The Blind Spot in Your Production Budget: Camera Prep

Crew Conversations // Chase Herring, Upstate Rental Tech

A lot of producers think day one is when the camera rolls. Anyone working in a rental house knows the real shoot starts days before.

We were talking shop with Chase Herring recently, and prep quickly became the topic of conversation.

        “I just wish people valued the time it takes to get gear ready,” Chase says. “A lot of productions treat it like an afterthought.”

It’s the invisible workload. By the time a neat stack of Pelican cases and Magliners rolls onto set, rental techs have already spent days sweating the details. Prepping a package isn’t just checking off boxes on a manifest. It’s updating firmware so a random lens motor doesn’t brick the camera, bench-testing glass, cycling batteries, checking mounts, and building out the actual camera rigs to ensure all the third-party accessories actually talk to each other.

The goal is catch those little issues in the shop instead of discovering them once the crew is ready to shoot.

One of the biggest things Chase has noticed is productions arriving at the prep bay with an incomplete gear list.

    “We’ll have teams still tech scouting the day before they’re supposed to prep. They don’t even have a locked list,” Chase tells us.

That’s where the domino effect begins. The shop pulls the gear, techs spend hours building custom cages, cables get wrapped… and then the creative changes. Or the job gets pushed.

    “We’re already moving gear around to make sure everything’s ready, and then they pull the plug at the eleventh hour.”

When a rental coordinator asks for an updated equipment list, there’s usually a reason behind it. Even a small revision can change how a package comes together. Swap a lens, and a different matte box or rod support may be needed. Add a few SkyPanels, and suddenly a different truck may be required. Change the camera body, and media, power, and backup workflow all need another look. Locking those choices early gives everyone more time to prepare.

Chase is quick to point out that this isn’t about pointing fingers. We all know how this industry works. Tech scouts get delayed, schedules slip, and agency clients change their minds at midnight. That’s the gig. But the more information a rental house has before prep day, the more room everyone has to solve the problems that actually matter.

A solid prep day doesn’t guarantee a flawless shoot. It simply gives the crew more breathing room when things inevitably change on set.

At Expressway, prep starts way before pickup day. We test, build, and troubleshoot every package so that when it leaves the shop, crews can focus on the work ahead—not troubleshooting a preventable issue.