For the folks at the PS Production Services’ locations across Canada, supplying equipment is nothing new – they’ve been doing it for more than 25 years. What is new, say ps staffers, is a trend to shrinking equipment budgets while at the same time producers clamor for the most up-to-date equipment, not factoring in the added expense that goes with the new technologies.

ps has offices in Toronto, Halifax and Vancouver, affiliates in Winnipeg and Regina, and an international office in Vietnam. Each location offers equipment rentals that range from Moviecams and Arri cameras to 18K hmi lighting equipment, cranes and grip gear.

New equipment in stock varies from location to location. Jeff Ramsay, rentals manager at PS Vancouver, reports four new generators, two new tractor trailer units and a new five-ton, four-by-four generator truck. gm Rob Riselli and the staff of PS Atlantic have two brand new 30-foot, 1,200-amp generator trucks, as well as some new dollies and cranes to play with. And John Feeney, gm of PS Toronto, says his branch has just acquired a new ground-proving system.

‘Grounding is an issue now that the film industry is getting bigger and safer,’ says Feeney, adding the new ground-proving equipment offers proof positive that a set is up to snuff.

With every new camera, light and innovation that hits the market as filmmaking technology continues to make strides, the equipment suppliers admit their collective job becomes more of a challenge. ps reps say many companies approach them with limited equipment budgets and do not factor in the increasing costs of getting the most current models of equipment, which can create problems.

‘It feels like there is not enough money budgeted into lighting and grip these days,’ says Ramsay.

‘There are these new technologies and for some reason these people can’t make their movies without them, but they still budget them as if they didn’t exist,’ he says. ‘These companies still want the package that they used to get plus these new things. When I tell them that their package is going to cost them an extra couple grand a week, they don’t have enough money, but they still must have them to do their shows.’

Feeney agrees. ‘It’s quite a challenge. There are all of these new kinds of lenses and lights and different things, and everybody wants the new flavor of the month. These things are very expensive, so it is a challenge to constantly keep up with the dop’s vision and keep the production manager’s budget in mind at all times.’

Riselli makes it a clean sweep, citing a commercial from a few months back as an example.

‘The production budget was $250,000 and our equipment rental didn’t quite hit $10,000,’ says Riselli, who adds that where budgets are concerned, ‘we are getting less and less, anywhere from 3% to 5% [of the total budget] if we are lucky.’

PS Halifax is currently supplying the Cinetel feature Rumor of Angels (which required 14,000 feet of cable for a shoot on a beach), the Alliance Atlantis Communications mow Catch a Falling Star, and Cochran Entertainment’s Pit Pony, and recently wrapped work on a new Alexander Keith’s commercial campaign.

Meanwhile, the Toronto office is busy with more than a dozen series, including aac series Peter Benchley’s Amazon, Psi Factor and Traders, and Epitome Pictures’ Riverdale, which requires more than 900 lights.

PS Vancouver supplied the just-wrapped Detox starring Sylvester Stallone and is currently working on the aac/Milestone Productions series Nothing Too Good For A Cowboy and the cbs miniseries After Shock.