Hoping to do away with the perception that it only caters to Hollywood-sized productions, equipment supply house William F. White International is launching a solution to target the increasing number of smaller indie prodcos.

To that end, WFWI has introduced what’s it’s calling viral vans–a one-stop shop, mobile production unit, complete with camera, lighting grip and sound, to name a few features. Manager of commercials Dan St. Amour got the ball rolling and in January, brought on Jonathon Root as interactive manager to carry out this new initiative.

‘We wanted to have an all-access production vehicle,’ says Root, who explains that growing trends in the media community led WFWI to address the demand for small, mobile production units. ‘We wanted it to be affordable because a lot of these people are working with a small budget, and for it to be a one-stop shop where they could get everything they wanted in one place.’

Director of marketing and communications Lowell Schrieder adds that WFWI teamed up with Sim Video ‘to enhance the attractiveness of the offer with their digital cameras and capabilities,’ including a data management station with editing software.

Root and Schrieder emphasize the mobility of the viral vans that anyone can drive, whereas before, clients were required to have a packaged truck driver, which adds to production costs. Features include a rolling desk on wheels with a full power station and LED lighting and everything is on carts for portability, organized by type of gear.

WFWI has also launched an interactive website at www.whitesinteractive.com for planning shoots and insurance.

Though it’s only been two weeks since its soft launch, Root says the response has been very good and has already had to turn people down. There are currently two viral vans in stock, and Schrieder is optimistic that ‘If the signs are pointing in the right direction, then we are looking to expand our fleet and quite likely will do so.’

These mobile units go for a flat rate of $650 per day and can be built up with additional packages, including higher-end cameras and anything else in the WFWI inventory. Package prices range from another $300 to $1,200.