill Zacharuk sums up: ‘The level of service you have to provide has gone up; the quality and cost of the equipment you have to provide has gone up; and the amount of money the producer normally has in the budget to pay for it has gone down.’

With that dynamic, production equipment supply shops are crunched by escalating costs and mini-margins while maintaining a high level of service.

In many ways it has become contingent on equipment shops to provide a larger scope of service for customers, and many have responded by expanding their physical space and the range of equipment they offer.

Equipment suppliers also have to maneuver around the ever changing landscape of public funding, which can disappear in one place and reappear in another, although many, particularly in Vancouver, concentrate largely on servicing u.s. projects

Responding to the question of how often new acquisitions are necessary, Paul Bronfman, head of the Comweb Group which owns William F. White, quips ‘Every day,’ in only a slight exaggeration of the challenges of ensuring the latest must-have piece of equipment is on hand. White has made changes to embrace the bigger is better ethos while instituting measures to maintain a high level of service and efficiency. (See story, p. 22)

Zacharuk says it is necessary to keep up with the constant stream of innovations coming out of both Panavision and outside sources ‘every month, every quarter, every year.’

l.a.-based Panavision recently introduced a new camera at Showbiz Expo in l.a. The Millennium camera features a computer-designed view-finding system which facilitates depth of field assessment with high-speed lenses as well as an upgraded built-in video assist. The camera will be available this fall in the u.s. and Zacharuk says it will likely arrive in Canada early next year.

Zacharuk says since Panavision cameras are developed over years of r&d by those using the equipment, when a new product becomes available there is typically a built-in demand for the camera to answer the longings of cinematographers.

For Panavision, service, not size is key, says Zacharuk, and it has to be flexible enough to service high- and low-end productions with the same attention. ‘That service is typically what people think a small company d’es, but it’s what a big company has to do ­ we just have to do more of it. What’s helped us is focusing on what we’re best at, which is equipment supply, and sticking to it and doing enough of it to do it very well.’

Zacharuk says a large portion of Panavision’s work in Canada originates in some capacity south of the border.

The primary focus of Vancouver’s Shooters Production Services is to draw more video work from the u.s., says Shooters president Dale Johannesen, building on the film bonanza in the market by appealing to u.s. studios to bring tape-based shows to Vancouver as well.

This spring Shooters began using its newly assembled 30-foot mobile truck, completing 26 episodes of Super Dave All Stars for ytv as well as a 13-episode series for Vision tv.

Johannesen says the company also recently sold off the remainder of its analog cameras, becoming an all-digital camera shop with capabilities through the spectrum from Sony Digital 30 to the Digital 700 digital tape camera.

With investments in new cameras and the mobile truck, Johannesen says the company has spent about $1 million on becoming a major broadcast resource. The one-stop shop is precisely what Shooters offers he says. Part of Stay Tuned Communications, Shooters, together with post shop Finale Editworks and Image Engine Design computer animation and effects, offers a project ­ like Super Dave ­ a complete solution for production and post. Johannesen says there is little Canadian tape-originated programming shot in Vancouver.

The projects that are able to get made are the smaller doc-type shows for which producers often buy gear and handle production basement style, impacting on equipment shops as well as the quality and success of productions, say suppliers.

Barry Reid, president and gm of P.S. Northern Lights in Vancouver, says that company has made an investment in upsizing its operation toward competing as a major player in the market.

This summer Northern Lights expanded its shipping and receiving facility, which now features 31 loading docks, up from two. With quick equipment turnaround a key to success in rentals, Reid says eliminating the bottleneck in shipping means fewer people are required to run a bigger area (although no staff changes accompanied the move) and an easing of congestion and tension in the area, which will likely be reflected in the bottom line.

The company has also added three trucks with which Reid says Northern Lights hopes to improve the current 15% to 20% of business derived from commercials to 25%. With the level of growth in the market, Northern Lights is looking down the road 10 years, anticipating continued growth, says Reid, as well as making a statement that Northern Lights is one of the large players in town.

‘We made the choice to go big rather than to try and remain small,’ says Reid.

Reid says the market consists mainly of the large shops as well as technician owner/operators ­ senior crew members who own their own equipment ­ with not much in between, resulting in a ‘fly or get out of the sky’ sort of environment.

The have-gear-will-travel key gaffer or grip is more of a factor in the Montreal market, says Moli-flex/White’s Emanuel Lepine. Lepine says about 15 of the top technicians in town offer equipment with their services, almost the equivalent of a third major equipment shop, in addition to Moli-Flex/White and Locations Michel Trudel.

It’s usually left to the big shops, though, to provide a substantial amount of the highest end, newest gear, like the recently added 6k Par lights provided at the shop, says Lepine. It takes a large shop to do the volume to meet the price and equipment needs of projects not serviced by technicians and the mid-sized shops are caught in the middle.

Lepine also acknowledges the relationship between the travails of producers in accessing funding and the fate of equipment suppliers. ‘We are at the bottom of the ladder,’ he says. ‘If the producer sneezes, we get pneumonia.’

Toronto’s Sim Video has expanded its service scope, doubling its sound equipment inventory in the past year, but Rob Sim says size is not a pursuit for its own sake. Sim also acknowledges that concerns over the state of industry funding filters down to equipment suppliers, although he says the video industry differs from film in that typically fewer dollars come from public sources.

Sales company The Source Shop maintains constant close contact to the industry here and abroad to keep its place in the tough equipment market, says Source Shop head Adrian Goldberg. The Source Shop creates and sells gear like accessory holders, as well as working with the broadcast industry to design new studios.

‘We’re running a billion-dollar industry here and the old ways of dealing with it are long gone,’ says Goldberg.

For other smaller shops, it’s a matter of providing a targeted service with a large supply of specific equipment.

Special effects companies like Laird McMurray can provide a more extensive array of gear dedicated to one specialty.

‘It’s more the application of the gear,’ says McMurray. ‘We can advise how to use the gear and how to achieve what they’re looking for.’