With The Source Shop keeping a pulse on the needs and demands of the film, television and theatre industries, even the little guy need not concern himself with the tribulations of suiting up his production.

Founded by veteran lighting technician Adrian Goldberg, Toronto-based The Source Shop opened its doors in the Wallace Avenue Studios in 1992. With co-owner Syme Jago and Louise Nardella in tow, the company started out doing lighting, grip equipment sales, a bit of expendable and some studio installs. Today, however, it is the one-stop shop that makes production shopping as quick and painless as possible.

‘When we started nobody was taking care of people working on films – nobody was supplying any of the tools in one location. Nobody was thinking about what they would need for working in bizarre weather conditions, so we decided to create a little niche for ourselves by supplying those kinds of products,’ says Nardella, who prefers to go without a title but does everything from buying and sales to designing custom products and representing dealers.

From its exclusive line of Authentic Crew Gear and Extreme Weather Gear to its custom-made tool belts, pouches, director’s chairs, script binders and slates, almost anything can be found within the walls of The Source Shop’s new location at 18 Mowat Avenue.

‘If we don’t have what you’re looking for, I’ll do back flips to find out where you can find it. Once I had somebody call and ask me for a cow, so I looked around for a cow,’ says Nardella, who will often design products to suit a client’s exact needs.

‘We’re still small and we like that. People feel welcome, we’re not a big corporation where they feel like the little guy. We get a lot of students coming in too, and we’ll spend the time with them…I don’t mean to `dis’ the big corporations, but when you’ve got major productions going out the door and you’ve got equipment rentals, you just don’t focus as much on the guy who wants to buy a marker and a slate.’

Ninety percent of the inventory The Source Shop carries is based on asking people what they want. For instance, at one time it was next to impossible to buy the backs and seats of director’s chairs separately. People were annoyed with having to buy new chairs all the time. Recognizing the absurdity of this consumer expense, The Source Shop started selling the two parts separately, and finally, three years ago, designed a plastic pocket on the back so names could be slipped in and out and new chairs need not be purchased for each new production.

‘Also, anything we were once importing from the States we’re trying to make ourselves and all of our clothing lines are now Canadian,’ says Nardella, pointing out, ‘We are the official Snow Goose people.’

Having finally eradicated the necessity of importing goods from the u.s., the company is currently setting up international distribution of all its custom products.

Nardella has set up a handful of dealers, from Florida to California, and plans to expand overseas are underway.

She is also working on a bunch of new products, including a camera assistant/makeup artist case that can be used by any department. ‘And with cell phones changing as they do, I’m also going to come up with a couple new pouches for different departments that can accommodate today.’